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.

29 24 7298 74 9293.33 74.67 86.670

20

40

60

80

100

120

Animation Comic Strip Index Cards

Aver

age

Perc

ent C

orre

ct

Condition

Pretest Posttest 1 Cloze Test

*

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

*

tsaljooki@lions.molloy.edu