Mass Media Profound Influence on Language Development - Term Paper Example

Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Introduction The mass media has penetrated so deep into the basis of our society that it has become vey essential and embodied into the daily doings of almost every individual. This can be attributed to the malleability of mass media to suit every person’s needs and preferences. Today in the cities, there is more to be learnt outside the classroom rather than in it. The sheer magnitude of information put across by magazines, press, radio, television far exceeds the quantity of materials conveyed by the school system. This in a way has destroyed the monopoly method used conventionally of getting most of educational information from books and broken the walls of the very teaching rooms so hastily leaving most students are buffed (Yoon, 2010). The consequent is extensive, not only to language, but also psychological and social consequences. This essay is aimed at looking at the consequences of mass media on linguistics in relation to education. It is easy to identify numerous forms of mass media such as magazines, televisions, radios, comics, advertising, film, newspapers, English language books, and records. Most of these kinds are interrelated. For instance, adverts permeate numerous kinds of mass media; this then means that different means of mass media can be used to convey a single message. This essay precisely looks at television as a means of facilitating the development of language among its users. It is not entirely the sole enabler among the other means, but it is the key player attributable to aspects that will be analyzed later in the essay. Television as a Key Player in Facilitating language Growth The television is arguably the main contributor in promoting language growth in comparison with all the other means of mass media and that is why it has been chosen for further analyzes. The main reasons that make television the best contributor are discussed below and compared to other means of mass media to demonstrate the superiority. Before assessing the effect of the mass media on language growth, one must initially resolve whether the language of the mass media overwrites a new language compared to conventional modes of communication such as the book. For instance, radio was a new language when it was introduced to a people amerced into books solely as a source of their information. Below are the reasons for the television dominance in developing language in mass media (Mitu, 2011). Why? Availability The television is an invasive part of modern day life in almost each home or institution, the main reason why it might have become such a dominant central feature can be attributed to its availability. It is always simple to purchase or have access to a television because the culture most people practice requires the accessibility to a TV. It is difficult to elucidate the how the TV culture was spread to the magnitude it is currently but it is clear to establish why it is still growing decades after invention. TV is today almost available in all areas of the world and certainly in all nations, and although more means of mass media may be more readily available such as books, certainly more people in these regions watch more television than they read books. It is commonly heard of book clubs where people go and read books, although the majority does not go to this clubs, if people had to join a club to watch television then we have to agree that the number would triple if not more. There is a clear dominance and preference to TV means of mass media, for this to happen, people have to have access to television to form their preference and liking for the gadget. In addition to the availability of the gadget, one can watch it from approximately any location in the world because the signals are readily available at every location. As compared to a book or magazine that one has to pick up from a precise location and maybe read at another, a TV can be watched at the comfort of one’s home at any time without delay. This ease of using television has increased its popularity among the population, in relation to the topic; the popularity makes the means a key language developer (Mitu, 2011). Efficient The television is possibly the most effective means in the entire of mass media. The reason for this may be its capacity to permeate distinctive means into one, for instance, it can be used to as an advertisement channel as to show a film. In general, a television brings together both picture and sound to make an effective conveyance of information. Its effectiveness directly translates to its popularity, most people to not want to read the news on the newspaper instead of a more non-strenuous way of just sitting back and watching it on TV. That is the good part about it, a boring book can be interesting if acted and shown on TV and just take an hour instead of having to read the book for a month (Nelson, Yaros & Keum, 2006). Its effectiveness as stated before is its ability to bring numerous mass media means together and making them interesting and easy to comprehend. For instance, many people do not read magazines as compared to those who watch television and the reason is not because they are not interested, no, the reason may be because the means (magazine) is just not so effective, it is time consuming, it is difficult to find what one is seeking