Language Acquisition and Infant's Exposure to Television in Pakistan: Phenomenological Study of Mother's Experiences

Abstract

Due to the development of technology, television has become a medium that significantly affects children's language acquisition, particularly in the context of various programs. This study investigated how exposure to TV impacted their infant's language acquisition and social interaction, determined by mother perception and how much time they spend on TV daily. Children's language acquisition is affected by multiple factors. One factor that impacts children's language acquisition at the linguistic phase is the environment, like cartoons. It can be seen from the use of words, expressions or sentences that the children utilize in their daily conversations. This study was qualitative research with a phenomenological research design. The data was collected from children's mothers whose children are aged 0 months old to 36 months old. In compiling the data, the researcher used observation and in-depth interviews. The study results indicated that YouTube cartoon-like Cocomelon significantly impacts children's language acquisition from 0 to 36 months old. High exposure to cartoons leads to visual autism in some children in this study, while children also learn different rhymes from the cartoon. Future studies can investigate the language acquisition and frequency of mobile screens under quantitative design.