Silvia Powell
Hi everyone!! My name is Silvia
I was born in Esteli, Nicaragua. During my free time I enjoy reading books, listening to music, watching movies, and spending time with my friends. I tend be shy at first, but once I get to know people, I feel more comfortable and tend to talk more. This is my fourth semester and last semester at Dawson, in the languages program so I hope we’ll have fun and enjoy this semester together! 😊
Video: The effects of television on young children's language acquisition:
I.A video.mp4Blog Entry #1 Topic Ideas:
The first idea I thought could be interesting to develop for my final project was about the Mayan writing system. More specifically from a linguistical approach and point of view understanding how sentences and words were formed, how accents changed the meaning of a word, or a sentence. As well as studying the evolution of the language.
While doing some research I found a book called New Perspectives in Mayan Linguistics written by Avelino Becerra. The book talked about different aspects of the Mayan language such as phonetics, phonology, syntax, lexicography and more. I think this book would help me a lot in my research because it offers a lot of detailed information about my subject.
The second topic I had in mind was about the impact or influence of technology in language acquisition and development in young children. Nowadays the use of technology such as phones, computers, and television has become more frequent. Specially during these times. When it comes to young children, technology is sometimes used as a way to distract or calm down the child. But what about the effects it could have on the language acquisition or development in the long term?
While doing some research I found an academic journal called Gadget Phenomenon: The effect towards language disorders and social interactions of early childhood written by Ririn Fujiarti Ali and Agustina Agustina. This academic journal talks about how the increased exposure to technology from a young age can lead to problems such as speech problems and can also lead to social interaction problems.
Blog Entry #2
After doing further research, I decided that my final project will be about how does television exposure during early childhood affects language development. I chose this topic because I think it would be interesting to learn more about it, especially since we live in an age where we have easy access to technology such as television, cellphones, and computers.
The first source I thought would be interesting to use for my final project is an academic journal article called Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: issues and Effects in Early Childhood written bv Kamaruzaman Jusof and Nurul Nadiah Sahimi. This academic article was presented by the International Educational Studies.
In this Academic article the authors present and discuss how television exposure starting at a young age in children can have a variety of negative effects. They start by presenting facts about how pediatrics does not recommend that children under two years old have any exposure to screens. The authors talk about how spending too much time watching television can negatively affect children’s development, since sometimes parents use the television as a way to distract or calm down the child, also the authors of the article also discuss about how there is an increase on the number of children has been that have their own television inside their bedroom. Which causes them to view television without any supervision, making them more easily exposed to watching series or shows that have a lot of violence.
What I found really interesting on this article is that the authors talked about the negative effects that too much television exposure can have on young children and their development, such as attention disorder problems, learning difficulties, aggression problems, and more. But they also addressed how television can also have positive effects on young children. For example, they talked about how a study conducted by Yuuko Uchikoshi on Spanish speaking children that went to an English-speaking Kindergarten that viewed a children’s show called Arthur in English showed how it encouraged them to further develop and improve their English skills. Demonstrating how viewing television can have positive and negative effects. Which I thought could be interesting to use and present in my research. Lastly, the authors addressed the importance of teaching young children media literacy allowing them to not believe and be easily influenced by everything they see on television.
Work cited:
Jusoff, Kamaruzaman, and Narul Nadiah Sahimi.” Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood.” International Education Studies vol.2, no.3, Aug.2009, pp. 151-157. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2556/fulltext/EJ1065705.pdf
Blog Entry #3
The second source I found and that I thought it would be interesting to use for my final project is a book called Television and Child Development written by Judith Van Evra and published in 2004. The book discusses about the many impacts ‘television has on young children, such as an impact in their behavior, socialisation skills and cognitive skills. What I liked about the book is that it is divided in five parts each one dedicated to the type of impact television can have on young children, also each part of the book has its own chapters dedicated to one area.
While reading the book I focused more on the second part of the book dedicated to the “cognitive aspects of media experience” (Evra 33- 74) And more precisely to chapter number four of the book called “Language, Reading, and Academic achievement” (Evra, 57 -74) This part of the book talked about how television can have both positive and negative impact on young children. Specially when it comes to their language development. In this chapter Evra discussed how television also had positive impacts on the language development on children, such as helping to encourage the children to learn a language. She mentions how Rice in one his studies, discussed how viewing of children shows such as Sesame Street could help. Because children television shows employ a vocabulary that is easier to understand for children, as well as there are images that help children associate a word with what it means. However, Evra also mentioned how a study conducted in 2001 by Naigles and Mayeux demonstrated that although it is true that viewing educational children television shows do help children develop further their language and learn new words it does not help them learn about grammar.
