LANGUAGE IN INDIA

USING ANIMATION FOR TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS
A BRIEF INDIAN EXPERIMENT
V. Anitha Devi

INTRODUCTION

ANIMATION

A slight change in a sequence of images, when presented within a time frame, gives an illusion of connected movement. This is what we perceive as animation. We often come across animation on television, videos, advertisements, web sites, and cartoons. The term animation is used commonly with computers referring to images designed to move sequentially within a time frame (the fourth dimension). Animation can refer to the sequence of images drawn by an artist or a computer.

According to the Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology, Animation is the apparent movement produced by recording step-by-step a series of still drawings, three dimensional objects, or computer-generated images (Walker, 2003, p.46).

TYPES OF GRAPHICS

Animation uses graphics or images. There are two types of graphics: one is vector and the other is raster. Vector graphics refers to images drawn using lines. Storing a vector image requires less memory space on the computer. Vector-drawn graphics is also based on 3-dimensional or 3-D. Raster graphics are bitmap images. The memory space required for storing raster graphics is high.

ANIMATION AND LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

Computer generated images are considered as one of the remarkable capabilities of modern multimedia personal computers. Now camera-less animation can be produced using computers. It has led to new digital space domain for animated cartoons, digital 3D cartoons and movies, and special effects in movies and advertisements. But the use of animation has not been explored for its potential in instruction, in general. Though studies on the effect of pictures, images and video in language learning have been carried out, not much research can be cited. The use and effectiveness of animation as a visual aid for language teaching has to be explored by teachers, researchers, and instructional designers, and others in classrooms, seminars and conferences.

VISUALS IN INSTRUCTION - THEORY AND RESEARCH

Presenting verbal codes and visual codes simultaneously helps in comprehension and retention of concepts in memory. According to the dual coding theory, of the two systems one is the verbal system in which information is processed and stored in discrete and sequential units called logogens. Another is the visual system in which picture or image like units are processed and stored continuously in oraginised units called imagens. Though both the systems are independent, they are interrelated codes for processing information even when activated separately. Jón Erlendsson (2001) has stated, "The interconnectedness of the two systems permits cueing from one system to the other, which in turn facilitates the interpretation of our environment." So, when animation is used for instruction, it has a theoretical foundation in the dual coding theory.

ASSESSING EFFECTIVENESS OF ANIMATION

As stated earlier not much has been done to find out the conditions where animation facilitates and where it does not facilitate, or make a difference in learning. According to Rieber (2001), two studies are often mentioned to show as evidence that animation is not effective in instruction. One study showed that there was no difference in learning. All learners learnt to the maximum level regardless of the treatment. This study had defects in the method (the threshold level was 85% to proceed through the lesson). Another study had problems in design and execution. The lessons were not difficult and visuals were not sufficiently illustrative. The tests were based more on verbal, not sensitizing the visual processing in learners (King, 1975 as cited in Rieber 2001). Both these studies did not indicate that visuals were required for learning the lessons. The subjects who took part in the study were adults. Animation in instruction does not have the same effect with young and adult learners.

One study has proved to some extent that animation is effective in recall of factual information. But the study was based on a comparison with verbal presentation of information and not with static visuals. So there is not much evidence to show the effectiveness of animation over static visuals in instruction.

In general, there is not much on the effective uses of animation in instruction. Similarly, in language learning and teaching not much evidence can be pooled out to show the use of animation and its relative effectiveness in facilitating learning.

Rieber (2001) suggests that animation may probably be effective for gaining attention in presenting information in the lesson. But it should not be used unnecessarily in the presentation distracting the learner. It is widely used in activities for practising or acquiring a new skill.

Another point is that immediate feedback with a pleasant animation should be a positive reinforcement only for a correct answer and not a wrong answer. Any animation given for a wrong answer as feedback should not be as pleasant as the one given for the correct answer.

DYNAMIC MEDIA METAPHOR

Dynamic media metaphor means animated illustrations for concrete or abstract concepts. According to Erickson, "Metaphors function as natural models, allowing us to take our knowledge of familiar, concrete objects and experiences and use it to give structure to more abstract concepts" (Erickson, T. 1990 pp.65-73 as cited in Paul A.Sundberg, 1998).

USE OF ANIMATION TO DEVELOP LANGUAGE SKILLS

As mentioned earlier, Paivio's dual coding theory has theoretically established beyond doubt the fact that processing of verbal and visual information is interrelated and one gives cues to the other. Animation can be used to explain, elaborate and illustrate animate expressions to abstract concepts. The language skills with some examples of specific topics that can be developed with animation, are

• Writing and speaking: e.g., Description of a process
• Speaking: e.g., body language- facial expressions and gestures
• Reading: e.g., Animated story, narration of events
• Listening: e.g., Comprehending abstract concepts, animated text for developing note taking skills as they listen.
  Associating and matching the instruction with correct animation (eg. Imperative sentences).
• Grammar: e.g., Verbs: action verbs , phrasal verbs.
  Nouns: countable and uncountable
  Adverbials of time
  Prepositions

This articles focuses on how an animated cartoon will be handy in teaching phrasal verbs to an intermediate level learner. It might give a different dimension to the language teaching and learning process.

The objectives of this study are stated as follows:

• How animation can be used in language instruction?
• Study the effectiveness of using animation to facilitate the acquisition of language item E.g. Phrasal verbs.

ANIMATED VERBS

Lots of GIF animations are available as free cliparts on the internet. It can be downloaded. Clipart collections available in CD-ROMs in bookshops can also be explored by those who do not have access to the internet. These can be integrated with the text by just using HTML and used in the internet explorer. Or the animation and the word in contextual sentences can be displayed as a PowerPoint slide show.

