L2 acquisition conditions
Animation Comic Strip
Index Cards
Procedure
• Pretest: Word translation test from Spanish to English
• Experimental conditions:• Watch Animation• Read Comic Strip• Read Index Cards
• Posttest: • Word translation test from Spanish to English• Cloze test: Content and function words from
each condition
The Effects of Animation v. Comics on Second Language AcquisitionTabasum Saljooki, B.S. & Hia Datta, Ph.D
Molloy College
• Learning a second language (L2) as an adult is difficult (Kleinmann, 1977; Krashen, Long, & Scarcella, 1979)
• Some argue that animation is an effective tool for L2 acquisition (Bosseler & Massaro, 2003; Schlosser et al., 2014; Mardani & Najmabadi, 2016; Higgins & Cocks, 1999) while others make a case for graphic novels (Frey & Fisher, 2004; Liu, 2004; Lucas, 2005; Csabay, 2006).
• There is ittle research supporting the best way to learn L2
Background
To investigate the best method for teaching monolingual English-speaking adults an L2
Purpose
Will monolingual English-speaking adults be able to recall vocabulary in Spanish best with animationor a comic strip?
Animation would better tool to learn a L2.
Research Question &Hypothesis
MethodParticipants
• 15 English-speaking healthy adults18 to 30 years of age
• Not familiar with Spanish reading and/or vocabulary
• All participants received all conditions
Experimental conditions & Stimuli Results
• Overall, each group improved in Spanish vocabulary from Pre to Posttest.
• Animation was more effective as a tool for L2 acquisition compared to the comic strip.
Discussion• Overall, the results suggest that all the
conditions were beneficial for cognitive abilities such as word translation.
• The findings for animation confirmed those in the previous literature (Bosseler & Massaro, 2003; Schlosser et al., 2014; Mardani & Najmabadi, 2016; Higgins & Cocks, 1999).
• Future research will consist of investigating types of animations on L2 acquisition.
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Animation Comic Strip Index Cards
Aver
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Perc
ent C
orre
ct
Condition
Pretest Posttest 1 Cloze Test
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Limitations• Index cards had a higher pretest score possibly
due to less restrictions in word choice• Animation and Comic Strip had content
words that were tied to a storyline
Stimuli10 bisyllabic
Spanish content words unique to each condition embedded in
sentences
*
