Television, Reading and Oral Language Development: The Case of the Hispanic Child

Abstract

Abstract Most of the research on children’s television viewing and reading ability has been conducted with native English speakers, and most studies have found an inverse relationship between television and reading. The nature of this relationship has varied, however, when controls for IQ and SES have been imposed. But one study found a positive relationship between reading and television viewing up to a threshold of three hours of viewing per day among second language speakers of English. These findings suggest that television may model English language usage for children whose first language is other than English, that these children may use television to develop their oral language skills in English, and that these skills, in turn, contribute to their reading ability. This study explored these possibilities. Questionnaires were administered to 168 Mexican and Puerto Rican children enrolled in grades 2, 4 and 7 who were no longer enrolled in the bilingual education program. Data on television viewing ta...