Abstract:
Parents, globally, see media as an important educational tool and beneficial to their children’s intellectual development. Watching television at the early age is becoming part of the children’s life and parents’ attitudes on this issue appear to be positive since some of the programmes watched by their children may help to develop language acquisition. Several studies have shown how young children’s language acquisition can benefit from television such as in a study by Lemish and Rice (1986). Naigles and Mayeux (2001) in Television as Incidental Language Teacher also find that in certain circumstances, children can learn words and their meanings from educational programmes specifically designed for them. The framework of the research is based on the theoretical framework because this research is based on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget. This theory explains the children’s behavior and reception during learning process at the childhood stage. To establish the connection between child psychology and a TV programme, the theory of cognitive development is chosen to test the hypothesis; Upin & Ipin is a series that is watched by multiple levels of children’s age and the message has positively impacted many children. The Upin & Ipin’s series ability to teach and help children to memorise words and language is supported by Hilliard (2000). He says that one of the techniques in creating children’s programme is to be simple and clear when writing the dialogues. Relevant to Piaget’s theory cognitive development, where he says that children at the Pre-Operational stage starts to develop language, Upin & Ipin played a big role as an education medium for children to start learning simple words and language. As Jean Piaget’s Children and Adolescents (1968) mentioned, children learn through surrounding starting at the very early of an age and more often when they encounter schools and within the community, so, watching an animation TV series is one of the learning fields to develop the cognitive skill.
