Cartoons and listening skill

Abstract

The aim of this research study is to determine the relationship between cartoons and listening skill in students of first semester from Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros at Universidad Técnica de Ambato. This research followed a mixed approach using a validated survey to know students’ perceptions about the use of web 3.0 tools and providing a KET (Key English Test) pre-test and post-test obtained from ‘Cambridge Assessment’ in order to evaluate learners’ abilities at listening through the listening sub- skills assessment such as: listening for specific information, listening for detail, listening for gist, and listening to infer. Moreover, an experimental design was applied to the experimental group of 30 students. The treatment developed introduced cartoons into listening lessons with the aim of helping learners to improve their abilities at listening through the exposure of authentic language input as well as the motivation that authentic materials bring to the classroom. Consequently, web 3.0 tools helped to the treatment’s development since it was necessary its use to display cartoons in the class, but also for the creation of activities that are established into the ‘three stages approach’ considered for the teaching delivery. The results obtained demonstrated an average of improvement of 4 points into the general test (6.9 – 11,9); however, into each sub-skill evaluated in the test, the learners’ performance improved from 0,8 to 1,3 over 3 points in every single listening sub- skill. In consequence, it can be concluded that the use of cartoons improves students’ listening skills due to some factors that learners were involved in, for instance, real-world language, tasks’ authenticity; also, it increased motivation and participation in class.