RANGSIT JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (RJAS)
The Effects of Subtitled English Cartoon Movies on Improving Reading Comprehension
of Chinese Elementary School Students
Chen Gao Yang1 Assoc.Prof.Dr.Ruja Pholsward2
Faculty of Education, Rangsit University, Pathumthani 12000, Thailand
1E-mail: wan_penny@hotmail.com; 2E-mail: rujajinda@gmail.com
October 31, 2013
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
The following article provides details of the methodology including teaching methods, lesson plans and reading
activities (small-group discussions and role plays) in which popular Cartoon Movies Clips were used as an aid to enhance
reading skills in an English reading classroom in China. The pilot program was implemented over an 8 weeks period
spanning 4 months. There were 2 classes per month, with a total of 30 students between the ages of 11 and 12 years of age
taking part. All students represented in the study are currently attending the Yang Guan English Training Center in Chengdu,
China. All subjects were either in the 5th or 6th grade, and have had at least 4 years of English training prior to this
programme. The input was from both popular American Cartoon Movies and theme-related target reading texts selected by
predetermined criteria. Intervention activities in the reading classes were designed to intrigue students’ intrinsic motivation,
while students’ reading comprehension achievement was diagnosed by a total of 9 specially constructed tests (1 platform test
and 8 Subtests) using the same specifications. The quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the use of cartoon movies
and related text readings and group discussions did have positive effects by improving students’ reading comprehension
skills as well as their intrinsic motivation for reading.
This research offers empirical evidence and practical examples for other teachers who are developing their own
future lesson plans.
Keywords: Reading and Reading Comprehension, Prior Knowledge, Schema and Motivation.
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บทคัดย่อ
ก า ร วิ จั ย ค รั้ ง นี้ มี วั ต ถุ ป ร ะ ส ง ค์ เ พื่ อ ศึ ก ษ า ป ร ะ สิ ท ธิ ผ ล ข อ ง รู ป แ บ บ ก า ร เ รี ย น ก า ร ส อ น อ่ า น
โดยใช้ภ าพยนตร์ ก าร์ ตู น ที่ มี ค าบรรยายใต้ภ าพเพื่ อ เสริ ม สร้ า งความเข้า ใจในการอ่ า นภาษาอัง กฤษของนั ก เรี ย นชั้ น ประถมศึ ก ษาในประเทศจี น
กลุ่มตัวอย่างเป็ นนักเรี ยนชาวจี นชั้นประถมปี ที่ 11คน อาย 30 วนจาน 6 และ 5 ปี ก่อนเข้าร่ วมใน 4 ปี มี ประสบการอ์ในการเรี ยนภาษาอังกฤษขั้นต่า 12
ก าร ท ด ล อ ง ซึ่ ง ใช้ ร ะ ย ะ เว ล าร ว ม 4 เดื อ น เค รื่ อ ง มื อ ที่ ใ ช้ ใ น ก าร ท ด ล อ ง ป ร ะ ก อ บ ด้ ว ย แ ผ น ก าร ส อ น แ ล ะ กิ จ ก ร ร ม ก าร อ่ าน
โดยการใช้การอภิ ปรายกลุ่ ม ย่อ ยและบทบาทสมมติ เป็ นหลัก เพื่ อกระตุ ้น แรง จู งใจภายในของนักเรี ย น เครื่ องมื อที่ ใช้ในการเก็บ รวบรวมข้อมู ล คื อ
แบ บ ท ด ส อ บ ม าต รฐ าน ชุ ด ห ลั ง ก ารส อ น แ ต่ ล ะค าบ ผ ล ก ารวิ จั ย พ บ ว่ า ก ารใช้ ภ าพ ย น ต ร์ ก าร์ ตู น 8 ชุ ด แ ล ะแ บ บ ท ด ส อ บ ย่ อ ย 1
และกิจกรรมการอ่านที่เกี่ยวเนื่องกันสามารถเพิ่มคะแนนความเข้าใจในการอ่าน รวมถึงแรงจูงใจ ภายในของนักเรี ยนอย่างมีนยั สาคัญทางสถิติ
การวิจยั ครั้งนี้ช้ ีให้เห็นหลักฐานเชิงประจักษ์วา่ การใช้ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนสามารถช่วย เพิ่มพูนความเข้าใจในการอ่านของนักเรี ยนชั้นประถมปี ที่ 5
แ เช่น นม่เพียงแต่ในประเทศจีนเท่านั้น แต่รวมถึงประเทศอื่นแ ในทวีปเอเชียด้วย ถือเป็ นแนวทางสาหรับผูส้ อนที่ควรนาสื่ อการเรี ยน การสอนอื่น 6 และ
มาเป็ นกิจกรรมเสริ มในชั้นเรี ยน ทั้งนี้อาจมีการบูรอาการกับการอภิปรายกลุ่มย่อย )และบทอ่านที่เกี่ยวเนื่องกัน( ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนและบทบาทสมมติ
เพื่อช่วยให้นกั เรี ยนมีผลสัมฤทธิ์ ในการเรี ยนสู งขึ้น
คำสำคัญ: การอ่ านและความเข้ าใจในการอ่ าน, ความรู้ ที่มีอยู่, โครงสร้ างความรู้ เดิมและแรงจูงใจ
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Crystal (2003) highlighted the significance of English literacy in the world community by saying that
English seemed to be apparently in the right place at the right time and that it has undoubtedly become a global
language. Since joining the World Trade Organization, the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) government has
been preparing its citizens to keep up with the world’s economic pace. The government realized that citizens’
educational qualities would be enhanced by promoting literacy. As a result the Ministry of Education
department has made English a compulsory subject in the school curriculum starting from the elementary school
level. Such a move in the PRC educational system in prioritizing English literacy has been reported by Yun
(2010). Chinese citizens have felt the acute need for functionality of their communication skills in English in
order to have better opportunities for highly-paid jobs and further overseas English training. More and more
young people grasp the chance to go abroad to study and upgrade their professional development while
acquiring English communications skills. The traditional teaching of reading comprehension was always
emphasized on language knowledge like vocabulary or grammar rather than the reader or other factors. (Zhang,
2010) The actual situation is that the acquisition of certain linguistic skills does not necessarily guarantee the
consequent acquisition of communicative abilities in a language (as quoted in Zhang, 2010).
