The effectiveness of using silent animated short movies in developing speaking skills of ESL learners in Government Schools

Abstract

Speaking is one of the language skills which is considered as a very important productiveskill for a language learner to master a language.English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms of the government schools has given less attention to speaking skills because of the limited time frame. Therefore, most of the language learners experience difficulties in mastering speaking skills and they feel shy and afraid to speak in English. This study identifies the effectiveness of using short movies in developing grammar and vocabulary skills of speaking skills in the ESL classroom and to motivate them in participating in English speaking activities by improvising conversations related to the silent animated short movie.For the purpose of examining the effectiveness of using silent animated short movies as an audio-visual method in developing speaking skills in the ESL classroom, the experimental research design was used along with the mix method approach to collect data in order to answer the research questions posed in the study. The data were collected by conducting pre-test, post-test, observations and semi-structured interviews with the learners and the teacher.As this study is ongoing, fromthe preliminary findings it was found out that, integrating silent animated short movies into the ESL classroom is a motivation factor for the learners to engage in speaking activities. Further, it was found out that the practice of watching silent animated short movies will improve their speaking skills and creativity as well.