Topic: Print Literacy in Children's TV

10-second review: “Analyzes instances of portrayals of print-literacy in top ten viewed programs for children ages 2-5. Finds few instances of print literacy…and few positive messages about print literacy.”

Title: “Portrayals of Print Literacy in Children’s Television Programming.” AM Moses and NK Duke. Journal of Literacy Research, 40, 251-289, 2008.

Comment: Interesting. Hard to dramatize the act of reading on TV. Also hard to believe that literacy is not emphasized on Sesame Street. RayS.

Topic: Undergraduates' Use of Time

10-second review: 539 undergraduates. “Students devoted more mean hours per day to the Internet (2.47 hours) than academic reading (2.17 hours), television viewing (1.93 hours), or recreational reading (1.14 hours).

Title: “The impact of Internet and Television Use on the Reading Habits and Practices of College Students.” K Mokhtari, CA Reicard and A Gardner. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 52 (17), 609-619, 2009.

Comment: That’s almost 8 hours a day spent with the Internet, TV and Academic and recreational reading. That’s 3 ½ hours of reading a day. Interesting. RayS.

Topic: Reading About Politics

10-second review: Suggests that readers select articles that only reinforce their political attitudes.

Title: “Looking the Other Way: Selective Exposure to Attitude-Consistent and Counter-Attitudinal Political Information.” S Knobloch-Westerwick and J Meng. Communication Research, 36 (3), 426-448, 2009.

Comment: Says something about critical thinking. People will either not read or ignore what they do not agree with. RayS.

Topic: Reading and Personal Problems

10-second review: Suggests that people with deep problems avoid reading about these issues, while people with less difficult problems seek out information to address these issues.

Title: “Coping or Escaping?: Effects of Life Dissatisfaction on Selective Exposure.” S Knobloch-Westerwick, MR Hastell and M Rossmann. Communication Research, 36 (2), 207-228, 2009.

Comment: Might be of interest to people who believe in bibliotherapy, the technique that recommends books to deal with particular life problems. RayS.

Topic: Student Aggression

10-second review: What are some predictors of student aggression?

Title: “Personality, Parents and Media Influences on Aggressive Personality and Violent Crime in Young Adults.” CJ Ferguson, et al. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma. 17 (4), 395-414, 2008.

Summary: Finds that personality and family physical abuse are significant predictors of aggression, while media exposure is not.

Comment: Hard to argue with this conclusion, except for one point. I find it difficult to believe that the frequency of violence in the media and on video games does not increase the tendency to aggression.

I realize that a single incident is not conclusive evidence of the effect of violence in the media, but one young man, attempting to rob a florist in our neighborhood, stabbed the owner of the shop repeatedly while yelling in exasperation, “Why don’t you die? Why don’t you die?” I speculate that all of the killings in the media and on video games are quick, not dwelling on the suffering of the victim, and when this young man was involved in the real thing, he expected the same quick death in real life as on video. (By the way, the owner of the florist shop survived and the young, violent thief did considerable time in state prison.) The frequency of violence on video must make violence seem part of normal behavior to some young minds. RayS.

Topic: On-line Newspapers

10-second review: What are the effects of people reading on-line newspapers?

Title: Surveying the Digital Future. Center for the Digital Future. University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication. June 16, 2009.

Summary: Participants read on-line newspapers 53 minutes a week. 22% stopped their subscriptions to print/news magazines. 61% indicate that they would miss their print version if it were not available.

Comment: The advantages that I have found in reading the on-line version of the Philadelphia Inquirer are no rain-soaked newspapers. The newspaper is not scattered all over the driveway. The newspaper is not dropped in the middle of the road to be run over by passing cars. And the newspaper delivery is not periodically missed, causing me to call the newspaper to request one. Another advantage of the on-line version is that it provides the complete story without interrupting my reading to turn to page A4 from page A1. However, a device for translating print text to online is used in printing on the screen and sometimes does not recognize certain words and garbles them.

I tend to favor reading the print version of the paper, probably from habit. I have a feeling that some people will prefer reading online and some people will prefer the print version. There is probably a need for both. But can both survive in the present economy? RayS.

Topic: English Language Learners (ELLs) and Textbooks

10-second review: Suggests the need for more multi-modal materials in textbooks for ELL students.

Title: “English as a Second Language Learners’ Exploration of Multi-Modal Texts in a Junior High School.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52 (7), 585-595, 2009.

Comment: “Multi-modal” means text, pictures, sound and film. Certainly more pictures will help to generate more discussion, especially pictures or diagrams of complex topics. More pictures to accompany any topic, whether in a textbook or not, makes sense in increasing the opportunity for discussion with English language learners. RayS.