Impact Of Cartoons On Children’s Language Learning Abilities And Emotional Intelligence Development

Abstract

I don’t think there is a teacher, either from preschool, primary or gymnasium, who didn’t use the cartoons in the class lessons. I also don’t think there is a child who hasn’t enjoyed watching an animated movie or cartoon programs as a child. We must recognize that this fact is considered normal nowadays. Psychologist Karen Philip, cited by the Spanish daily El Pais, is alarming about a lot of dangers to which the children are exposed when they are allowed to watch cartoons for hours. On the other hand there are also psychologists who argue that cartoons can provide opportunities for development in terms of narrative and linguistic skills. The American journalist Ron Suskind, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1995, had published in 2014 "Life, Animated “A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism. It is an autobiographical book in which the author relates and explains how Disney movies helped his autistic child develop communication skills and gradually interact with the outside world and family members. Two years after the publication of this work, director Roger Ross Williams made it possible to produce a documentary film about the life of an autistic child Owen Suskind and the role Disney had in giving him means to understand his feelings and interpret reality and finally recovering Autism. So in this article we will study all the mechanisms through which both animated cartoons and animation films can help parents and teachers in language education, development of emotional intelligence and cognitive capacities of children.