What I liked about this book is that it offered both positive and negative perspectives when it came to the influence television has on the language development in young children. It offered clear and understandable information, as well as gave examples and also the author used citations when talking about studies other people had conducted.
Work Cited:
Evra, Judith Van. “Television and Child Development.”Routledge,2004. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=e000xna&AN=112903&site=eds-live&scope=site
Blog Entry #4
Source#1:
The first source that I found and thought it would be interesting to use in my essay, is an academic journal called “The negative effects of new screens on the cognitive functions of young children require new recommendations” it was written by Eric Osika and was published on November 6th, 2021.
The article talks about how throughout the years the emergence and the usage of multiple screens such as television, phones, computers, and tablets also play an important role on the language development of young children and that it is not only about how much time children spend viewing television and the type of content they view that plays a role.
The author discusses how nowadays it is easier to access and view screens, since one can view videos on their phones, on their computers, iPad, and television which means that there has been an increase in the amount of time children spend viewing a screen. Therefore, Osika discusses the many impacts the emergence of new screens can affect young children. One of the aspects of the article that I found really interesting is when she discusses how screens affect the interactions between parents and their children. The author explains that having the television on affects the frequency of the interactions between parents and their children, since it distracts the parents and makes that there are fewer verbal interactions between both the parents and the child. Therefore, affecting the number of new words young children learn and hear while talking with their parents. And as we learned in our linguistics class and as the book called “The Study of Language” written by George Yule mentions in chapter 13 interactions between children and their parents are important because “infants are certainly helped in their language acquisition by the typical behavior of older children and adults in the home environment who provide language samples, or input, for the child.” (Yule 202). Furthermore, the author also talks about how it also affects children’s concentration since they get distracted by what is playing on the TV.
To conclude, I thought this article was very interesting because it offered a new perspective on the issue regarding the effects of technology exposure on young children. I also liked how the article was divided in different sections each with a title that present the topic of the section.
Work Cited:
Osika, Eric. “The Negative Effects of New Screens on the Cognitive Functions of Young Children Require New Recommendations” Italian Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 47, no.1, November 2021. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.681662179&site=eds-live&scope=site
Yule, George. The Study of Language seventh edition. Cambridge Press, 2020.
Source#2:
The second source that I found and that I thought was interesting is an academic journal called “Language development and television exposure in children” it was written by Dwi Herawati Ritonga and Sri Sofyani and it was published in 2018.
The authors of this academic journal begin by discussing how television affects young children language development. They begin by presenting the effects of television on children, such as behavioral problems and attention problems. They also discussed about how television can lead to children spending less time interacting with their parents. However, they mentioned that it all comes down to the type of content to which they are exposed to. Therefore, they explain that children who viewed television shows made for older kids or even adults had difficulty in their language development, whereas children who viewed television shows made for their age, benefited from them. In the sense that they were able to learn new words. Also, they mentioned that having an adult accompanying a child while watching television, can be beneficial because they can explain a new word to the child.
What I liked about this academic journal is that they presented the information in a comprehensible way and that each paragraph had a title that allowed the reader to know what it was about.
Work cited:
Ritonga, Dwi Herawati, and Sofyani, Sri. “Language Development and Television Exposure in Children” Pediatric Oncall Journal, vol.15, no.4, Oct.2018, pp 89-91. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=a9h&AN=133748540&site=eds-live&scope=site
Blog Entry #5
Blog Entry#5
This week’s source that I decided to use and that I found very interesting was a Ted Talk conducted in 2011 by Dimitri Christakis, who is a pediatrician and researcher. The focus of his Ted Talk was on the impact of media such as television in young children.
He began by presenting the size of a children’s brain at birth and how it grows throughout the development of a child, he also talked about how there’s has been an increase on the amount of television viewing in young children as well as the age in which a child is first exposed to television. Furthermore, he concentrated on the effect that television viewing has on children. He explained that television over stimulates the brain due to the fast-moving images, changes of images and fast paced music. Therefore, it conditions the brain at a young age to expect to be constantly engaged and overstimulated which can cause the child to develop attention problems. Also, he explained how children who are exposed from an early age to television and who spend more time viewing television than playing are more likely to develop attention problems when they are older, as Christakis stated, “for each hour that they watch before the age of three, their chances of having attentional problems increase by 10%.” (7:33-7:38). Towards the end of his Ted Talk he talked about two experiments that were performed in a laboratory and at a clinic in Seattle. One of the experiments involved 200 children between the ages of 18 months and 24 months and was designed to assess the level of language development in children that come from low-income families. Throughout the experiment, half of the children and their parents would receive early during the study a set of blocks and they had to play with the blocks for an average of 20 minutes everyday. And the other half of the children would receive a set of blocks towards the end of the study. The results revealed that children who had received blocks during the early stages of the study and that had spent more time interacting with their parents playing showed a rise in their language development. Whereas children who had spend less time playing and interacting with their parents showed to develop their language slower.
