A study of the impact of cartoons and animated movies on

theL1 of Pakistani children: Language shift and language

loss

Background of the study

Introduction:
Cartoons are the most effective way of entertainment for our children.Most of the children
are absorbed in cartoons and animated movies and they spend most of their time in watching
such entertaining shows. With freedom of media and development of channels, it has ended
up for Children to watch their most loving entertainment showson even a single click and
they spend most of their time in front of TV in watching cartoons and animated movies. In
early times children spent most of their time in open air exercisesand physically and mentally
they remained strong and healthy, but now they are stuck to theTV sets for extended periods
and they are absorbed in cartons and animated movies fortheir entertainment and now they
have not physical exercises and they became weak physically as well as mentally. Without
any care of their parents or any senior family memberthat this may have consequences for
their mental improvement, learning of L2 language, language shift, language loss, Hinduism,
violence in their behavior and adaptation of their culture (Hindi culture or European culture)
lateron showed in their behavior. Cartoon Network is the 24/7 channel and broadcasting only
“ Cartoons” , yet its 68 percent audience belongs to children of the age group from 2 to 17
years, whereas, rest 32 percent belongs to the age group of above 18 years and adults. The
children from the age group from 6 to 11 are the core audience of the Cartoon Network
(Stabile and Harrison, 2003).Cartoon programs contained violence as its integral part. It is
noted that cartoon content is full of violence than serial plays and comedies (Potter and
Warren, 1998). As the result, children are more exposed to violence showed in the cartoon
program than any other television program broadcasted during prime time i.e. 8pm to 11pm
(Gerbner, Gross, Morgan and Signorelli, 1994). Habib, K. and Soliman, T. (2015) Cartoons’
Effect in Changing Children Mental Response and Behavior
Background of the study:
It will also be very significant for the individuals and institutions because by spending most
of their time watching L2 cartoons, children do not focus on their study and physical
activities. This study may make their parents aware what steps they should take to minimize
this disaster in their homes and they will spend less time watching L2 cartoons, children will
focus on their study and will also take part in physical activities.

Extracurricular activities should be promoted among kids.Engage them in physical

activities.Encourage them to watch good educational programs and parents should sit with
them

Significance of study:
This study will identify the possible areas of linguistic variations and linguistic loss caused by
L2 cartoons. Using the sample of students, parents, teachers and academic institutions may
develop strategies to reduce, overcome and repair the linguistics loss caused by the access of
watching L2 cartoons by children. Children are lacking sociolinguistic exposure by watching
L2 cartoons which is very significant for the linguistic development. It is very significant to
investigate and make parents aware about the L1 loss caused by watching L2 cartoons. This
is the first ever study in Pakistan that with the help of cartoons we can trace L1 loss.

Statement of the Problem:

It is to investigate lack of sociolinguistic exposure necessary for their linguistic development.
It is to investigate L1 loss because of watching L2 cartoons.It is to investigate and understand
influences therefore parents and policy makers may tackle such influences. It is to investigate
influences of L2 cartoons on the L1 of Pakistani children.
To examine how efficiently L2 cartoon channels trying to cultivate their culture in Pakistani
society.To check whether parents monitor nature of L2 cartoons and its timing before
allowing their children to watch it.

Objective of the study:

To investigate influences of foreign language cartoons on the L1 of a sample of Pakistani
children.To investigate whether children prefer foreign language over their mother tongue
while performing various functions?

To investigate do L2 cartoons have an impact on the morpho-syntactic structure of these

Pakistani children’s L1?

Does the excessive watching of cartoons result in a lack of socio-linguistic exposure among
these Pakistani children.

Investigation of linguistic influences of foreign Cartoons indicate any Language

shift/language loss?

The focus of this thesis is mainly on Hindi and English cartoons and their impact on the L1 of
Pakistani children.

Research Questions:
The impact of cartoons and animated movies on young Pakistani children and it causing
interference in their social,cultural, moral, lingual and religious development.Our research
questions deal basically with the impact of cartoons and animated movies on the young
Pakistani children minds and language shift and language loss. It has been noticed that
children are not only interested by the cartoons and animated movies, they also admire them
resulting in the imitations of the acts.

1. What are the influences of foreign language cartoons on the L1 ofa sample of Pakistani
children?
a. Do they prefer foreign language over their mother tongue while performing various
functions?
b. Do these cartoons have an impact on the morpho-syntactic structure of these Pakistani
children’s L1?
c. Does the excessive watching of cartoons result in a lack of socio-linguistic exposure
among these Pakistani children.
2. Does the linguistic influences of these Cartoons indicate any Language shift/language
loss?

