Young Children's Comprehension of Educational Television: the Role of Visual Information and Intonation

Abstract

Fisch's (2000) capacity model posits that comprehension of educational content on television can be impaired by program characteristics that increase the processing demands of either narrative or educational content. In several current educational television series for preschool children, stories are conveyed, not through meaningful dialogue, but through visual information and intonational cues embedded within nonsensical dialogue. To examine young children's ability to comprehend educational content under such conditions, 135 3- through 5-year-olds viewed two television segments about a family of chickens; approximately one-half viewed the segments with all dialogue spoken in nonsensical "chicken talk," and one-half viewed it with key English words and phrases inserted among the "chicken talk." In addition, one segment was expected to be easier to understand because its educational message (cooperation) involved behaviors that were visually concrete, whereas the other (honesty) concerned verbal behavior that was more visually abstract. Results indicated that comprehension was significantly stronger among older children and (across the age range) for the more visually concrete story about cooperation. However, comprehension was not significantly enhanced by the inclusion of English words and phrases. Thus, it appears that "concreteness" should be added to the factors affecting comprehension under the capacity model, but that young children can use visual information and intonational cues to understand educational content on television.