A study on childrens television programmes and the acquisition of prosocial and language skills

Abstract

India has over 372 million children (0-14 years) whose exposure to television starts early. There are over 15 channels in the Kids genre that telecast in English or various regional languages. Research on positive effects of children s programmes lags behind in India. This research aims to understand the impact of children s television programmes on how children acquire prosocial and language skills. newlineThe following are the objectives with regards to children s television programmes (1) To study the viewing habits and programme preferences of children; (2) To identify the perceptions and views of parents; (3) To identify the level of prosocial content; (4) To analyse whether viewing prosocial content leads to the acquisition of prosocial skills; (5) To identify the level of compliments, encouragements and dialogues containing polite words; (6) To analyse whether viewing helps children improve their vocabulary in a second language. The following research methods were used to gather data in Chennai, India (1) Survey of 2300 Kindergarten and Primary school children; (2) Content analysis of programmes that aired between 6 PM 10 PM on five Kids channels (Pogo, Nick, Hungama, Chutti TV and Disney Junior); (3) In-Depth interview of 150 parents; (4) Experiment with children (2-4 years) in two preschools. newline