The Effects of an Animation and Graphics-Based Program in Teaching English on Developing Listening and Speaking Skills of Second Grade Primary School Pupils

University of  Sadat city

Faculty of Education

Curriculum and instructions Department

The Effects of an Animation and Graphics-Based Program in Teaching English on Developing

Listening and Speaking Skills of Second

 Grade Primary School Pupils

A thesis submitted for the fulfillment of the requirements of the master degree in education (Curriculum and instructions Department)

Prepared by

Mai Fawzy Mustafa Elshanawany

An English teacher

Supervised by

Dr.Mamdouh M. Abdel-Mageed              Dr.Gamal M.Shehata

Professor of curriculum and                          Professor Emeritus

instruction   (science)                               Curricula& instruction EFL

Vice dean for service affairs and                  Faculty of Education

Environmental development                            Minya University

Faculty of Education

University of Sadat city

2019))

Introduction

     The language is one of the most important means to communicate with each other especially English language which became one of the most important languages all over the world. The importance of English language comes out of using it in teaching many sciences like medicine, engineering, computer science and etc. Moreover; to use technology needs to be good in English language. So many countries in which English is not the mother tongue teach English language in their schools as a second language.

English seems to have been adopted as the language of globalization these days as the language of global culture and international economy Graddol, D. (1997p. 4). When we look at English language, we can find a complete system which consists of two level, receiving level (listening  & reading skills) and sending level (speaking &writing skills).There are integration among these four skills, the development of each skill leads to the development of the other one.

   Moreover, acquiring the mother tongue or any other language starts with listening to this language then speaking it, so curricula advisors and text book designers of English language pay much attention to listening and speaking skills. Both Kultu &Aslanoglu, (2009) agreed that listening skill forms 45% of daily communication. Also Liem, lau &Nie (2008) assured that listening to understood linguistic input enables us to acquire language much better.

According to Bueno, Madrid and McLaren (2006,p. 344) : “Listening is important for speaking because it establishes the good basis for successful communicative exchanges” .

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood – communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

Speaking is one of the most necessary language skills . It is a result of listening. If pupils listen well, they are going to speak well. Speaking is significant in terms of ongoing language acquisition. It is both the process and the product of second language acquisition.

Speaking is ''the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts'' Chaney (1998, p. 13). While Brown ( 1994) defined Speaking as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information.

 Both listening and speaking skills suffers from neglecting in classes of our primary schools generally and in the second class especially. This negligence encourages researchers to search for advanced methods to develop listening and speaking skills.

 Horng Jeoshyan (2005) tried in his study to find the elements which affect the creative learning, and the effective strategies which are used by three awarded teachers in complementary teaching field. He attained that the elements that affects the creative learning are their (personal characteristics – experiences –familial elements) he also pointed that the features of effective teaching that are used by these teachers are (students centered activities –associating between teaching content and real life –using multimedia and technology ).

Children have their own private interests and activities that come out of their fondness of fun and playing. One of these interests which are results for the current advanced technology is watching TV, especially animated cartoons Mohamed (1993, p. 124) .

 Toles, James and LaFayette, (2009) assumed that Multimedia Technology can help to create high quality learning environments especially for students through, different Medias like texts, graphics, sound; animation etc. It is true that traditional education is slowly moving away from pen-and-paper correspondence courses, allowing for a more interactive, integrated learning environment.

   The importance of animated lessons comes out of dealing with imagination, which children like, so educational foundations seek to make animated cartoons as an educational instrument to achieve many educational goals Falata (2001, p 129) .

A graphic organizer provides an overview of materials to be learned; a reference point for putting new vocabulary and main ideas into orderly patterns; a cue for important information; visual stimuli for written and verbal information; and a concise review tool. Chin-Wen Chien ( 2012)

 Some people believe that animations can help people learn because they are especially motivating Rieber (1991). Others believe that animations will help students learn because they are fun and increased fun will enhance learning.

For example, Danan (2004) claims that audiovisual materials enhanced with captions or subtitles may function as powerful educational tool in many ways. For example,

 (1) They improve the listening comprehension skill of second/foreign language learners;

(2) Facilitate language learning by helping students visualize what they hear.

 (3) Increase language comprehension and lead to additional cognitive benefits, such as greater depth of processing.

Other studies also such as Brenda (1991) Long & Marason (2002) approved the importance of using animated cartoons in education.

In Kehoe's (1996) review of studies on animation in education, visual aids are found to have a positive effect on learning if certain conditions are met. Lee and Boling, (1999;p. 22) provide restrictive guidelines for using animations:

• Use animation sparingly Rieber (1990) ; Venezky & Osin (1991). Small and simple animation may be more effective than large, complex animation Rivlin, Lewis, & Davies-Copper, (1990).
• Use animation congruent to the learning task Rieber (1991), (1994).
• Use animation as a visual analogy or cognitive anchor for the instruction as a visual analogy or cognitive anchor for the instruction of problem solving Park (1994) Park & Hopkins (1993).
• Use animation to stimulate functional behaviors of mechanical or electronic systems and to demonstrate troubleshooting procedures (Park, 1994; Park & Hopkins, 1993).
• Use graphical animation to explicitly represent highly abstract and dynamic concepts in science, including time-dependent process (Park, 1994; Park & Hopkins, 1993; Rieber, 1990, 1994) (Authors call these guidelines restrictive because they attempt to delineate the precise conditions under which animation will be effective and to eliminate other conditions as appropriate for the use of animation).
• Avoid unnecessary or gratuitous animations on the screen so as not to distract Strauss (1991).
  • Avoid extraneous sounds in the form of background music or unrelated environmental sounds Clark & Mayer (2003).

