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Parents vs. TV

L. Quentin Dixon Harvard Graduate School of Education. Parents vs. TV. Parents vs. TV. The Relative Importance of Caregiver Language versus TV Language in Predicting English Vocabulary Skills among Bilingual Kindergarten Children in Singapore. Today’s Presentation. Why Singapore?

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Parents vs. TV

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  1. L. Quentin Dixon Harvard Graduate School of Education Parents vs. TV

  2. Parents vs. TV The Relative Importance of Caregiver Language versus TV Language in Predicting English Vocabulary Skills among Bilingual Kindergarten Children in Singapore

  3. Today’s Presentation • Why Singapore? • Previous Research • Research Questions • Methods • Results • Discussion

  4. Why Singapore? http://www.goway.com/orientasia/singapore/si_img/singapore_map.gif

  5. Why Singapore? • 3 major ethnic groups: • 77% Chinese • 14% Malay • 8% Indian • 4 official languages: Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, & English • Most families are not native-English speakers • English is the medium of education • “Mother Tongue” is a required subject

  6. Why Singapore? http://www.internationalreports.net/asiapacific/singapore/2002/images/ScienceStudents.jpg

  7. Why Singapore? • Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) 1995 • Third International Math and Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R) 1999 • Reading Literacy Study 1991 • Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001

  8. Previous Research: TV and L1 vocabulary • L1 English-speaking children learned vocabulary presented through TV (Rice & Woodsmall, 1988) • Viewing “Sesame Street” was correlated with vocabulary growth among L1 English-speaking children (Rice, Huston, Truglio, & Wright, 1990).

  9. Previous Research: TV and L2 vocabulary • Home TV viewing significantly predicted Spanish-English bilingual children’s receptive and expressive English vocabulary at the beginning and end of kindergarten in the US (Uchikoshi, 2004). • Dutch children learned L2 vocabulary through viewing subtitled and unsubtitled English TV programs (Koolstra & Beentjes, 1999)

  10. Previous Research: TV and L2 vocabulary • Frequency of TV viewing did not significantly predict English vocabulary of bilingual 2-year-old children in the US (Patterson, 2002)

  11. Research Question • What is the role of caretaker language, TV language and mother tongue vocabulary in predicting English vocabulary of kindergarten pupils in Singapore?

  12. Stratified Random Sample of Kindergarten Centers by Region http://www.cdc.org.sg/index.html 28 centers participated

  13. Within Center, Stratified Random Sample of Children by Ethnicity n = 285 • 59% Chinese • 22% Malay • 18% Indian http://www.mfa.gov.sg/sections/aboutsg/idx_aboutsg.htm

  14. Sample by Home Language

  15. Predictors Home Background Questionnaire • Caretaker language • TV language Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III • Translated into Mandarin, Malay & Tamil

  16. Outcome Measures • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III (PPVT-III) in English

  17. Control Variables Home Background Questionnaire • Mother’s education • Family income • Ethnicity • Gender

  18. Data Collection Procedures

  19. Data Collection Procedures • 6 local bilingual Research Assistants administered tests • Fluent Mandarin, Malay, & Tamil speakers • Trained to administer child assessments • All data were collected within a 3-week period in July, 2003

  20. Results

  21. Results: Caretaker Language

  22. Results: TV Language

  23. Discussion • Supports studies that indicate children can learn vocabulary from TV (Uchikoshi, 2004; Koolstra & Beentjes, 1999; Rice, Huston, Truglio, & Wright, 1990; Rice & Woodsmall, 1988)

  24. Discussion Seems to contradict the finding that number of hours of TV viewing did not significantly predict bilingual children’s English vocabulary (Patterson, 2002) BUT Number of hours of TV viewing was not significant

  25. Limitations • Correlational • Parental report data

  26. Acknowledgements Catherine Snow Terry Tivnan Barbara Pan John Willett Spencer Research Training Grant

  27. References Koolstra, C. M., & Beentjes, J. W. J. (1999). Children's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(1), 51-60. Patterson, J. L. (2002). Relationships of expressive vocabulary to frequency of reading and television experience among bilingual toddlers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23(4), 493-508. Rice, M. L., Huston, A. C., Truglio, R., & Wright, J. (1990). Words from "Sesame Street": Learning vocabulary while viewing. Develomental Psychology, 26(3), 421-428. Rice, M. L., & Woodsmall, L. (1988). Lessons from television: Children's word learning when viewing. Child Development, 59, 420-429.

  28. References Uchikoshi, Y. (2004). Development of early literacy skills of bilingual kindergarteners: An individual growth modeling approach. Harvard, Cambridge, MA.

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