Skip to main content

Early Incidental Second Language Acquisition through Cartoons

  • Open Access
Early Incidental Second Language Acquisition through Cartoons cover

Early Incidental Second Language Acquisition through Cartoons

  • Open Access
Quantity
Pre-order. Available Jul 23 2026
$157.95 RRP $175.50 Website price saving $17.55 (10%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

This fascinating open access study explains and describes the process by which young children can acquire a second language incidentally via regular exposure to animated cartoons. Joyful and regular multi-year exposure to cartoons can replicate some aspects of the mother-tongue acquisition process, especially when supported by a co-viewing caregiver.
Rosalia di Nisio emphasises two important elements in the acquisition process: the mediation of co-viewing adults as a motivating factor, and the multimodal nature of cartoons as a facilitator of extensive comprehension through sounds and images. She demonstrates this multimodality through a focus the 'dual-coded' interaction between cartoons' verbal, auditory and visual dimensions. Combining cognitive, relational and language perspectives, di also Nisio demonstrates the near-native language acquisition phases: singing and acting out mark the baby's involvement accompanied by a caregiver; the silent, but fertile phase during which listening skills reach surprising levels; speech being prompted by opportunities to interact with a native speaker. Underpinned by foundational theory from cognitive psychology, multimodality and applied linguistics, this is an essential study of a fertile but overlooked mode of language acquisition.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com

Table of Contents

Section One: the context in a digital era
Part One: Early access to touchscreen technology and incidental second-language acquisition
1. Responses about Children's Early Access to Media
2. Para-Social Relationship and Identification with Animated Cartoon Characters
3. Caregivers' co-viewing strategies
4. Summary and Conclusions
Part Two: incidental early second-language acquisition
5. Definition of Incidental Acquisition: and Cognitive, Multimodal and Contextual Factors
6. Forms of Early Bilingualism: features Typology and Issues
7. Case Studies on children's incidental second-language acquisition through media
8. Summary and Conclusions

Section Two: the process in incidental second-language acquisition
Part Three: the language in the lyrics of animated songs for young children
9. The Formulaic Perspective in the Analysis of Animated Cartoons
10. Toddlers' Animated Nursery Rhymes
11. Post-Toddlerhood Animated Festivity Tunes
12. Summary and Conclusions
Part Four: the language in the scripts of animated series for older children
13. Everyday Life Series Real-world and Fantasy Everyday Life Series
14. Adventure Animation Series
15. Pre-Adolescence Animation Series
16. Summary and Conclusions
Part Five: The phases in incidental early second-language acquisition: a case study
17. Beyond Singing and Beyond: the Silent Listening Phase
18. Towards the Speaking Phase
19. The textual phase: the two siblings' case study
20. Summary and Conclusions

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Jul 23 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 240
ISBN 9781350513792
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 10 bw illus
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Rosalia Di Nisio

Rosalia Di Nisio is a teaching assistant at the Un…

Related Titles

Environment: Staging