Determining the opinions of teachers and parents in terms of effecting forms of television programmes on mental and language development of 5-6 age group children attending preschool education institutions (case of Elazığ city)

ABSTRACTMasters ThesisDetermining the Opinions of Teachers and Parents in terms of Effecting Formsof Television Programmes on Mental and Language Development of 5-6 AgeGroup Children Attending Preschool Education Institutions(Case of Elazığ City)Birsen SERHATLIOĞLUUniversity of FıratThe Institute of Social SciencesDepartment of Educational SciencesApril 2006, Pages: XVI+ 136The effect of television programmes on children, especially on preschoolperiod children is an important matter which has been focused on. This study wasconducted to determine the opinions of teachers and parents in terms of effectingforms of television programmes on mental and language development of 5-6 agegroup children attending preschool education institutions.In the study descriptive research model was used. The participants of thestudy consisted of preschool teachers working at nursery classes in primary schoolsand independent kindergartens in Elazığ city center during 2004-2005 academic yearand parents of 5-6 age group children attending preschool education institutions. Thesample was the kindergartens in 30 primary schools and 5 independentkindergartens in the city center. The data obtained from 60 teachers and 524 parentswere evaluated. The data were analyzed by using SPSS for Windows 12.0. Thequestionnaire aimed to determine the opinions of teachers and parents wascomposed of two parts.The results obtained during the study can be summarized as follows;• While no significant difference was found between the levels of children?sgaining mental and language development skills and mother?s age variable, asignificant difference was found in terms of father?s age.• As parents? education level and family?s monthly income increase, the level forchildren to gain skills also increases. Thus it could be stated that there is adirectly proportional relationship between parents? education levels and themonthly income of the family and children?s level of gaining skills.• No significant difference was found in terms of gender, level to gain skills andthe effective level of TV programmes in gaining these skills.• No significant difference was found between the opinions of parents on theeffect level of TV programmes in gaining the skills in terms of age, educationand monthly income variables.• Significant difference was found between children?s levels to gain mental andlanguage development skills and the effecting levels of TV programmes onthese skills. It was also stated that while the skills were completely orfrequently gained, the effect of TV on these skills is partly or little.• No significant difference was found between the effecting levels of TVprogrammes in gaining these skills in terms of age, school type and teachingexperience variables.• Most of the children watch TV for 1-2 hours on weekdays and for 3-4 hours atweekends and they decide the duration to watch TV with their parents. Butchoice for the programme to watch is determined by the children. Hours towatch TV are between 10-12 and 18-21. Children prefer child programmes onTV.• Parents and teachers stated that children shared their opinions about theprogrammes and they asked questions about the TV programmes or the newconcepts they saw or heard in the programmes.• Parents and teachers stressed that TV programmes were effective to tellstories, tales or dreams, to maintain the dialogues that the children establishedwith his/her friends and environment and make activities in the classroom.• It was determined that most of the parents did not interfere with what thechildren watched and they did not lead their children about this subject.• Most of the parents and teachers said that children did not use slang wordsthey heard in the TV programmes, but they are influenced by the invertedsentence forms they heard on TV negatively.Key Words: Preschool period, mental development, language development,television programmes.