Pupils watch television rather than talk to their families, says research

Television is damaging children's ability to speak, claims a university researcher.

Dr Rosemary Sage of the University of Leicester's School of Education says that verbal communication skills among school children are worse than 20 years ago.

In particular, she says that pupils find formal description more difficult, which is partly disguised by being "good at chat".

And her research suggests that the cause of this problem is watching too much television - as children now process information visually rather than verbally.

Too many children now come home to long hours of watching television, rather than a conversation with their family, she says.

With children watching television in their own rooms at night, she says that pupils can often watch six hours each day.

"Parents are not less caring, but they often have less time," she says.

Dr Sage has tracked thinking, speaking, reading and writing skills over the past two decades - and she says that a lack of ability with spoken language can create serious obstacles for learning.

'Daily grunt'

"Families used to gather together every evening and recount what they had done during the day. Children learned in that context how to put verbal ideas together in their minds," says Dr Sage.

"Today, children come home from school and sit in front of the television processing largely picture information which does not engage children in thinking, speaking and reflecting."

In an attempt to tackle this problem, Dr Sage is participating in a scheme to promote communication skills.

This develops the principle that pupils should be able to think and talk before writing and that written tasks must be at the level of their thinking and speaking abilities.

Earlier this year, the director of the Basic Skills Agency warned that parents who have few conversations with their children are damaging their language development.

Alan Wells attacked the "daily grunt" culture, in which parents no longer talk to their children and instead just let them sit in front of the television or computer for hours.