What I liked from this Ted Talk was that there were examples and images that helped support what Dimitri Christakis was saying and that also helped understand better the message of the presentation. And, to support what he was saying, he gave examples of two studies that were conducted one that involved mice, and the other that involved young children. What I learned throughout this Ted Talk was the size of the brain of a newborn baby and how it grows, as well as that we are born with a predetermined number of neurons, that begin connecting between themselves at the age of three.
Work Cited:
Christakis, Dimitri. “Media and Children.” TEDx Talks, 28 December
2011, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoT7qH_uVNo&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
Preliminary Thesis Statement
Although Television has some postive effects on children, research has shown it has shown that there are more negative effects. Particularly when it comes to their language development because it can prevent social interactions between parents and children, it becomes more complicated to learn new words, and it generates attention problems among them.
Potential Topic Sentences
1) Television is negative for children since it can prevent more interactions between children and their parents.
2) Through television shows children can have difficulty learning new words because they sometimes use difficult words.
3) Viewing too much television causes attention problems for children.
Blog Entry #6
The academic journal called “Exploring the Impact of Television Watching on vocabulary Skills in Toddlers” written by Tracy Packiam Alloway, Skyler Williams, Britney Jones, and Fiona Cochrane was published on October 2nd, 2013, in the Early Childhood Education journal, talks about the impact television has on young children.
The authors of this academic journal describe the study they conducted with children between the ages of two and three years old. As well as the results of the study they had conducted. The study consisted of children between the ages of two and three years old who viewed television for a different time of periods and who watched different programs. Such as cartoons, educational children show, and adult shows. The authors of this academic journal talked about the importance of social interactions between parents and children, as well as the importance of reading. Since reading allows children to learn new words and expand their vocabulary. After having conducted the study, the authors noted that the content the children view is important. They explained that children who viewed educational shows showed improvement on their vocabulary skills. However, children that viewed shows such as cartoons and adult programs did not show improvement on their vocabulary skills. They explained that since cartoon shows are designed to entertain children, and because the images in cartoons are fast paced and there is a lot of music children do not have the time to process everything the characters are saying. When it comes to adult shows the authors explained that it is because the vocabulary in those shows is made for adults, and it is harder for children to understand.
Furthermore, they explained that when children are watching television with their parents, parents can sometimes get distracted and not attend to all their children needs. Also, they noted that reading educational books to children, is beneficial because they teach children new words and improve their vocabulary, whereas picture books bring more entertainment to children.
What I liked about this academic journal is that the authors did not only focus on one type of show. Instead, they talked about the impact that cartoons, educational shows, and adult shows have on young children. Also, I liked how they talked about the importance of reading books to children as well as they explained the results in a detailed manner. Furthermore, while reading I learned that to learn new words they are first stored inside our short-term memory before transition to our long-term memory and allowing us to use those words whenever we need to.
Work cited:
Alloway, Tracy, et al. “Exploring the Impact of Television Watching on Vocabulary
Skills in Toddlers.” Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 42, no. 5, Sept.
2014, pp. 343-49. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=a9h&AN=97444293&site=eds-live&scope=site
The second source that I found and that I thought it would be interesting to use, is an academic journal called “Duration of watching TV and child language development in young children.” It was written by Silva Audya Perdana, Bernie Endyarni Medise, and Erni Hernawati Purwaningsih, and it was published on 2017 in the Indonesian Pediatric Society Publishing House.
This academic journal talks about how the amount of time a child spends viewing television impacts and influences their language development. The authors of the article conducted a study at the Pediatric Growth and Development Clinic, Department of Child Health, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital and community health center in Jatinegara, Jakarta Indonesia. The participants of the study were children between the ages of 18 months to 3 years, parents had to fill a questionnaire and indicate the amount of time their children spend viewing television. The authors presented and discussed the results, they concluded that children that spend more than an average of four hours viewing television are more likely of to develop problems with language delay. They explained that factors such as family habit such as if a family has the habit of spending too much time viewing television it will also influence the child to view a lot of television. Another factor that they mentioned that could contribute to speech delays in children is that those who viewed a variety of television shows in English and Indonesian could get confused. Because of the different grammatical language structures of both languages, as well as the as the fact that it may be a language that the child is not used to hearing.
