Measuring Adolescents’ Fake News Literacy Based on Evaluation Performance Regarding Simulated News Posts

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Students’ Meaning Making with Media Literacy

Abstract

The rise of fake news presents significant challenges for adolescents, who often struggle to critically evaluate digital (mis)information. To address gaps in existing western-based assessments, this study developed and validated a performance-based fake news literacy instrument specifically for Chinese adolescents. The 24-item measurement (comprising 12 true and 12 fake news posts) was administered to 243 Grade 9 students, who rated the credibility of each item. Exploratory Graph Analysis identified two correlated dimensions: true news detection and fake news detection. Confirmatory factor analysis supported this two-factor structure, with improved model fit after addressing inter-item dependencies. This instrument demonstrates strong reliability and validity, providing a robust and contextually relevant tool for assessing fake news literacy among adolescents in non-western contexts.

Authors

• Jun Xie, University of Hong Kong

• Frank Reichert, University of Hong Kong