Arguments That Tv Aids Language Development

Arguments linking TV to aiding language development include research which has shown that when high-quality, age appropriate educational programming is selected by parents, language development is not hindered. This also includes programmes which have opportunities for verbal responses to encourage children to participate which will then offer positive reinforcement to their responses, for example Dora The Explorer uses praise such as ‘well done’ after participation. This relates to the language theorist Skinner who introduced an imitation and reinforcement theory that encourages child language acquisition.

Research also promotes programmes which include a balance of new and familiar content. This reinforces current knowledge whilst helping to aid learning of new vocabulary.

Furthermore it is encouraged that adults are present when children are viewing to interact and explain familiar words. This coincides with Bruner’s theory of ‘LASS’; the language acquisition support system, and that parents or carers are able to encourage the learning of language. In a study, when adults were present with children ranging between 30 to 42 months and exploring whether they could learn verbs from videos, it was found children under 3 could only learn the verbs when an adult was present to reinforce their viewing whereas children over 3 were able to learn the verbs from the video and understand them in other contexts without any adults interaction – supporting the fact that TV does aid language development.

Children between 2 and 5 have been found to benefit their attention, comprehension, receptive vocabulary and expressive language skills from viewing high-quality and age appropriate educational television.

However it is argued that TV does not aid language development. This comes from concerns that language abilities of children from entry school level have been on the decline from the past 10 years. There is evidence that children who have viewed excessive amounts of...