Mass Media Contributes to Vocabulary Building, Influences Language Use and Delivers Conventional Wisdom

3069 words 13 pages
Throughout the course of time, mass media has always been a powerful medium of changing lives. Its influence can be observed everywhere, even in oneself – one’s own personal preferences, the way one perceives things, and even the way one talks have been most likely been influenced by mass media in one way or another. It is the how the mass media delivers their messages which help them make these dramatic effects in their audiences. Mass media contributes to vocabulary building, influences language use and delivers conventional wisdom. The history of mass media is a story of many other stories. Print, the very first form of mass media, started with the development of paper by the Chinese in the 16th Century. Then the Chinese also raised …show more content…

Exercises for individual or group seat-works or activities will be provided at the end of every topic (Tomalin, 2008).
Multimedia simulation software allows learners to enter into computerized microworlds that, at their best, simulate an immersion or a “linguistic bath” environment; that is, learners can a sense of experiencing the target language and culture first hand. Educational Software CDs contain videos that teach certain languages (such as English, French, or Spanish) are being offered at computer shops or may be downloaded from the internet. An example of these are the JumpStart Games for they offer “vocabulary games” and introduces “age-appropriate words from various languages” suitable for children coming from different grade levels. (JumpStart, 2009).
Audiences also adopt new words coined by mass media which therefore also enriches audiences’ vocabulary. Mass media introduces new words and are eventually used and accepted by society.

The recently coined word “bootylicious” has actually made it into the Oxford English Dictionary with the meaning “sexually attractive, sexy; shapely”. Though the word didn’t really originate from Destiny’s Child 2001 hit song “Bootylicious”, Beyoncé Knowles, the girl group’s lead singer, did play an important role in terms of popularizing the word (PYATT, 2008).
Before the famous internet search engine Google was invented, the word googleitself didn’t mean a thing. Today, even Merriam-Webster adopted the word

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