The focus of this thesis is mainly on Hindi and English cartoons and their impact on the L1 of
Pakistani children.
Literature review:
Children's Experience of Three Types of Cartoon at Two Age Levels, investigated how
children of both sexes in two age groups, some of whom had abundant aggressive fantasies,
experienced three types of cartoons. In this study, it was investigated how children
cognitively, ethically, and emotionally experienced three cartoons of different types. A
number of issues were addressed. It seems likely that the way children experience cartoons
may be an important factor in determining the way and the extent to which their subsequent
behavior is affected by these cartoons (Bjorkqvist&Lagerspetz, 1985). Cartoon violence and
aggression in youth, reviewed the literature concerning the effects of animated violence on
aggressive behavior in youth. It began with an overview of the research on children's
perceptions of violence and language influences in cartoons. Moreover, throughout the
review, the potential influence of development is considered (Kirsh, 2006). Factors
influencing the change in behavior of children on viewing cartoon programs,analyzed the
factors influencing the children to see cartoon programs, the effect of cartoon programs and
the behavioral changes among the sample respondents. The factors, respondents age, gender,
siblings, standard, board, medium and time spent for watching cartoons have a significant
relationship with the change in their behavior on viewing cartoons (Sudha, 2011). Children
Are Trapped in the Illusion of Cartoon Channel, examined how children become more and
more violent, aggressive and addictive to cartoons. They are totally under the illusion of the
cartoon (Pandit and Kulkarni, 2012). The influence of violent TV cartoons watched by school
children in turkey, demonstrated the gender –specific impact of violence- oriented television
cartoons on children. The study was conducted on a total of 300 students chosen by a simple,
random method applying a stratified weight in each school. As result, a significant gender
difference was noted between students’ favorite cartoon shows, the type of influence those
shows exerted, and the ways in which students imitated the behaviors of the cartoon
characters (Erg̈un, 2012). A Study on Characteristics of Parents’ TV viewing and children’s
opinions on the cartoons they watched, examined the characteristics of parents’ TV viewing
and children’s opinions on the cartoons they watched. The data collected using face to face
interviewing method through a questionnaire. It was found that parent thought that they were
affected by the cartoons that their children had been viewing for a long time. The study
shows that parental TV viewing duration is between 2 and 3 hours, children watch TV with
their family and half of them surf to determine the program to be watched, their decisions are
taken into consideration through their family’s requests, whatever is to be watched sometimes
was not decided in advance. Related to the cartoons that children watch, majority of parents
could name cartoons and they also think that scenes of violence, killing, fighting, use of
abusive language and harmful behaviors should be presented in a way that won’t physically
harm the children but mentally it harms. Parents also stated that the child’s cartoons viewing
duration was 2 hours at the most. Related to parents’ views on the effects of cartoons on their
children they reported that 68% were sometimes affected (pedük, 2012). Cartoon Network
and its Impact on Behavior of School Going Children. Cartoon network is one of the most
favorite cartoon channels for children. As cartoon network is 24 hours channel, so children
spend most of their leisure time in front of it. It not only attracts the children through its
contents but also instructs some positive and negative habits in them. One of the main factors
which influence the children while watching cartoons areviolence and influence on their L1.
Language and Violence are a vital parts of most of the cartoon programs. Children are
induced and attracted by violent content by broadcasters. The study design is survey research
and non-parametric statistics is used for data analysis. This study explores the impact of
violence presented in cartoons on children behavior. They not only imitate their favorite
cartoon characters but even force their parents to buy the same costumes or accessories as
displayed by different cartoon characters. This study also depicts this fact that the behavior of
the children in class is influenced by watching different cartoon programs (Hassan and
Daniyal, 2013).Perceived Influence of Television Cartoons on Nigerian Children’s Social
Behavior” examined the influence of cartoons on Nigerian children’s social behavior from
the perspective of the parents and the children. Survey design was adopted. Data were
collected from 100 pupils and 50 parents through questionnaire, interviews and focus group
discussion. Percentages and chi Square were used for data analysis. Some parents expressed
that influence of cartoons on children were negative and therefore some regulations required
in alleviating those negative aspects of cartoons. It is recommended that parents should make
a conscious effort to monitor the cartoons that their children watching to ensure that it is
appropriate to their age (Oyero and Oyesom, 2014).Effects of Cartoon Network on the
Behavior of School Going Children (A Case Study of Gujrat City) aimed to highlight the
psychological behavior of the children’s of Pakistan after watching TV Commercials on
Pakistani channels. Their study covered the detailed area of the selected research which was
covering the contents of Cartoons; in this research they selected the children’s of Gujrat City
as sample. In this study media effects cultivation theory applied and survey method used for
data collection. The study concluded that cartoon series especially Ben Ten influence the
children behavior as well as their language (Yousaf and Shehzad and Hassan, 2015).
Research on effect of Indian cartoons on Pakistani children. The result of this study revealed
that the children were quick learner and they copied words of Indian language. He
investigated that Indian mediause to dub their language in cartoon programs to promote Hindi
language in Pakistani children and to promote their culture (Anisetal, 2012).
Analysis the role of Pakistani media and Hindu culture Indian media is getting popularity in
Pakistansociety. Pakistani media is playing a key role to promoting Indian culture.
Indianculture is being influence the lifestyle of people, their norms and values (Asimetal
2012).

