Authors

Diana Nara Gail G. Hernandez, MAEd*
Surigao Education Center, Surigao del Norte, Philippines

Mark Denzel A. Ciruela, MAEd
Surigao del Norte State University, Surigao del Norte, Philippines

Abstract

This study examined the political discourse embedded in social media memes as a basis for developing a comprehensive lesson exemplar aimed at fostering critical literacy among Grade 6 learners in the Filipino subject. Using a qualitative research design, specifically Content Analysis, the study analyzed 77 purposively selected political memes across five thematic categories: health, education, infrastructure, economy, and human rights and law. The analysis was guided by Limor Shifman’s three-dimensional framework of content, form, and stance, further classified into persuasive memes, grassroots action memes, and public discussion memes. Findings revealed that economy-themed memes were most prevalent (23%), followed by education (22%), health (20%), infrastructure (19%), and human rights and law (16%). Public discussion memes emerged as the most dominant type, utilizing satire and pop culture references to open national discourse on corruption and language use. Grassroots action memes reflected the collective sentiments of ordinary citizens using local experiences and contemporary slang, while persuasive memes functioned as strategic instruments for shaping belief and promoting nationalism alongside language correction. The study further established that political memes are highly applicable to the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) of Grade 6 Filipino, particularly in developing skills in critical reading, grammar analysis, opinion expression, and multimodal text interpretation. The findings support the development of a lesson exemplar integrating political memes as pedagogical tools, advancing a Meme-ingful Pedagogy that bridges formal language instruction with real-world socio-political discourse to cultivate digitally literate and critically engaged young citizens.

Keywords: Political memes, critical literacy, Filipino language instruction, content analysis, lesson exemplar, multimodal discourse, Grade 6, Meme-ingful Pedagogy, digital literacy, Philippine education.

*Corresponding author / Email: gailgaytos@yahoo.com.ph
DOI: http://doi.org/10.69651/PIJHSS05021195

Recommended citation:
Hernandez, D. N. G. G., & Ciruela, M. D. A. (2026). Language and politics in memes: An analysis as basis for developing a lesson exemplar for Grade 6. Pantao (International Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences) 5 (2), 4979-4998. http://doi.org/10.69651/PIJHSS05021195

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