Some people have a notion that reading books is more beneficial a,s compared to watching TV with regards to enhancement of imagination and developing linguistic skills. I think it is highly contentious issue. To large extent,, I agree with this opinion as reading fosters imagination in a person’s mind.
To begin with, reading has been proved to be more advantageous in the development of a mind. The first reason is that it stimulates brain more in contrast to watching television. This is due to the fact that a person has to imagine the scenarios written in a book, consequently, creates mental images. For instance, when reading a fiction book, a person imagines the happenings in a book, therefore, stimulates the brain to create more nerve endings and develop their mind. Apart from this, reading improves vernacular skills by exposure to a varied vocabulary, sentence structure as well as structure styles. Hence, the language ability of a person is expanded.
On the other hand, watching television has some drawbacks such as it provides ready-made images and sounds which hinders a person’s imagination and personal growth. Adaptations of best-selling novels into movies are prime examples of this. Moreover, it can alter the story line and characters to fit it into the big screen, thereby, it hurts the sentiments of the viewers. Nevertheless, several TV programmes such as news and documentaries can prove to be beneficial by increasing a viewer’s knowledge. Another benefit it has that it improves listening and speaking abilities when proper pronunciation is heard as well as the correct usage of words in the context.
In conclusion, Are the two methods effective proportionately? The two proposed methods are effective when engaged in a proper manner. Reading can improve vernacular skills whereas television can enhance listening and speaking skills. Hence, parents are obliged to encourage their children to manage their time towards both tasks.