Though animation can't be clearly displayed in print providing animation on the computer with text can give an idea of how it can be used for optimum learning. Some example of verbs which can be illustrated with animation for better comprehension at the beginner level or for the limited English proficiency students are listed below.

Verbs denoting action:

Movement: Sit, Stand, Walk, Run, Jump.
Travel: Ride, Drive, Steer, Fly.

Verbs denoting abilities:

Hobbies: sing, play, dance, act.
Student: study, know, understand, think, remember.

Activity to teach Phrasal Verbs - Beginner Level:

The leaner should know what a phrasal verb is before doing this activity. "A verb followed by one or two adverbs or prepositions is a phrasal verb." Many examples should be provided. A few examples of phrasal verbs are given below.

Examples: Shut down, Stand by, Fill in, Pop up, Look up, Carry on, Turn off, Turn on

Then the learner can be asked to make a note of the phrasal verbs as he watches the cartoon movie. Initially one episode in the whole CD- ROM can be played and he can identify the phrasal verbs. He should check in the dictionary to confirm whether words he has noted are phrasal verbs and also make a note of meaning. Below the clipping and the meaning for one phrasal verb is shown as an illustration for this activity. As the learner watches this scene in the cartoon he should make a note of the word step up. Similarly he can make a note of other phrasal verbs as well. A clipping from Mickey Upon Twice a Christmas is presented below with the phrasal verb hurry up in the caption.

The meaning of hurry up is to start moving or doing something more quickly (CLD2002)

DISCUSSION BASED ON A STUDY

The activity was given to a learner who had learn't English in tenth standard (CBSE) alone. He did not have any formal education in English during his three-year diploma course in Engineering at Vijayawada. He wants to improve his general proficiency in English because it would be helpful for him when pursues his sudy at the B.E. undergraduate level

When asked about phrasal verbs he did not know what it was. He knew only about verbs. The teacher explained what a phrasal verb is. A few examples were given with meanings (shut down, close up). He was asked to do the activity mentioned above. The learner watched the animated cartoon Belles on Ice an episode in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (CD-ROM). The learner was interested to watch the cartoon and the total idea was novel for he has never done language learning activities using cartoons on computers.

Initially he was anxious to note down the expressions on paper. The learner could not identify the phrasal verb. But after a few seconds he was totally at ease when the teacher helped him identify one or two phrasal verbs by pausing the cartoon in the media player until he made a note of the phrasal verb. The learner made a list of 12 phrasal verbs while watching the cartoon for the first time. But each time he came across an expression he either clicked pause or moved the seek bar a little forward to the point he needed so as to make note of it. After he finished watching the eight-minute cartoon on the computer the teacher checked the list of expressions by playing the cartoon again. The learner added a three more expressions to the list. It took almost 10 to 15 minutes for the learner to watch the cartoon and make list of phrasal verbs. The learner could comprehend the dialogue while watching the cartoon. He could understand the meaning of phrasal verbs in that context but could not confirm whether all the phrases are phrasal verb. He could not explain the meaning of each phrasal verb clearly.

In the next stage, the learner had to confirm whether all the expressions were phrasal verbs by referring to dictionary. He lacked dictionary skills. He could not find and understand the inscription PHR V across the expressions as Phrasal verb in the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary. After showing him how to identify it, the learner could confirm 6 expressions as phrasal verbs. He wrote the meanings for each phrasal verb on the paper. But for one expression in the list let me at he could not identify whether it was a phrasal verb. So there were totally five phrasal verbs used in the cartoon Belle on Ice. The cartoon was played again for him to identify the contextual meaning of the phrasal verb. He learnt at his own pace by watching the cartoon and using the Dictionary. Later he was able to do exercises on Phrasal verbs from English Vocabulary in Use.

As discussed in the section Visuals in Instruction - theory and research, the limited studies on using animation in instruction have not been favourable for learning. But in this study an animated cartoon has been found to be remarkably useful for learning phrasal verbs contextually according to the learner. At the beginner level animated cartoons will be useful for teaching new grammatical items. Animation for language learning has positive attributes even on adult learners at the beginner level. Some positive aspects from this study on using animation in learning are given below.

• Increases motivation
• Removes affective filters
• Lowers the anxiety level
• Improves contextual comprehension because of the display of caption along with the animation.
• Helps in the retention of concepts is superior when compared to the use of just text
• Fosters visual and verbal literacy

A few negative aspects were also observed:

• Distracts the learner to watch the cartoon repeatedly.
• Affects the learning process if learners with difficulties in vision use it repeatedly.

LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

The activity could not be used with more number of subjects so the results from this study need more support from further experiments.

The cartoon was based on a totally different geographical and cultural setting. So the culture specific language learning material could not be used.

CONCLUSION

This study has shown that animated cartoons can be useful for teaching phrasal verbs contextually at the beginner level. Animation has facilitated the dual processing of information. So if animation is used at the beginner level or to teach new concepts for the first time, the teaching learning process becomes less tedious. Animated Cartoons can also be used in large classrooms.

REFERENCES

Erlendsson, Jón (2001) Dual Coding Theory http://www.hi.is/~joner/eaps/wh_dualc.htm 2001-03-27 JE VS: 527.4666

Hornby, A.S. (2000) Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Oxford : OUP

Sundberg, Paul. (1998), Animation in CALL: Learning to think in the fourth dimension, Paper Presented at CALICO'98 Symposium, California

Rieber, Lloyd P. (2000). Computers, Graphics, and Learning. Athens : Brown and Benchmark Publishers.

Walker, Peter M. B.(ed.) (2001) Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology, India: Allied Chambers (India) Ltd.p.46

CD-ROM

Belles on Ice, an episode in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (CD-ROM) ©Walt Disney

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