CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

With the development of satellite and digital technology, television now has an infinite number of programs. Television is a type of electrical gadget that sends both image and sound. It's utilized for amusement, information, and advertisements. For example, there are programs on news, education, culture, weather prediction, sports, music, and a multitude of both excellent and bad material (Santrock, 2005). Television combines the enticing elements of movies and radio, and it is one of the most popular forms of entertainment during childhood. It has the potential to divert children's attention away from other types of play.

Television viewing is an additional play activity for preschool children and even older children, but it is not a substitute for active play or other types of passive play. For many teenagers, it is more popular and takes up more of their play time than any other activity. If utilized actively, television remains a vital medium for children. According to Livingstone (2002), however, children consider television viewing as a source of fun. On the other hand, many parents see television, particularly for young children, as a crucial educational tool that may help them develop intellectually (Rideout, 2003).

Television may provide general benefits to children by exposing them to areas of life that they would not otherwise be exposed to, as well as a variety of entertainment, drama, and learning that can be accessed and experienced (Gunter and Mc Aleer, 1997). The authors argued that watching television helps youngsters expand their vocabulary, which assists their reasoning. However, studies have found that the increase in vocabulary size is insufficient to justify the time spent viewing and has no discernible influence on the child's reading abilities. Ward (2002), on the other hand, argued that some students are inspired to follow up on what they see on television and therefore fill holes in their school curriculum. They read items that they would not have read otherwise, particularly ones that are not part of their schoolwork.

Students in industrialized nations are increasingly turning to television tutoring for assistance with disciplines such as mathematics, English, chemistry, and French. Students learn these subjects through viewing certain programs, which helps them improve their understanding of the subjects. They may even write back to the creators of these programs in the region where they are having difficulty using the address that is normally provided on the television screen, and most of the time their difficulties are resolved. Several schools have gone so far as to put the whole curriculum on a digital video disc, requiring pupils to work from home via television or computer, deciding when and what to complete. Such a school was dubbed a virtual school (Hastings, 2003).

Because of the learning that occurs through television, it is one of the primary players in the socialization process, alongside more conventional socializing agents such as the family, school, and peer groups (Signorielli and Morgan, 2001), reflecting society's values and culture. Television is not seen in the same manner by children as it is by adults. According to Takanishi (1982), age and maturity impact how a youngster responds to and engages with television.

Given that the upper basic levels of the Nigerian education system account for a large proportion of school-age children, there is a need to identify strategies to improve their learning capacities both in and out of school. Furthermore, because upper basic level students, as children, may not perceive television in the same way that adults do, understanding what they can and cannot do with television and how they perceive it is critical, as is an examination of the influence of television viewing on their academic achievement.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The association between children's academic success and television consumption has been a source of contention. Viewing educational programs by children has been linked to desirable attributes in children such as higher grades, more books read, a higher emphasis placed on success, and being more creative. Anene (2006) discovered in another research that excessive television viewing impairs reading, retards problem solving, expressive language and listening abilities, dulls imagination, and contributes to laziness. Furthermore, findings from research on cognitive ability and television consumption have been equivocal. Some researchers have discovered that high-quality instructional television programs aid in learning. Others have demonstrated that when confounding factors such as cognitive quotient or socioeconomic level are included, the detrimental effects of hours spent in front of the television vanish.

Some parents believe that watching television is bad for their children, so they try to limit their children's television viewing. Other parents, on the other hand, believe that there is nothing wrong with watching television. Indeed, there are two opposing viewpoints on the impact of television consumption on children's academic achievement. At one end, it is considered as motivating and exposing youngsters to study more, while at the other end, it is condemned as a source of current societal evils because most television programs are not effectively managed or regulated.

Considering the inconsistent opinions, views and result of findings on the influence of television viewing on the academic achievement of children, there is the need to carry out further study on the influence of home video viewership on secondary school students academic performance

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study was to determine the influence of home video viewership on secondary school students academic performance. Specifically, the study intends to:

i.            Establish whether television viewing influences students  language development

ii.          Determine whether television viewing influences students’  numeracy development.

iii.      Establish  whether television viewing influences student students’ reading and listening skills during class room instruction.

iv.        Investigate whether television viewing influences students cognitive skills in class assessment.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

i.          Does  television viewing influences students  language development?

ii.        Does  television viewing influences students’  numeracy development?

iii.      Does television viewing influences student students’ reading and listening skills during class room instruction?

iv.      Does  television viewing influences students cognitive skills in class assessment?

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