Presenting an instructional message in words and pictures engages people in active learning by making mental connections between pictorial and verbal representation. Due to a lack of integration between verbal and pictorial representations as a unified structure, presenting words alone may engage learners in shallow learning Clark & Mayer ( 2003).

Adding printed text, static graphics, charts, maps, dynamic graphics - animations may increase the cost of the instructional material but these elements can make learning an active process Clark & Mayer (2003).  As the researcher works as an English teacher, she observes obvious weakness in both listening and speaking skills in English language among second grade primary school pupils .

Questions of the study:

The study attempted to answer the following main question:

"To What Extent was an animation and graphics -based program effective on developing EFL listening and speaking skills of second grade primary school pupils?"

Out of the main question, the following sub questions were derived;

1- What were the aspects of the  designed program based on animation and graphics used to develop some EFL listening and speaking skills of second grade primary school pupils?

2-What were the effects  of  the animations and graphics based program on developing listening and speaking skills of the second grade primary school pupils?

Purpose of the study:

This study was expected to develop EFL listening and speaking skills as a foreign language for the second grade primary school pupils.

Significance of the study

This study was expected to be important for the following:

For the elementary school pupils:

1. Developing some EFL listening and speaking skills of the second grade elementary school pupils as a second language.
2. Helping pupils in learning EFL in an easy and interactive way.

  For English language teacher:

1. The study was expected to help teachers in designing similar programs with other pupils.
2. The study was expected to help teachers in reappraising the methods by which the pupils` needs and match curricula and educational learning environments.
3. This study was expected to guide them when designing curricula for elementary school pupils.

Researchers:

It attempted to indicate a new perception of teaching listening and speaking for researchers.

Delimitations of the study:

The present study was limited to:

• A program based on graphics and animated lessons designed for developing English Foreign Language listening and speaking skills of the second grade elementary school pupils.
•  The second semester of  the academic year 2017.
• This study was implemented in Elwhda elementary school in Berket-Elsabe, Menoufya governorate.
• A sample of  60 pupils second year elementary school.

Research sample:

The sample of the study consisted of  two second year elementary school classes from Elwehda elementary school in Menoufya governorate, Egypt. One participated  as an experimental group and the other participated as a control group.

Variables of the study:

Independent variable: a proposed program based on animated lessons and graphics.

Dependent variable: some listening and speaking skills of the second grade elementary school pupils.

Hypotheses of the study:

The researcher has stated the following hypotheses to emphasize the effectiveness of the program:

Hypothesis 1: There would be statically significant differences between the mean scores of the pupils in experimental group and scores of the control group in the results of post-listening skill test in favor of the experimental group.

Hypothesis 2: There would be statically significant differences between the mean scores of the pupils in experimental group and scores of the control group in the results of post-speaking skill test in favor of the experimental group.

Procedures of the study:

To answer the question of the study, the researcher conducted the following procedures:

-Reviewing literature and previous studies related to the current study.

-preparing the instruments of the study:

• Designing a program based on animation lessons.
• Preparing a teacher guide.
• Preparing a student guide.
• Preparing a list of listening comprehension skills suitable for the second year elementary school pupils.
• Preparing a list of speaking skills suitable for the second year elementary school pupils.
• Designing a listening pre-posttest

-Submitting the program and the instruments to a jury committee to identify their validity and reliability.

-Choosing the sample and dividing it into two groups  (An experimental group and a control group).

-Applying the comprehension listening pre-test to the two groups.

-Applying the speaking pre-test to the two groups.

-Teaching the experimental group using the proposed program and teaching the control group using the usual way.

-Administering the comprehension listening post-test to the two groups.

-Analyzing and interpreting the results.

- Presenting the conclusions and suggestion drawn from the results.

Terminology of the study:

• Listening

Rivers (2018) stated that listening is one of language skills which play an important role in daily communicative interaction. He also pointed that the time we spend on language  is 45% devoted to listening ,39% to speaking ,16% of reading and more than 9% on writing. “If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain Harmer ( 2001p. 201).

Listening is a process of generating images that might include sensory, emotional, temporal and verbal that comes together in memory Al-Hammadi(2011;p. 58).

The council of chief state officer CCSSO,U.S. (2009) defines listening in terms of ability to understand the language of teacher used in instruction , comprehend the importance details, abstract pertinent information, and to keep abreast with the training modules through witch teachers provide information.

Harmer (2007) pointed that listening is good for our students pronunciations , in that the more they heard and they understand spoken English, the more they absorb appropriate pitch ,intonation ,stress and the sounds both of individual words and those which blend together in connected speech .