What I liked about this article is how the authors also talked about the impact that viewing shows in different languages can impact children because it confuses them, especially if it is a language that they are not used to hearing their family use it to interact with them. I liked it because we live in a world where we have more accessibility to programs and shows that are presented in other languages and in the articles, I had previously read they did not really talk about it. What I learned while reading this article is that nowadays children start at a very young age to watch television, which is something I did not know. In the article they mentioned that nowadays children start viewing television starting at the age of 1 year.
Work cited:
Perdana, Silva Audya, et al. “Duration of Watching TV and Child Language
Development.” Paediatrica Indonesiana,vol.57, no.2, April, 2017, pp.99-103. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.09637bda507742068e4a464bfb23fec1&site=eds-live&scope=site
The third source I found is an academic journal called “Digital natives? New and Old media and children’s outcomes.” It was written by Michael Bittman, Leonie Rutherford, and Jude Brown Lens Unsworth. This academic journal was published on November 1, 2011, in the Australian Journal of Education.
The author of this academic journal talks about how we live in an age where there is easy accessibility to a variety of technology such as television, computers, and smartphones. The author focused on how the use of technology does influence positively a child’s language development. After having analysed the results of a Longitudinal Study of Australian Children conducted in 2005 by Soloff,Lawrence and Johnstone (qtd. From Bittman et al. 164) with children between the ages of 1 to 5 years old to see the impact of technology on their language skills. The author discussed how stimulating a child by spending time reading, as well as monitoring and controlling the time that a child spends viewing television, or using the computer showed to not negatively impact a child’s language development. However, the author talked about how having a television inside a child’s bedroom, leaving the television on for long periods of time and leaving the child unsupervised did negatively impact the language development of a child. Since what the type of content that is being viewed if not supervised. The author also talked about how parents viewing television with their children is beneficial since they can explain the meaning of a word to their children in case, they need it.
What I liked about this article is how detailed and well explained the information is. Also, I liked how it brought a new perspective on the impact that technology can have in the language development of children. Lastly, while reading this article, I learned that the parents’ habits, and time they spend interacting with their children, and talking to them is very important.
Work cited:
Bittman, Michael, et al. “Digital Natives? New and Old Media and Children’s Outcomes.”
Australian Journal of Education (ACER Press), vol. 55, no.2, November. 2011, pp.161-75. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=a9h&AN=67267125&site=eds-live&scope=site
Blog Entry #7
For this week I found an Academic journal called “Influence of Electronic Media on Speech and Language Delay in Children.” It was written by Shradha Salunke, Rasika Bharaswadkar, Manojkumar Patil, Sharad Agarkhedkar, Vineeta Pande, and Shailaja Mane. It was published on November 1, 2021, in a Medical Journal of Dr D.Y. Patil University. The purpose of this academic journal is to study and understand the correlation between the amount of time spent using technology and its impact on language delay that young children between the ages of 6 months to 6 years old can develop. The authors of this academic journal conducted a study with 426 children between the ages of three years old to six years old where they monitored the amount of time, they spent viewing the television or using electronic devices such as phones or tablets. The study concluded that children who spent more than three hours using electronic devices and viewing television had more chances of developing language delays, sleep depravation problems, health problems such as obesity, aggressivity, or even eyesight problems. They also concluded that, the use of mobile electronics such as phones or tablets requires more interactions from the child than television does. However, the authors do note that depending on the type of content children are exposed to while using mobile electronic devices it can either help them learn better or distract them. Furthermore, children whose parents supervised the amount of time they spent viewing television or using mobile electronic devices had less chance of having language development problems.
I had not realised until I read this article that electronic devices such as phones, computers, or tablets require us to be more engaged than television does. After reading this academic journal article, my interest for my topic increased, I feel like I want to continue learning more my topic and its impact on language development as well as about the other impacts it can have on children. Furthermore, I find that this source since it is more recent brings a new perspective about my topic and about the results the study has concluded, specially because they talk about other electronic devices such as smartphones, computers, and tablets. Also, they do mention similar information that I had previously read in other academic journal’s such as how the use of electronic devices such as television can prevent interactions between parents and their children, as well as between children. About how viewing too much television can lead to attention and behavioral problems, sleep problems. I find that this source was understandable and interesting. The authors presented their information and findings in a clear and understandable way.
