Social Learning From Broadcast Television

In recent years, the issue of social learning from broadcast television has been of interest to a wide range of researchers and observers. The chapters in this volume employ a variety of research methodologies and focus on a variety of dimensions of the current broadcast television picture. Topics discussed range from content analyses of current programmes to an ethnographic study of how British children use television to gain power over parents and peers, to an examination of the historically contingent phenomena that surround the production and viewership of particular shows, to an analysis of American sitcoms that play a role in the second language learning processes of non-native speakers of English. The wide range of vantage points is provided to remain true to the notion that social realities as portrayed on, created by, or constructed behind the scenes of television, are negotiable, ever-changing and mutually influencing constructs. The chapters therefore represent not only different discussions about the issue of social learning from broadcast television, but also function as dialogues with the media scholar, communications media specialist, educational psychologist, classroom teacher or interested viewer.