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Lisa Garza

Professor Powers

English 1301

13 April 2022

Essay #3

There are many effects of technology on young children whether it be good or bad, but

how does technology affect children with their learning? The article “The Influence of Young

Children's Use of Technology on Their Learning: A Review” by Ching-Ting Hsin, Ming-Chaun

Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai goes into detail and shows the cause and effect of learning on children

that use technology. This article is a peer-reviewed article published on JSTOR. Ching-Ting

Hsin, Ming-Chaun Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai are in the department of early childhood education

at National Taitung University in Taiwan. The authors of the article stated their thesis that “we

are arguing that children learning with technology are conditioned by several factors categorized

by children, adults, and technology aspects.” The authors of this article highlighted the

importance of their thesis by stating that “in the social domain, most studies showed that

technologies enhanced children’s collaboration and interaction with others and their development

of multiculturalism.” In order to show major proof in support of their thesis the authors

Ching-Ting Hsin, Ming-Chaun Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai showed an overview of the descriptive

statistics, cross-analysis between the reviewed categories including research purpose and

research design. This essay will analyze the rhetorical strategies of another author.

The authors of the article establish their credibility by mentioning the results and

discussions in the article as well as reviewing 87 peer-reviewed articles about the topic. For

example, as stated in the article “First, an overview of the descriptive statistics is provided.
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Second, cross-analysis results between reviewed categories, including research purpose and

research design as well as developmental domains and learning effectiveness are reported.”

By explaining these steps the authors showed what exactly they did to get their answer. The

quoted material constitutes the use of ethos because it provides credibility by showing the charts

of information. The effectiveness of the implementation of the rhetorical technique was

perpetually done because of the evidence given to prove the author's points. An ethical fallacy

that most people thought was done as if the technology-based practices were appropriate for the

specific age group which was 0 to 8 years old. As stated in the text, “one question about which

early childhood educators have been concerned: are the technology-related practices

developmentally appropriate for young children” This quote constitutes an ethical fallacy

because many people believed that it was not appropriate for the particular age group due to the

children not being as advanced. The presence of the fallacy affected the overall persuasiveness of

the article because it showed a flaw that had early childhood educators concerned. The

organization of the text was very organized and built credibility in adhering to the characteristics

of the genre because it was organized by the abstract, introduction, method, paper analysis,

coding scheme, results and discussion, and so on. Ching-Ting Hsin, Ming-Chaun Li, and

Chin-Chung Tsai employed ethos because they gave a lot of evidence which helped with the

persuasiveness of the argument that technology influences young children with their learning.

Moreover, this article appealed the emotional sentiments by stating that “Some

researchers believe that children at a young age should avoid using technology because it keeps

them from interacting with others and therefore impedes the development of their social skills”

This sentence shows that the researchers felt very strongly about children not using technology

and it is a set back in children's development. Due to the emotional sentiment in this article, the
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audience could relate to or not relate to the claim that technology hinders children's social and

cognitive development, as their claim was not a fact. This text does not have any emotional

fallacies because the authors made sure to have a proof for their claims. Ching-Ting Hsin,

Ming-Chaun Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai added evidence for all of the claims because the article is

based on facts and not emotions. Since there was no presence of emotional fallacy it did not

affect the overall influence of the essay. The rhetoric effectively integrated emotion or pathos in

this article which made the text much more valid because the evidence was provided.

The authors of the article use valid evidence and sound reasoning by showing the

statistics and how it was done. Moreover, the authors stated exactly what method they used to

judge all of the research. An example of one of the ways they judged research, as stated in the

article was “if the main focus of the research was on technology development or instructional

design and no essential outcome data were provided, the article was excluded” This quote

constitutes to the use of logos because it shows an example of reasoning within the text. The

integration of logic added a lot more persuasiveness to the article since the claims were backed

up with reasoning. Ching-Ting Hsin, Ming-Chaun Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai did not commit any

logical fallacies. The reason for no logical fallacies was because once again all of the claims they

stated were supported with evidence and reasoning. Due to not having any logical fallacies, there

was no effect on the overall persuasiveness. The organization of the text displayed sound

reasoning by providing an argument that was then proven with a table of research. The rhetors

effectively employed logos in the article with how well organized and how the claims were being

supported. Moreover, the article was very effective in persuading the reader that technology is a

great tool for young children to utilize to benefit their development.

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In conclusion, the article “The Influence of Young Children's Use of Technology on Their

Learning: A Review” by Ching-Ting Hsin, Ming-Chaun Li, and Chin-Chung Tsai provided

research on a common topic. Does technology influence young children's learning? Well, the

answer is yes. Technology can help young children with their learning depending on how they

use that certain technology. For example, if the young children are reading books, watching

educational videos, or using technology for manipulatives to aid them with their learning in a

content area they will have a positive impact on technology. Additionally, the article stated that

the author's thesis was, “we are arguing that children learning with technology are conditioned

by several factors categorized by children, adults, and technology aspects.” The authors

successfully applied ethos by stating credibility. Pathos was not that well employed because it

provided an emotional fallacy as stated above. Logos were well portrayed in the article by

providing claims and reasoning. With this information, fellow college rhetors can understand that

the contribution of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos is very effective in providing persuasiveness to an

article and that fallacies can tend to lead to an unconvincing article. This may affect the English

1301 students' approach to writing about this particular topic because it will help them to not use

emotions as evidence in their claims.

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Works cited

Ching-Ting Hsin, et al. “The Influence of Young Children’s Use of Technology on Their

Learning: A Review.” Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 17, no. 4, 2014,

pp. 85–99, http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.17.4.85. Accessed 14 Apr. 2022.