In the secondary English Language Arts curriculum for Cycle One (years 7, 8, 9), media is most represented under Competency 2: Represents her/his literacy in different media. According to Secondary English Language Arts, Cycle One, at this level,
the emphasis of the media competency is on giving students the tools to understand how, why and by whom media texts are constructed and the impact this has on the meaning(s) and message(s) that they and other audiences derive from them. It is also via the media competency that information-based texts are introduced to Secondary Cycle One students, through genres with which they are already familiar. Through all of the activities in this competency, students are better able to understand and connect to the evolving character of texts in the world around them. This is an essential skill, since language, which is ever changing, has given rise to genres, features, codes and conventions that integrate spoken, written and media discourse.
