Communicative competence in the information age: Towards a critical theory of information literacy education

Abstract

Insights developed from critical social science, particularly the work of Jürgen Habermas, are used to analyse the development of information literacy as a subject and its contemporary definitions. The challenges facing information literacy educators are located in potential contradictions between the subject’s strategic, technical elements and its more critical, communicative and social aspects. The critical potential of information literacy can also suggest why it is politically sensitive, and may struggle to attract status and funding.