or simply because the process of getting hold of the magazine is more tedious that actually reading it (Gonzales, Glik & Davoudi, 2004). In comparison, it takes a second to find the remote control and switch to the favorite channel of a TV form the comfort of the couch. The TV broadcasters also strive to ensure that they channels are interesting to encourage more viewers and keep the others. One of the other most used means of mass media is the radio, but like all the others, it is not as effective or popular as compared to the television. Listening to the radio can cause one to be easily distracted than listen and watching a television. Cost Effective It is true that a television set is definitely more expensive than a book, radio or a newspaper, but what is the actual price buying the newspaper on a daily basis, the added time used to complete reading and the straining to do so? How many books does one has to purchase to catch up to another who watches a few films on televisions for a few hours and how much time would the one with the books need to complete reading? So really, if the calculations of all this viewpoints were added up, the television would be cheaper than this other means. Look at it this way, put a price on the efficiency of saving hours on a daily basis together with avoiding too much straining, and then multiply that value with the days the television is expected to be working. The price of the television one will realize is too little to pay, and that of a book of newspaper is exaggerated, no wonder the majority prefer watching the news on TV than reading it. That said, the low cost of the television may be attributed to its high demand which result in the competition which then leads to lower prices. The economies of scale can be used to explain this, the more the raw products are needed, the less the money used to make the television which is then passed to customers as low prices (Chan & Cai, 2009). Most TV channels are also free to access and from any region of the country, and those that one has to pay for are lowly rated because of huge demand. The result of all these is people accessing more information at very cheap fees in a way that can be termed as friendly. Influence/Comprehensive Bringing together some of the aspects that make television a force to reckon with in mass media such as efficiency and popularity, the consequence is massive influence. The more people are embroiled into something, the more they are likely to be influenced by it. The positive part of it all is that television material is presided over by the government to avoid negative materials from being conveyed to the viewers, thus, the influence is most likely to be positive. The content available is broad, broader than the rest of the mass media. It is difficult to find a book that is talking about sport then the next send politics then the next latest news. The content available today is extensive at no extra cost. There is something for everyone, be it children or adults, sports fans or politician wannabes. Other means of mass communication are restricted to a sole or similar content. It is unheard of for an advertisement to advertise dissimilar objects at a go, for instance, milk and jewelry. Conclusion As much as television has played a major role in language development, mass communication in is entirety has been a key determinant. A child is exposed to 4,000 hours of television before they even start school, the consequence of that is neither definitive nor exhaustive, but where could they have acquired the same materials? A key distinction between television and other means such as books is the relative acquaintances of viewers and readers to the fundamental elements of each medium. The tempo of the television experience compared to reading is an imperative aspect that should be considered. In this respect, reading is more personalized, in that the tempo of reading is dependent on the individual reader. Television on the other hand comprises mainly of a sequence of flashing imagery which are more than not repeated (Eun & Heining, 2007). In conclusion, there are more facilitators to language in mass media apart from television, but in accordance to this essay where the key determinant was required to be analyzed; the television was the focal point. References Chan, K., & Cai, X. (2009). Influence of television advertising on adolescents in China: an urban-rural comparison. Young Consumers , 25 (5), 133-145. Eun, B., & Heining-Boynton, A. L. (2007). Impact of an English-as-a-Second-Language Professional Development Program. The Journal of Educational Research,101 (1), 36-48,64. Gonzales, R., Glik, D., Davoudi, M., & Ang, A. (2004). Media Literacy and Public Health: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice for Tobacco Control. The American Behavioral Scientist, 5 (4), 189-201. Mitu, B.-M. (2011). Television's impact on today's peole and culture. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 6 (2), 916-921. Nelson, M. R., Yaros, R. A., & Keum, H. (2006). Examining the influence of telepresence on spectator and player processing of real and fictitious brands in a computer game. Journal of Advertising, 35 (4), 87-91. Yoon, B. (2010). Uninvited Guests: The Influence of Teachers' Roles and Pedagogies on the Positioning of English Language Learners in the Regular Classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 45 (2), 495-522. Read More