THE IMPACT OF SATELLITE TELEVISION PROGRAMS ON THE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

It is a consensus among linguists that language acquisition occurs in the context of societal interaction. Hence, a child’s cognitive development will largely be influenced by the adults through whom he acquires language and gets acculturated. This tends to limit the sources of acquisition to the immediate environment of the child. However, today’s global world creates a different situation, especially in many Nigerian homes. The proliferation of Satellite television, almost limitless possibilities in the film industry, and majorly in animations has created a global society within the homes of most elite families. Children’s cartoons have become so realistic and interactional, and children’s exposure to television has become so regular and significant that their language acquisition/language learning is impacted by it. Employing the perspectives of Vygotsky’s Interactionist Theory of language learning, this paper explores the impact of the virtual global world to which children are exposed through satellite television children programs. The paper adopted the descriptive survey research design. The study sample comprises twenty children consisting of 2 children from each of the selected 10 families. A simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the 20 children. It is found that children exposed to regular viewing of children’s cartoons acquire a cognitive ability that surpasses the physical exposure to adult language use in their immediate society. Recommendations are thereby proffered.