The Influence of Media in Children’s Language Development

Abstract

Along with the rise of child-targeted programming became the belief that TV would be a very effective educational tool that could subconsciously or at a subliminal level feed information to the young mind and, with that, vocabulary growth would occur. Much programming was created that dealt with the direct educating of children that tried to create a way of communication with the child as a target. The paper discusses the influence of TV in children’s language development. It investigates the notion that children’s educational TV programs may result in vocabulary learning. It stresses the values of these educational programs, but also emphasizes that TV and other screen media have become a reality of life, and it is wise to utilize them only as a supportive tool for educating children. The interactions of parents co-viewing such programs with their children are necessary to optimize the child’s language learning from TV programs that target children. The paper concludes with the implications of the current research as well as suggestions for further research.