Cartoons not only influence the behavior and culture of the children although it influences the
language of Pakistani children. Pakistani children mostly like to watch L2 cartoons and spend
most of their time in watching L2 cartoons. The role of L2 cartoons is to keep our children
away from their culture, creates social violence in their behavior and influences L1. By
watching L2 cartoons, Pakistani children are losing their L1 and are being detracted from
their culture and religion as well. Most of the cartoons like Ben Ten, Pokemon, Tom and
Jerry,ChotaBheem, Moto and Patlu, NingaHatthori, Doraemon, Mighty Raju, Little Krishna
and Krishna Balram are badly influencing Pakistani children.Children do adapt things faster,
at such innocent age child mind is not able to judge difference between positive or negative
thinking or character Cartoons have a great power of influence and a grasping quality of
children interest as current generation, children are more exposed to the electronic media
especially television Children are highly impressed of the L2 cartoons that even the try to
adopt the character of their favorite cartoon character That is how Indian cartoons have also
greatly affected the behavior of Pakistani children like for instance Chotabheem and Keymon
Ache.

Rationale for the Study:

It is to investigate influences of L2 cartoons on the L1 of Pakistani children.
To examine how efficiently L2 cartoon channels trying to cultivate their culture in Pakistani
society.To create awareness among parents regarding impact of watching L2 cartoons on
their children.To check whether parents monitor nature of L2 cartoons and its timing before
allowing their children to watch it. Awaring the parents what steps they should take to
minimize this disaster in their homes.

Methodology:
Interviews and observationsof children and interviews of parents and teacherswill be used in
this study and researcher will use qualitative method. The teachers and parents of school
going children from the age group of 4-12 years will be selected from the city of Sahiwal.
Researcher will takeinterviews and observations of class of 20 children and children will be
divided into groups and each group will contain 5 members, members of class and groups can
be increased regarding strength of the class, I will ask them to have group discussion and then
I will ask some questions from them and then I will move from one group to other, I will visit
3 times to the same class. And I will fill the interview forms because children will not be able
to give interviews and speak in confident way and they feel hesitation in giving interviews. I
will also take interview’s question forms filled by 10 teachers and 10 parents because they
were feeling hesitation in giving interviews and recording their voicesin order to remove any
ambiguity and fault. The data will be analyzed by using Qualitative method.

Population:
Researcher will take Pakistani children, mothers, parents and their ages as population.He will
ask the teachers and parentsof school going children about their behaviors at homes and also
the language used in their daily discussion.Researcher will also talk about their acts and one
of the major discussions will be on theimpact of second language on the L1 of their children.

Sampling:
Researcher will take ten parents, ten teachers and twenty children from the school of Sahiwal
as sample. Thenresearcher will have to research on the impact of cartoons and animated
movies on the L1 of their children.

Data collection:
Interviews and observations will be used as a tool for data collection and this data is collected
from ten parents, ten teachers and class of twenty children which will be divided into groups,
I will move from one group to other, I will visit 3 times to the same class and I will ask
interview questions from those children and fill interview questions form by myself.
Researcher will take interviews from parents and teachers and then I will fill the answers of
those interview questions on interview question forms by myself asking questions from
teachers and parents because those will not feel comfortable for recording of their interviews,
and data will be collected through notes and observation of other activities that is how
datawill be collected by the researcher.

Checklist of Foreign words

Shanti, Mata g, Peta g,Chinta, Shakti, mother, Mom, Dad, Papa, Power, Guru g,
Bhagwan, Pooja(for ibadat),
Research Statements Data collection Data Analysis
Question Procedure Procedure

 Thematic and
 Interviews of a sample
What are the influences of Content
1. (approximately 20) of
foreign language cartoons on Analysis
Pakistani children
the L1 of a sample of  Observation
 Interviews of the
Pakistani children? Checklist
parents and teachers
Analysis
(10 each)
 Researcher Observation
and Notes

 Interviews of the
Do they prefer foreign  Thematic and
1. a parents and teachers
language over their mother Content
 Researcher’s
tongue while performing Analysis
observation
various functions?  Observation
Checklist
Analysis

