ABSTRACT
There is increasing interest in the use of new media. In particular, educational television, computer and video games, as well as animated electronic picture books are the focus of a good deal of recent attention in early childhood. There are good reasons for this interest. First, society is changing. The introduction in society at large and in schools in particular of modern information technology has repercussions for how we try to prepare young children for school and society. Preparing children only with “traditional media” — printed books, conversations about topics of general interest, songs and rhymes, oral stories—runs the risk of being ill-matched to the new demands (Shaffer, 2006). Second, “traditional” media are a less efficient means of stimulating children's language development and emergent school skills to some extent in low income and ethnic minority communities, because of the demands they put on the parents. Attempts to improve the home language and literacy environment to promote low income children's language and emergent literacy often run up against parents' own lack of skills (van Tuijl, Leseman, & Rispens, 2001). Preparing children with a different first language for participation in the second language context of school may fail because the parents are not sufficiently proficient in the second language. New media might provide for alternative ways to promote language and other skills in low literate and bilingual homes. Third and most important, new media are already present in young children's lives. Home computers and electronic games have found their way into many homes. Electronics for education and entertainment play a major role in the lives of adolescents and adults, and this role is expected to increase further (Duimel & de Haan, 2007; Mullen, Martin, Gonzales, & Kennedy, 2003).
