Children's television programmes and their effects on the oracy skill of a young second language viewer

Children’s television programmes have been discovered by many researchers as an excellent path towards literacy and oracy among young children. Although many contrary arguments are given by certain people regarding the impact of television programmes among young viewers (Wilson, 2008; Cantor, 2002) some studies (Anderson & Pempek, 2005; Moses,2008; Howard & Roberts, 2002) have proven that if the children are exposed to a lot of educational programmes and with proper guidance from their parents and teachers, they unexpectedly reveal more positive learning in oracy skill and gradually show positive performance in reading and writing as they embark in preschool. The present paper reports on the positive impact of children’s television programmes among young children between 3 and 5 portraying literacy. The research question is how do the children’s television programmes help to improve the oracy skill of a second language child? The methods include two phases of case study. First, a closed and intense observation is conducted when the subject is 4 years old, and the second phase is conducted when the same subject grow older to 5 years old. This research compares the progress of communicative level in second language on the same subject in two different period of time. Data in the form of observations, recorded interactions between the boy and members of his family, content analysis of the programmes watched and field notes were collected within one intense week for the first stage, and 4 intense months for the second stage. The discussion of findings will include how far the children’s television programmes affect the second language child’s oracy through his vocabulary, the interaction that he does while watching the target programmes and the progress of his communicative level in second language. This study also suggests ways for parents and teachers to promote early literacy practices through children’s television programmes and help them to identify the characteristics of suitable attractive programs for their preschool learners