Exploring the potential of educational television: A review of the literature

Abstract

For over two decades educational researchers and practitioners have placed tremendous emphasis on ensuring children acquire a solid literacy foundation during the preschool years in order to successfully learn to read once in school (Pelletier, 2008). This focus is predicated on research that suggests children who enter school without a literacy-rich foundation on which to build rarely catch up to their peers who have acquired such a foundation, placing them at risk for a myriad of difficulties across subject areas (Desrochers & Glickman, 2008). The purpose of this systematic aggregative review was to summarize research reporting the effects of educational television viewing – an increasingly prevalent approach to promoting preschoolers’ cognitive development – on preschool viewers’ emergent literacy growth. Review findings may provide a range of educational partners, including early childhood educators, teachers and parents, further information on which to draw when planning activities for more fully supporting children’s early reading development.