The effect of using 2D animation to teach grammar to grade nine students on their understanding of the meaning and the form as well as their attitude towards it

The new generations are increasingly attached to new technology which consequently has decreased their attention spans. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the usage of only 2D animation designed by the teacher through a computer presentation to teach the four types of the English “if” conditionals on students’ performance and attitudes. The animation was primarily used to teach the English “if” conditionals and all the pertinent grammatical structures, namely the verb to be, the verb to have, the verb to do, the present simple, the future simple, the past simple and the past perfect. A mixed methodological approach was used to collect the data, with a one group pre-test and post-test design and semi-structured interviews. The participants were 15 students in grade 9 in a private school, Sarasas Witaed Rangsit, in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. The experiment lasted for ten periods in March and April 2021. The findings demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test scores in favor of the posttest, which indicated a significant effect from instructing grammar solely using animation. The semi-structured interviews were conducted after the experiment with nine participants chosen based on their performance on the two tests. The interviewees had highly positive attitudes towards the utilization of 2D animation to teach grammar. Most of them favored the usage of animation through computer presentation over the usage of grammar YouTube videos in the classroom. They also preferred the utilization of computer-based grammar instruction through animation to the use of the board. The results suggest that teaching grammar with animation enhances students’ performance, motivation and interactivity. Thus, teachers are encouraged to design their own animated materials to instruct both the form and meaning of grammar. They should not only satisfy with exposing students to the meaning through videos but also need to present the grammatical form in an interesting manner.