Regarding that research, I can see that human interaction should more efficient but that doesn't imply that screen time should be ineffective. And my kid is a counterexample, because it did bootstrap her English. She had no other source since we live in Argentina and we practically didn't talk to her in English. For a while she had some serious British accent because she was hooked on Peppa Pig, but now she sounds mostly American.
I agree 100% with you. I'm also from a non-English primary language group (South African) and I taught myself English mostly from television. Assuredly people would have been better since it's an adaptive learning experience with feedback, but even tv worked for me.
I came out with a bit of an odd accent though, as if I combined all the television accents into one.