Work cited:
Salunkhe, Shradha, et al. “Influence of Electronic Media on Speech and Language Delay
In Children.” Medical Journal of Dr. D.Y. Patil University, vol. 14, no. 6, Nov.2021,
pp. 656-61.
Blog Entry #8
The second source that I found and that I thought was interesting is an academic journal called “Do Verbal interactions with Infants During Electronic Media Exposure Mitigate Adverse Development as Toddles?” it was written by Alan. L. Mendelsohn, Carolyn A. Brockmeyer, Bernard P. Dreyer, Arthur H. Fierman, Samantha B. Berkule-Silberman, and Suzy Tomopoulos. It was published on October 22nd, 2010, in the Infant and Child Delevopment Journal.
The purpose of the article was to conduct a study to see if the negative impact of technology on children’s language development could be prevented by mothers interacting and talking with their children while they were viewing television, using the computer, or when watching videos on platforms such as YouTube.
The authors of the article began by discussing the importance of parent-child interaction, they explained that it is by interacting with their parents and their family members that children, are capable of further developing their language skills. Therefore, through a study involving mothers and their children, from low-income families and immigrant families to evaluate the amount of time their children spend being exposed to any sort of media. And how much they interacted with their children while they were being exposed to the media. The mothers had to keep a journal where they would log the amount of time, the sort of media their children were exposed to, and the type of content they viewed. As well as how much they communicated with their children during those times. Finally, evaluation of the children’s language development was evaluated prior to the start of the study and respectively at 6 and 12 months. The study conducted revealed that interacting with children while they are being exposed to a media device, can help prevent the negative impact the media can have in children’s language development, behaviour, and health. As the interaction allows children to better understand and process what they have seen or what they have been exposed to, and it also allows them to interact with their parents thus enhancing their language skills.
While reading this academic journal I learned that interacting with children while they are watching television, or watching videos on a phone, can help prevent the impacts the media can have in their language development, as well as in their behavior and health. This source does have similar information to other readings I have done, but what is different and what I found interesting is that it focused on understanding if having parents interact with their children while they were being exposed to a source of media could prevent the negative impacts technology and the media can have in children. To conclude, I found that this source was understandable, and provided clear and specific information.
Work cited:
Mendelsohn, Alan L., et al. « Do verbal Interactions with Infants during Electronic Media
Exposure Mitigate Adverse Impacts on Their Language Development as
Toddlers?” Infant and Child Development, vol.19, no.6, Jan. 2010, pp.577-
93. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=eric&AN=EJ907935&site=eds-live&scope=site
Blog Entry 9
The academic journal that I chose is called “English Development as a Second Language in Relation with TV Exposure. (A Case Study of Young Learner)” it was written by N.M. Ayu Widiastuti, and A.A.S. Shanti Sari D. and S. A. Isnu Maharani. It was published in 2018. The goal of this academic journal is to study and understand children’s English language development as a second language through the exposure to educational programs that are chosen by their parents. The authors of this academic article explain that viewing television can be good for children and have positive effects on them, as long as parents are present to supervise, accompany and explain to their children what they are being exposed to. The authors review and study the data that was collected after a study that was conducted in 2017. The study involved a young Indonesian child named Teresa Violeta Umbass, but she goes by the name of Vio. And her parents. The parents were asked questions during an interview to evaluate the level of their involvement when it came to Vio’s exposure to television. As well as assessing Vio’s progress, in learning English. Throughout the article the authors put an emphasis over the fact that children develop their language skills by interacting with their surroundings and their family and by imitating what they hear around them. Which is why they emphasize the importance of parents being present and monitoring what their children are being exposed to on television, as well as help them when they need it. The study showed that Vio enjoyed watching animated television programs in English with subtitles in Indonesian. The parents would monitor and help her choose the type of animated cartoons that were destined for children of her age and would explain to her why she could not watch other type of animated programs that were destined for older children. They concluded that by her parents being present and explaining her the programs she watched, she was able to learn new words in English and expand her vocabulary. She was also able to recreate games by being inspired to what she had seen, as well as retell the story of the program.
The main takeaways of this article for me, is that it shows the importance of the involvement of parents when it comes to what their children are being exposed to on television. This reading does advance my understanding of my topic and makes me want to learn more about, and the positive effects television can have on children. Furthermore, when I compare this source to the other sources, I have read it has similar information but focuses on the roles of parents in their children’s exposure to television and confirms the importance of it. The source was interesting to read and was clear and could be well understood, as well as the information was divided in sections that could be well understood.
