What children watch on screens is crucial for language development, DU study finds

A University of Dhaka study suggests that what children watch on screens, and whether they interact with it, may matter more for language development than the number of hours they spend using devices.

The research covered 50 children aged three to eight and an equal number of parents and caregivers in Dhaka, Chattogram and Tangail. Forty percent of the children used screens for three to four hours a day, while 20% used them for more than four hours. Mobile phones were the most common device, used by 90% of the children, followed by television at 70% and tablets at 50%.

Entertainment dominated their viewing. Eighty percent watched cartoons and other entertainment programmes, while 60% were described as passive users. Only 20% of parents or guardians consistently stayed with children during screen use, and 30% actively managed the time.

During 30-minute observations, children aged three to five who used educational and interactive applications repeated new words, asked questions and showed improvement in sentence construction. Children who mainly watched cartoons or YouTube videos showed less inclination to speak, and some became stubborn or cried when asked to stop. Children aged six to eight could speak at length about the programmes they watched, but researchers found weaknesses in their sentence structure.

Zahid Hossain Khan, who conducted the study under the supervision of Professor Hakim Arif, said conversation remained central to language acquisition. “Two-way conversation is a primary prerequisite for language learning, whereas screens render communication one-way,” he said.

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Two-way conversation is a primary prerequisite for language learning, whereas screens render communication one-way.