Using Cooperation Scripts and Animations to Teach Grammar in the Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

In order to test the efficacy of using cooperation scripts in combination with animations to teach the passive in an advanced language classroom, we designed an intervention study with two groups. The first group received instruction with animations on the grammatical structure of the passive and the second group received the same instruction and animations as the first group, but in addition they were given a cooperation script to use in their small group work. The study uses a quasi-experimental design with a post-test and delayed post-test. The learners were university students in advanced German who had received classroom instruction and spent time in a German-speaking country. Therefore, they had explicit instruction on the morphology and function of the passive as is customary in first- and second-year textbooks for English-speaking learners. This study shows that students with the cooperation script perform better on open-ended tasks than students who worked independently.

The effects of animated versus static metaphor with 3D images on EFL learners' acquisition of degrees of certainty

“…Recent metaphor awareness-raising approach studies have evaluated the efficacy of animated visualisation in teaching German grammar, such as motion verbs (Roche & Scheller, 2008), passive voice (Arnett et al, 2019), case systems (Gradel, 2016), modal verbs (Kanaplianik, 2016), and light verbs (Suñer & Roche, 2019); and in teaching English, such as vocabulary (Sato et al, 2021) and degrees of politeness (Takimoto, 2021). All studies compared the metaphor awareness-raising and non-metaphorical instructional approaches without a control group (Arnett et al, 2019;Gradel, 2016;Kanaplianik, 2016;Roche & Scheller, 2008;Sato et al, 2021;Suñer & Roche, 2019) The studies by Gradel (2016) and Suñer and Roche (2019) compared the animated metaphor awareness-raising approach and teacher-directed traditional teaching approach.…”

“…Recent metaphor awareness-raising approach studies have evaluated the efficacy of animated visualisation in teaching German grammar, such as motion verbs (Roche & Scheller, 2008), passive voice (Arnett et al, 2019), case systems (Gradel, 2016), modal verbs (Kanaplianik, 2016), and light verbs (Suñer & Roche, 2019); and in teaching English, such as vocabulary (Sato et al, 2021) and degrees of politeness (Takimoto, 2021). All studies compared the metaphor awareness-raising and non-metaphorical instructional approaches without a control group (Arnett et al, 2019;Gradel, 2016;Kanaplianik, 2016;Roche & Scheller, 2008;Sato et al, 2021;Suñer & Roche, 2019) The studies by Gradel (2016) and Suñer and Roche (2019) compared the animated metaphor awareness-raising approach and teacher-directed traditional teaching approach. Gradel (2016) explored the animated effects of the metaphor awareness-raising approach on learners of German as a foreign language studying case systems, through explicit instruction followed by interactive animation tasks, whereas Suñer and Roche (2019) analysed the animated effects of a metaphor awareness-raising approach on French learners of German studying light verbs, through explicit instruction followed by multimedia animations.…”

“…Arnett et al (2019) probed into the relative effects of animated versions of metaphor awareness‐raising approaches on Irish learners of German studying passive voice with or without a cooperative group learning task, and the results of the writing tests demonstrated that the animated version of metaphor awareness‐raising approach with a cooperative group learning task outperformed the one without a cooperative group learning task.…”