Media habits vs. English proficiency: A study of L1 Norwegian primary school children

Abstract

This thesis compares the media habits of 148 Norwegian children with their English proficiency. The goal is to investigate how much of an effect, if any, their media habits, such as listening to music, watching TV/video, reading books and playing video games have towards improving their English. The 148 participants were between 10 and 13 years old, and answered a survey where they specified the number of hours they spent on an average day on each type of media followed by an English proficiency test.

The results from the test were then compared with the number of hours they spent on media in order to find positive or negative tendencies towards increased levels of English proficiency. The results show that there is a positive correlation between the English proficiency test score and watching video, either on TV or on streaming websites such as YouTube and Netflix.