Making sense of the image of TV in Greek preschoolers’ drawings

Abstract

This research illustrates how young children conceptualize the image and role of television in their lives. Building upon Kress and Van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework of Visual Grammar, 70 drawings of children from kindergartens of Thessaloniki were analyzed both qualitative and quantitative. The research found that children sketch a rich and varied profile of TV. Children’s open–ended construction of meaning surfaced content that reflected themes such as: the profile of the journalist, emotions connected to television, the use of TV, TV as an object, TV as a children’s program or an adult program. Future research should also address the challenge of investigating the diverse and rapidly changing media landscape to which the current generation of children experience.

“I can imagine myself being inside PC and driving”: Greek pre-schoolers drawing meaning of computers for them

“…They certainly attribute mostly positive qualities to the computer and realize the key role that it plays in their life. These findings are aligned with the attitude of preschool children towards TV (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022a), where almost half of preschool children (48.6%) looked at TV as a superpower, since they draw it from a low vantage point (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022a).…”

“…The present study, as part of a more expansive research project (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022a, Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022b, focuses on one of the three open-ended questions of the questionnaire that was delivered in preschoolers of three kindergartens of Thessaloniki. The questions asked preschoolers to draw their ideas about TV, their ideal TV and computers; 70 preschoolers responded to the questions.…”

“…design was qualitative and quantitative analysis of the drawings and discourse analysis of the words of the children (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022a, Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022b. This study is based on a mixed model of analysis, on the grammar of visual design (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006;van Leeuwen, 2005) through a critical analysis (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999).…”

“…The analysis consisted of social semiotic analysis of the content of the actual drawings according to Kress and van Leeuwen (2006), as well as discourse analysis of the words of the preschoolers with which they described their drawings. The data were also analyzed quantitatively (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022a).…”

Greek preschoolers drawing the TV of their dreams

“…The kidergartens were randomly chosen from the city of Thessaloniki and the only characteristic of the sample was children to be between five to six years of age. The present study as part of a more expansive research project (Theodosiadou & Kyridis, 2022) focuses on one of the three questions. The questions asked preschoolers to draw their ideas on TV, ideal TV and computers and this resulted in 70 preschoolers answering the questions.…”