Investigating the Effect of Exposure to Authentic Multimedia on Iranian EFL Learners’ Grammar

Building upon previous research on the effectiveness of using videos for language teaching purposes, this study utilized an English animated situation comedy (sitcom) as an authentic type of multimedia to teach a particular grammatical structure, namely conditional sentences. This study was also concerned with investigating the learners‟ attitudes toward this approach to grammar instruction. To achieve these purposes, 34 participants were selected and divided into two groups. In the control group (N=17) conditional sentences were taught through the traditional way of teaching grammar whereas the participants of the experimental group (N=17) learned about the conditional sentences through being exposed to the animated sitcom. The results pointed to the effectiveness of using the aforementioned animated sitcom in teaching conditional sentences. It revealed that the performance of the experimental group significantly improved (p=.003), and they outdid the control group regarding learning conditional sentences (p=.03). Moreover, students showed a positive attitude to the animated sitcom as well as its use in teaching conditional sentences. The findings of this study have implications for L2 learners and encourage them to change their view of grammar and look at it from a more communicative perspective, rather than perceiving it as something that stands in their way of speaking fluently. Moreover, using these kinds of videos will have a positive impact on learners‟ motivation to learn grammar and thus, will prod them into putting more effort in the process of grammar learning as well as English learning.

کلیدواژه ها:

multimedia ، animated sitcom ، grammar ، grammar teaching ، EFL learners