• Speaking

In teaching learning English as a foreign language, speaking can be defined as the productive and oral skill which consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning Bailey(2005,p.2). It means that in active and productive skill, students should use all and any language at their mind to achieve a certain communicative purpose.

   Cameron (2001,p. 40)  says  that  speaking  is  the  active  use  of  language  to express meanings  so  that  other  people  can make  sense of  them. Moreover,  it  is recognized  as  an  interactive,  social  and  contextualized  communicative  event.

According to Florez in Bailey (2005;p. 2) speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. The national communication Association (2006) defined speaking as the uniquely human act or process of transmitting and exchanging information, ideas and emotions using oral language.

Guang (2007;p. 53) defined speaking as the ability to express oneself or communicate orally by using a languag. Mora (2010) asserted that speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. It is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols.

In other words, it seems obvious that in order to learn to speak or develop this ability, learners have to speak. Yet, the skill of speaking is not automatically transferable from the speaker’s first language into the second Thornbury ( 2007).

The researcher adapted with the definition that Speaking is ''the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts'' Chaney (1998, p. 13).

• Animation and Graphics

Tversky (2000,p. 313) defined animation as “series of frames so each frame appears as an alternation of the previous one” .While according to Jamalludin & Zaidatun (2000), animation represents processes  of  moving  static  images  with  variety  of  features.  Besides,  computerized  animation  can  be presented by second dimension or third dimension. However, animations present in third dimension require higher and complex cognitive power.

Animation can also be defined as group of pictures which are designed in an artificial way. These pictures are shown serially to make the viewer’s feel that the pictures move. These movements take place in the same time of the speakers’ sounds. The researcher is going to design a program using animation to teach English lessons for second grade primary school pupils.

According to The Tech Terms Computer Dictionary a graphic is an image or visual representation of an object. Therefore, computer graphics are simply images displayed on a computer screen. Graphics are often contrasted with text, which is comprised of characters, such as numbers and letters, rather than images.

The researcher adapted with Mayar’s (2001) definition that Graphics are offering particular material in verbal, written or audio form by using words and dynamic or stable pictures.

Major findings of the study:

The findings of the study revealed that:

1. EFL listening skill as a whole skill was developed due to an animation and graphics-based program as there appearedstatistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the overall listening skills posttest in favor of the experimental group.
2. EFL listening associating sounds of letters with written forms skill was developed due to using an animation and graphics based program as  there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the associate sounds of letters with written forms skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
3. EFL distinguishing between sounds skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
4. EFL Identifying speakers in a conversation skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
5. EFL communicating in English within a limited range of contexts skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
6. EFL communicating in basic English with help from listeners skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
7. EFL  over all speaking skills was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
8. EFL expressing likes and dislikes skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
9. EFL responding to requests skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
10. EFL making a question skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
11. EFL expressing sympathy skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
12. EFL  asking for repetition skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
13. EFL on describing others physical appearance skill was developed  due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.
14. EFL on asking about likes and dislikes due to using an animation and graphics based program as there appeared  statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the skill posttest in favor of the experimental group.

Conclusion:

Based on the findings of the current study, the following conclusion can be made:

1. Animation and graphics based program facilitated using the educational material and help to create a positive learning experience.
2. Using animation and graphics based program give the students their opportunities to speak and express their thoughts orally.
3. Using colored pictures and videos create good climate that encourage pupils to learn easily.
4. Teacher’s role is to be  a guide, monitor, reader, facilitator and organizer.
5. Student’s role is to active, enthusiastic and enhance their self-awareness and self-confidence.
6. There is positive attitude towards using animation and graphics based program  .
7. There is a significant positive relationship between the students achievement and learning EFL oral communication skills and animation and graphics based program.

Recommendation of the study:

Based on the results of the present study, the following recommendations should be taken into consideration when teaching oral communication skills (listening and speaking skills) in English:

1. EFL listening and speaking skills are recommended to be paid more attention as they are among the necessary skills for EFL students and teachers.
2. Listening skills and speaking skills should be evaluated as other skills are
3. It is recommended to use the animation and graphics based program as a learning tool in teaching EFL oral communication (listening and speaking) skills for elementary school students.
4. The animation and graphics based program as a learning tool is recommended to be used in teaching EFL oral communication skills in other educational stages such as preparatory stage.
5. The animation and graphics based program as a learning tool is recommended to be applied in teaching other language skills such as writing and reading.
6. Integrating between listening and speaking skills in teaching EFL for any stage of education. Also oral communication skills in English language shouldn’t be taught in isolation, but it should integrated with the other language skills.
7. Providing school with all effective facilities and teaching aids such as, LDC, papers, copy machines, pictures, video and all kinds of board. These aids help teacher to activate and employ animation programs and other effective techniques.
8. Immediate positive feedback throughout the listening and speaking process is recommended.
9. Adopting student-centered approaches is recommended.
10. Encouraging group work among students is necessary for helping them acquire the skills of team work.
    1. It is necessary to devote more time in the English language time schedule for teaching listening and speaking skills. 

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