Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

8-13-2026

Abstract

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) has become increasingly important as education responds to an increasingly complex information environment, yet less is known about how teachers experience and make sense of teaching it, particularly in resource-constrained contexts. Guided by Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenology, this study explored the lived communicative experiences of seven Senior High School teachers from five peri-urban public schools in the Southern Philippines. In-depth interviews revealed three interconnected, culturally situated meanings: pagsugakod (carrying on amid uncertainty), pagtagad (attentive responsibility), and pagkabalaka (ongoing concern). Together, these meanings show how teachers navigate limited preparation, respond to students’ lived circumstances, and teach within uneven technological conditions. The findings illuminate MIL teaching as a situated communicative practice involving interpretation, mediation, and responsiveness. By foregrounding teachers’ experiences, the study contributes a culturally grounded, teacher-centered perspective from the Global South to scholarship on MIL education.

Keywords: Media and Information Literacy, teachers, communicative practice, hermeneutic phenomenology, Global South, Philippines

Share

COinS