How TV Influenced My Literacy Development
Overview
A personal reflection essay exploring how television viewing, particularly subtitled sitcoms and films watched with family members, shaped the author's literacy development as an English language learner. The essay traces the author's journey from struggling to understand comedic content in 'My Wife and Kids' to discovering the value of reading through a children's book about evolution.
What this reflection paper covers
- Initial struggle with English language comprehension while watching sitcoms with family
- Discovery of subtitles as a learning tool and gradual vocabulary acquisition
- Father's influence through war movies and the library visit experience
- Mother's encouragement of reading and the turning point with the Darwinism book
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How TV Influenced My Literacy Development
Words are like puzzles to me that I couldn’t recognize. Sentences are like puzzles to me that I couldn’t solve. I first realized this trouble when my older brother and cousins used to watch My Wife and Kids. Everyone found it funny. Even the invisible people in the background could laugh at some mumbled words, and I was left wondering what was funny. I did not find the show funny (then) because I neither spoke nor understood English. I did not understand how my siblings found it funny and laughed their hearts out. Sometimes I could pretend and laugh along. But then my brother, who seemingly knew that I did not understand, would tease me, asking me what was funny.
Like words and sentences, each joke became a puzzle. By the time the 30 minutes show ended, I had so many puzzles to solve, some of which I had forgotten already. At some point, I hated the show, and for a while, I hated all sitcoms that were watched in our living room. Then I realized that some of the episodes had subtitles, which I could neither read nor comprehend. However, they made it slightly easier for me to follow the show because I began to solve some of the puzzles (jokes). I could put some words to some of the 'mumbles' that other people were heartily laughing at.