The Effectiveness of Using Animated Videos in Enhancing Young ESL Learners’ Speaking Skill

Abstract

Learning approaches for the current generation have evolved significantly due to their constant interaction with technology, such as smartphones, tablets, and online educational platforms, which has made them media-centric learners. Realising this, teachers have to alter their teaching practices by incorporating animated video, a popular audio-visual resource among young learners to attain speaking mastery. Nevertheless, research using multimodal text to enhance speaking skills is still scarce in my teaching region. Thus, this research aimed at identifying the effectiveness and the learner’s preference towards the use of animated video in speaking lesson. The method employed was mixed-method research through case study research design. The population of this research was the year 4 learners in a primary school located in Pahang, and 30 samples were selected by random sampling. Tests, questionnaire and interview were used to collect the data. Test scores were analysed statistically using t-test to identify the effectiveness of animated video for speaking skill, while data from the questionnaire and interview were analysed to identify learners’ preferences to use animated videos. Overall, the result of the research shows that animated video was effectives in enhancing learners speaking skill and the learners had expressed a strong preference towards the use of animated videos in the lesson.