Work cited:
Widiastuti, N. M. Ayu, et al. “English Development as a Second Language in
Relation with TV Exposure.” Lingual, vol. 10, no. 1, May 2018, pp. 19–22. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2070/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.3768a6ae1dfe45fca3f54d5690834a11&site=eds-live&scope=site.
The second source I found is an academic journal called “Media as social partners: the social nature of young children’s learning from screen media.” It was published in 2011 in the Child Development Journal. It was written by Rebekah A. Richert, Michael B. Robb, and Erin I. Smith. The purpose of this academic journal is to understand the ways in which the television can influence and affect children. The authors of this academic journal divided their research into to sections. The first section focuses on children under 3 years old to understand their ability to learn from what they view on television. And the second section focuses on children older than 3 years old to understand their abilities to learn from what they are exposed to on television. The first section of the research explains that children under 3 years old can have a harder time grasping and understanding information that comes from television. This is due to children having difficulty understanding what is being presented on television since it is in 2D than what is being presented in front of them in real life by a person. This academic journal has several sections that deal with specific particularities. I will focus more on the section called “Word Learning” ( Richert, et al. 87) This section focused on understanding if children were capable of learning new vocabulary through videos, or television programs. The research concluded that children had a harder time learning new words from a program on television. But if they were accompanied by their parents while watching the program and then explaining to them that they had seen as well as show them the meaning between a word and an object, children had less of a hard time learning new vocabulary. In the second sections of the academic journal, that focused on children who were older than 3 years old and that went to preschool. The authors explained that by that age children can learn new vocabulary words from programs such as Sesame Street, because in those type of shows the characters recreate in a certain way social interactions between the viewer and the characters. Meaning that they will look directly into the camera and ask the audience a question and then pausing for a few seconds, which gives the viewer the chance to answer the question. They do note, the importance of parents viewing programs with their children to assist them in case they need help understanding something.
What I liked about this article is that it explains the process of children when it comes to understanding what they are exposed to on television and learning new vocabulary from television. This reading does advance my understanding on my subject and makes want to continue to learn more about how television can impact children. The information in this academic journal is similar to other information that I have read in other academic journals but these focusses more on the impact television has on children and the things they can learn through television.
Work Cited:
Richert, Rebekah A, et al. “Media as Social Partners: The Social Nature of Young Children’s Learning from Screen Media.” Child Development, vol. 82, no. 1. January 2011, pp. 82-95. https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2312/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.29782819&site=eds-live&scope=site
What did I learn?
Being myself someone that often uses technology, like my computer to do homework, my phone to listen to music, talk with my friends, be on social media and watch YouTube, and even watch movies on television for my weekly Friday movie nights. I started wondering what effects technology could have on someone, other than being addictive. Which is why through my research I wanted to answer questions such as, what effects does technology and more specifically television has on language development in children? Since as children we watch television for entertainment or to spend time. And specially nowadays where we have easy accessibility to technology. I also wanted to know what are the positive and negative effects?
Through my research I learned that children spending too much time being exposed to television can have several negative effects. Such as having behavioral problems, attention problems, insomnia, and even having health related issues. Experts even encourage parents to not let their children younger than two years old be exposed to technology.
When it comes the children’s language development, television can have different negative effects. To begin, through television children have accessibility to a variety of programs. And those programs are not always aimed for a younger audience. Which is why it is important for parents to supervise and monitor the type of content their children are exposed to. If children view programs that are aimed for adults or older children, and where they use a more complex vocabulary that is harder to understand. Children can develop language delays. Therefore, it is important for children to be accompanied by their parents when watching television so that they can monitor the type of shows their children view and explain any word that the child does not understand. Furthermore, television shows use fast moving images, loud music, and a lot of colors at the same time which can cause confusion in a child and can prevent them from hearing and having time to process what they just watched and heard. As I learned last year through my linguistics class, children also develop and expand their vocabulary through interactions with their parents and family. Television can prevent these types of interactions by causing the parent to be distracted, which limits the number of interactions between the child and their parent.
However, there also positive effects. For example, children who watch education shows like Sesame Street where the characters in television use easy to understand words and recreate interaction like settings that allows the children to interact with what they are seeing, helps them develop further their language. Not only that but watching educational shows that are aimed for a younger audience can also help children learn a new language and develop their vocabulary in that second language.
In conclusion, television has both positive and negative effects on children’s language development.