Language, Mathematics and Educational Television in Infants' Schools

Journal of Educational Television

Griffin

Hobart

1986

Self Cite

Ninety-one percent of 227 surveyed teachers of children up to seven years of age (including 101 teachers who monitored educational television series for the Project), in 17 local education authorities in England and Wales, claimed to use educational television broadcasts to assist them with children's language development. However, apart from the nursery teachers, they appeared to put emphasis on language skill acquisition rather than language development, reinforcing the language policy of the schools. Two thirds of the teachers stated that they were catering for children individually when using educational television, although class viewing was the normal practice. The usual method was to watch a programme continuously from beginning to end (even when a video recorder was used) and then to discuss it with the children and to give written work on letter formation, sentence formation, initial sounds, etc., often by filling in worksheets. The teachers were encouraged in this practice by the television series, as these promoted the learning of language and reading skills rather than language development. There was no evidence to suggest that general interest series were used to any extent to enhance language development, in spite of overwhelming agreement by the teachers that television stories, songs and poems were valuable in this respect. A change of attitude by teachers towards language and educational television is desirable, involving the examination of current practices, the analysis of the material presented by broadcasters and the relating of developmental factors to the medium.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…In a previous survey (Choat, 1982(Choat, , 1983) a recurring comment of teachers was that 'language is in every programme', but the BBC and IBA do broadcast specific language series for young children. One hundred and one teachers chose to monitor such a series.…”

Section: The Surveymentioning

confidence: 96%

Language, Educational Television and Young Children

Journal of Educational Television

Griffin

Hobart

1986

Self Cite

“…Such will not be remedied until schools have an adequate supply of software and are suitably equipped to receive and record broadcasts. Choat (1983a) deals in greater depth with infants' school teachers' use of educational television for language and mathematical development. Programmes did not appear to fit in with a school's language policy, Again, the teachers' criterion for usefulness seemed to be the scope which a programme offered for follow-up, particularly discussion and phonic training in the teaching of reading.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many teachers do not consider broadcasts and the accompanying teachers' booklets as part of in-service education. They insist that educational television is an aid to their teaching and not a means to inspire new teaching techniques or revision of existing methods (Choat, 1983b). Although this attitude may indicate that teachers are not prepared to be dictated to by educational television, it could be argued that many teachers approach its use with closed minds and are not prepared to amend existing practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Strategy for Reviewing the Role of Educational Television in Infants’ Schools

Brit J Educational Tech

1983

Minimal consideration has been given to the function of educational television in the education of young children. Teachers have to overcome habits adopted with children's home viewing, and rationalize how television can be part of the curriculum before efficacy materializes. This does not appear to be happening with many infants' school teachers. Educational television broadcasts do not seem to be used as an ongoing teaching element to stimulate experiences beyond children's normal school activities. The entire blame cannot be attributed to the teachers for they have been given little guidance on the use of educational television during initial training or in subsequent in-service provisions, and in curriculum theory. It is necessary therefore to collect and analyse carefully information about the effects of educational television on infants' school children and the conditions which appear to influence whether or not it is educationally effective, but this cannot be done until a satisfactory monitoring procedure is established.Most research into the effectiveness of educational television refers to secondary schools, and further and higher education. This is understandable as most people concerned with research and the theoretical aspects of educational television are involved in these fields of education. Very few primary school teachers are interested in theory or research, and not many academics have primary school teaching experience. Consequently, very little research has been carried out into the effectiveness of educational television in primary schools-particularly infants' schools. Yet just as much television is watched in primary schools as in other sectors of education. 95 per cent of primary schools now have a television set. Such a high percentage of schools committed to television justifies investigation into whether television is playing a useful function in the education of young children.As Bates (1981) states, the classical methodology to measure the effectiveness of educational television is to compare the performance of a group of children taught through television with the performance of a group of children taught in another way.The assumption behind the experiment is that television can teach. This may be possible with older pupils, but educational television has a different connotation for young children. It is an aid and not the source of learning with them. This implies that concern should be given to the psychology of learning and the role of educational television in the curriculum for young children.The viewer mentally analyses when television is used for direct teaching. He

Investigating Educational Television and the Curriculum for Young Children: some pilot phase features

Brit J Educational Tech

Griffin

Hobart

1985

The absence of a previous large-scale investigation into educational television and the curriculum for young children necessitated establishing appropriate research procedures. This paper describes the salient features of the pilot study phase. A descriptive methodology based on questionnaire replies and classroom observations was resolved, but the work highlighted the desirability for constant contact with the participating teachers and the need for in-service education. The alignment of in-service education with research is examined and accepted providing the in-service elements are taken into account and not allowed to bias the research findings. The pilot studyThe lack of substantive research into educational television and young children necessitated the first year of our three-year project being spent on devising means to carry out a full-scale investigation.* It was necessary to identify the range of programmes of interest and establish research procedures to use with the full-scale inquiry. The research which has been undertaken is mainly American and orientated towards skill acquisition while the methods used do not fully acknowledge the function of the teacher in relation to educational television. This implies that efficacy in the potential of the medium cannot be gauged unless its role is recognized by a teacher. In other words, effectiveness has a prerequisite in the person of the teacher-how he or she incorporates educational television into the curriculum and how he abides by the psychology of learning to promote motivation and the fulfilment of children's needs and interests (Choat, Griffin and Hobart, 1984). The objective therefore was to devise strategies which would indicate the attitudes teachers have towards television, whether educational television programmes influence teaching methods, and the extent that educational television is recognized as part of the normal curriculum or treated as a separate entity (Choat, 1983a).Although procedures were needed which allowed data to be statistically analysed to measure how effectively teachers of young children were using television, further procedures were needed to complement the statistical evidence by indicating what happens in classrooms. Moreover, evaluation of the teachers' use of educational television was not the only consideration as an examination of the medium should also * The research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust assisted by donations from Thames Television and the Independent Broadcasting Authority.