Improving English listening comprehension by using animation

애니메이션을 활용한 영어 듣기능력 향상 방안

The purpose of this study is to help the students in middle school improve their English listening comprehension by presenting effective teaching and learning techniques using animation. A good animation provides a self-contained world with language expressed in a virtual context. A few animation such as "Mulan", "The Emperor's New Clothes", and "Gulliver's Travel" are presented. The materials are primarily for English listening comprehension, enhance awareness of American culture and life-styles, and to encourage students' active role in learning English. It is suggested that their use with content-based instruction, where animation provides relevant schema background, makes language relevant and comprehensible. Practical aspects of classroom instruction are discussed, focusing on the adaption of pre-viewing, while-viewing, and post-viewing activities to the selected animation. It is concluded that careful animation selection, purposeful lesson planning, and the integration of pre-viewing, while-viewing, and post-viewing activities into the content-based lesson encourage natural language skills, especially the listening comprehension and students' interest in English.