The purpose of this study was to investigate possible relationships between television viewing habits and the reading achievement of first grade children. Research has been done which links television viewing time and enhanced language acquisition and vocabulary development for the very young child. Other research has shown that if the older child continues to be a heavy television viewer, his academic achievement may actually suffer. Evidence concerning the relationship of television viewing habits and early academic achievement has been limited, however. This study was designed to investigate this relationship.The research sample consisted of eighty first graders in the consolidated school district of a small Midwestern suburban community. The sample was selected from the population of non-retained first graders near the end of the 1979-80 school year. All of the six first grade classrooms in the school system participated. Inclusion of the children in the sample from the total group of first graders was based on returning the completed television survey forms and parental permission slips for release of their test scores. The subjects were predominately from Anglo-American, middle-class families.Three assessment measures were employed in the study. The Otis-Lennon Test of Mental Ability was used to obtain IQ scores, and subtests from the SRA Achievement Series was utilized as the measure of reading achievement. These two standardized tests were administered by the schools as part of their regular testing program. The television survey was the instrument used to measure the television viewing habits of the subjects during a sample week. This instrument was constructed specifically for this investigation.The results of the three measures were analyzed for statistical significance by computing a partial correlation coefficient. Through the use of the partial correlation, the variable of IQ was controlled statistically. Three major null hypotheses, each of which included four null subhypotheses, were tested.Hypothesis 1: There is no relationship between early reading achievement and the amount of entertainment television viewing time, controlling for IQ. Data were analyzed separately for boys and girls and for vocabulary and comprehension achievement. A significant negative relationship was found between the reading comprehension achievement scores of boys and amount of entertainment television viewing. This led to the rejection of subhypothesis 1.2 which stated that there is no relationship between entertainment viewing time and reading comprehension achievement for boys. Other subhypotheses under hypothesis 1 were not rejected.Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between early reading achievement and the amount of informational television viewing time. Data were analyzed separately for boys and girls and for vocabulary and comprehension achievement. No significant relationships were found, therefore, hypothesis two was not rejected.Hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between early reading achievement and the time spent watching television with a parent. Data were analyzed separately for boys and girls, and for vocabulary and comprehension achievement. A significant negative relationship was found between reading comprehension achievement scores for boys and time spent watching television with a parent. This led to the rejection of subhypothesis 3.2 which stated that there is no relationship between time spent watching television with a parent and reading comprehension achievement for boys. Other subhypotheses under hypothesis three were not rejected.It was concluded that for these boys there is a negative relationship between reading comprehension achievement and entertainment television viewing time which was anticipated. A similar negative relationship with time spent televiewing with a parent was not anticipated. No statistically significant relationships were found between television viewing habits and early reading achievement for girls. No statistically significant relationships were found between informational television viewing time and early reading achievement for either sex. It was recommended that studies be undertaken to further investigate the area of television viewing time as it relates to early reading achievement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/180910 |
| Date | 03 June 2011 |
| Creators | Smyser, Sheryl O'Sullivan |
| Contributors | Lumpkin, Donovan D. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 3, vi, 89 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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