Verified Document

Television And Child Literacy Research Paper

Television Children Childhood Education and Media Literacy

Media technology is a part of our everyday lives even from a very young age. This is true for many children who are entering elementary school today. These children are likely to already be familiar with such media as television and the internet, which have both recreational and educational merits as the child grows up. This early-aged familiarity is proving to be a great opportunity for educators to use the interests which are already existing in young students. By using such technology-based ways of educating such as the use of television to help develop literacy, teachers may be better able to work with a diversity of student needs. Using these technology-based media also have some risks for the development of student literacy. These relate to the formation of symbolic understanding as a result of media exposure. This is explored in greater detail later in this essay. In general, the discussion argues that television, the internet and other technology-based media used by children regularly for recreation are not only a great opportunity for educators, but should be seen as a positive way to train literacy.

The idea of individual learning needs in particular may help our focus, with research showing that one of the main effects of media to education of elementary school aged students is its ability to administer an extremely wide variety of content and ways of testing reading abilities. Therefore, the television, the computer and such interactive hybrids as webtv...

Therefore, this essay finds that the use of new technologies in the classroom will help to improve the ability of teachers to deal with individual needs the come from gender, ethnicity and learning differences. (Cesarone, 1)
To this point, today, television has increasingly come to offer different kinds of programming that appeal to the educational and developmental needs of child viewers. This shows a major shift in programming over several decades, with the Morrow (2006) text giving particular insight into the evolution of such programming. Morrow shows how television as a tool has come more over time to benefit the needs of younger viewers. In his history of the early start of the famous children's show, Sesame Street, Morrow gives a useful background to the beginning of a new view on children's programming. He describes a new constructive way of using this medium where children are concerned, telling that there was a growing ageement amongst its critics that "children's television did not primarily nurture its viewers' emotional and intellectual growth. Instead, it served the needs of sponsoring advertisers . . .[and] that children, particularly the youngest viewers, did not understand the purpose of sales messages, could not evaluate their claims, and could not distinguish them from the programs." (Morrow, 121)

This was a major conflict in terms of…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

Alexander, A. & Hanson, J. (2006). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Mass Media and Society. McGraw-Hill/Dushkin; 9th Ed.

Cesarone, B. (2000). Computers in Elementary and Early Childhood Education. Childhood Education. Online at <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3614/is_200010/ai_n8904161>.

Hobbs, R. (2007). Reading the Media. Teacher's College Press.

Mokhtari, K. (2009). ISU Study Finds College Students are Online Regularly and Reading More Overall. Insciences Organization. Online at http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=3664
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Literacies According to Mora 2000 ,
Words: 2391 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Activities such as reading the names of street signs and stores and reading the ingredients on packages can help make children aware of the importance of printed words. One of the most important things parents can do to encourage literacy in their early learner is to talk to their child. In a study conducted by Hart and Risley (1995, 1999 as cited by Rosenkoetter & Barton, 2002), children whose parents

Correlation Between Television Viewing and Reading Literacy in Children...
Words: 1962 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Television and Child Literacy Ever since it became a household fixture more than fifty years ago, parents and educators have asked the same question - is there such a thing as too much television? Can television interfere with a child's desire to learn to read? When television first debuted, it was touted as the wonder of the age, a miracle of technology that would bring the world into everyone's living rooms.

Effects Mainstream Social Media Today's Children
Words: 1902 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Children and Media Technology surrounds everything that children participate in nowadays. From using computers to watching television, the media influences children in just about every activity that they are a part of. The mainstream and social media have had a great impact on the behavior of children, as they are consistently exposed to numerous forms of the media at all times. As technology advances and children are more and more prone

Child Care Developmental Observation of Five-Year-Old Statement
Words: 2762 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Child Care Developmental Observation of Five-Year-old Statement of Research/Observation: To observe a five-year-old female child in her natural setting to determine age appropriate developmental stages. Description of Child Being Observed: The subject is a five-year-old female: Maribel. Planning Stages: My friend has a five-year-old niece. The subject's mother was contacted and agreed to allow the observations to take place in her home and on the playground. The project was discussed and plans were made to

Children, Grief, and Attachment Theory
Words: 22384 Length: 75 Document Type: Term Paper

Figure 1 portrays three of the scenes 20/20 presented March 15, 2010. Figure 1: Heather, Rachel, and Unnamed Girl in 20/20 Program (adapted from Stossel, 2010). Statement of the Problem For any individual, the death of a family member, friend, parent or sibling may often be overwhelming. For adolescents, the death of person close to them may prove much more traumatic as it can disrupt adolescent development. Diana Mahoney (2008), with the

Television's Effects Outside the Classroom
Words: 3016 Length: 10 Document Type: Thesis

In fact, the relationship between academic performance and television is not clear cut. Research has shown that children who watch a large amount of television typically do poorly in school, yet those who spend a moderate amount of time in front of the television do better than non-viewers. There is a small negative relationship between television viewing and a child's IQ. However, there are significant subgroup differences. There are

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now