 Interviews of  Thematic and

Do these cartoons have an
1. b the parents and Content
impact on the morpho-
teachers Analysis
syntactic structure of these
 Researcher’s  Observation
Pakistani children’s L1?
observation Checklist
Analysis
1. c Does the excessive watching  Thematic and
 Interviews of
of L2 cartoons results in a Content
the parents and
lack of socio-linguistic Analysis
teachers
exposure among these  Observation
 Researcher’s
Pakistani children? Checklist
observation
Analysis

 Interviews of parents  Thematic and

2. Does the linguistic
and teachers Content
influences of these
 Children interviews Analysis
Cartoons indicate any
 Observation
Language shift/language
Checklist
loss?
Analysis
Sample Interview questions for parents and teachers:
1: What is the age of your children?

Ans:

2: Do your children watch L2 cartoons or not?

Ans?

3: Which type of L2 cartoons they often watch?

Ans:

4: How often your children watch L2 cartoons?

Ans:

5: Do L2 cartoons effect the L1 of your children?

Ans:

6: Do Children use L2 words in their conversation?

Ans:

7: Which type of L2 words they often use in their conversation?

Ans:

8: L2 cartoons lead to the adoption of L2 language in Pakistani children?

Ans:

9: Do L2 cartoons playing roles in L1 loss of Pakistani children?

Ans:

10: Whether parents should allow their children to watch L2 cartoons?

Ans:

11: Do they prefer L2 over their mother tongue?

Ans:

Sample Interview questions for children

1: How often you watch L2 cartoons?

Ans:

2: Which L2 cartoon show you often watch?

Ans:

3: Your favorite Indian cartoon shows?

Ans:
4: When you call your mama which type of word you use mama, ami, mata or mother?

Ans:

5: When you became sad or in tension which type of words u use chinta, wory or pareshan?

Ans:

6: When you call your father which type of word you use papa, peta,dad, Guru g or abu g?

Ans:

Data interpretation:
Researcher will interpret data by making charts, picharts and tables. Researcher will
interpretdata by using qualitative method and open ended approach and through this method
researcher will get statistics relevant to research topic and these statistics will lead
towardsresearcher’s final results and findings regarding his/her research topic.

Conclusion:
Children are highly influenced by Indian cartoon channels and they adopt Hindi language
from them. L2 cartoons are influencing L1 of Pakistani children which is the cause of L1 loss
of Pakistani children. It also causes lack of sociolinguistics exposure necessary for their
linguistic development. It is because of the absence of Pakistani cartoon channels and
neglection of parents by not giving them proper time. While watching L2 programs ask them
for their positive points. Parents should be aware and give time to their children.

Limitation of the study:

Cartoons have multiple effects but focus of my study is just linguistic effects. I will just take
the sample of some students, parents and teachers from Sahiwal. Future researcher can
investigate it on large scale.
References:
KajBjörkqvist, KirstiLagerspetz, (1985). Children’s experience of three types of cartoon at
two age levels. International Journal of Psychology, 20(1985), 77-93

Kirsh, Steven J (2006). Cartoon violence and aggression in youth. Elsevier, 11(2006), 547-
557

Sudha,(2011). Factors Influencing the Change in Behavior of Children on Viewing Cartoon

Programs. Namex International Journal of Management Research, 1(2011), 32-43

Alka S. Pandita,Bhushan V. Kulkarnib, (2012). Children aretrappedin the Illusion Of cartoon

channel. International Educational E-Journal, (2011) 64-74

Ergün, Sibel, (2012). The influence of violent TV cartoons watched by school children in
turkey, demonstrated the gender –specific impact of violence- oriented television cartoons on
children. Creative Commons Attribution, (2012)

PEDÜK, Dr. Şenay BULUT, (2012). A Study on Characteristics of Parents’ TV viewing and
children’s opinions on the cartoons they watched. International Journal of Business and
Social Science, (2012)

Ivythesis, (2010) effects of cartoons in children. Effects of cartoons in children. Ivy League
writing, (2010)

Asha, (2015). Negative impact of cartoons on kids. Boldsky, (2015)

Hassan and Daniyal, (2013). Cartoon Network and its Impact on Behavior of School Going
Children. International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, (2013)

Dr.Zahidyousaf,MunhamShehzad and Syed Ali Hassan, (2015).Effects of Cartoon Network

on the Behavior of School Going Children. Scholar Publications,Karimganj, Assam, India,
1(2015) 173-179
Appendix:
ResearchTopic:

A study of the factors affecting L2 motivation of pakistani

hearing impaired students.

Research proposal by Hummara Aakfah Riyadh

Roll No. PET01161026

Supervisor name: Dr. Muhammad Islam

Department of English Language and Literature