About “encompassing” (Richardson, 2010) literacy, the ability to read is essential to ensuring that
students are able to engage in many subject areas successfully. “Reading is a tool for lifelong learning and also
as a critical academic skill for all learners’ academic domains (Alshumaimeri, 2011) and everyone’s reading
habits should be developed from an early start, especially before entering middle school. In order to be a good
reader four roles need to be assumed: code breaker, text participant, text user, and text analyst; and a good
reader should be good at using prior knowledge, making connections, visualize, infer, ask questions, determine
importance, and synthesizing the materials that they read (as quoted in Closs, 2006). Previous studies gave the
explicit explanation about reading and reading comprehension and schema. As quoted by Urquhart & Weir
(1998) “Reading is the product of a complex but decomposable information processing system” and reading
comprehension is, as quoted by Ozuru & Rowe (2008), a complex and multi-component process; a process of
readers interacting and constructing meaning from text, implementing the use of prior knowledge, and the
information found in the text. Schema, explained by Zhang (2010) is a mental structure in semantic memory that
specifies the general or expected arrangement of a body of information and is acquired through many
experiences with an event or in routine by setting up their expectations for what usually will happen and helping
them interpret what does happen and remember what in fact did happen on particular occasions.
Quite a few studies explain the relationships among reading, reading comprehension, and schema or
prior knowledge. Understanding the role of schema in the reading process provides teachers insights into why
students fail to comprehend text material even though students sometimes feel that they could recognize all
words in the text. In the earliest times, like the year of 1781, Kant had already claimed that background
knowledge plays a role in reading comprehension, so that new information, new concepts, and new ideas only
have meaning when they can be related to something the individual already knows. Currently, the schema
theory based on Goodmans’ psycholinguistics reading model is the dominant reading theory. In the schema
theory, the process of comprehension is guided by the principle that every input is mapped against some existing
schema and that all aspects of schema must be compatible with the input information. Zhang (2006) emphasized
that the schemata can improve reading comprehension, and reading, in turn, can help readers build new and
correct schemata; as quoted in Gilakjani & Ahmadi (2011), reading is an interactive process in which readers
construct a meaningful representation of text using their schemata, and schemata were accepted as interlocking
mental structures representing readers’ knowledge of ordinary events. In addition, activation of schema is vital
to the reading comprehension process. Teachers should realize that the extent to which their students are
familiar with the content of the text has a large impact on their reading comprehension, as H jertsted t (2 0 1 3 )
quoted, when students are provided with culturally relevant texts, their comprehension improves. G ilakjani &
A h m a d i (2 0 11 ) re co m m en d e d th a t teachers should try to minimize their students’ reading difficulties by
providing them with familiar contents that include relevant cultural information; similarly, Al-Mahrooqi(2013)
stated that familiarity with culture facilitates comprehension and allowe d students deep involvement and
reduced misinterpretations of target reading texts. In addition, teachers should made sure that students are
familiar with activating schema to comprehend the target reading text through well -designed activities in the
c la s s a n d using their schema and integrating their known information with their new information through a
series of connections (Pardo, 2004).
According to some scholars studies (Geng, 2007; Zhang, 2008; Zhang, 2010; Hu, 2013; Yung,2013)
currently there are some factors have put a limit on students’ language skills development: the lack of exposure
to real-life communication in English; the traditional Confucius-influenced teacher-centered teaching methods;
big size class and conventional materials. In local English training centers, most of the students who attend are
of low language proficiency or “resistant” English learners, who are called “struggling learners” (M e le k o g lu
2013) as their negative attitudes toward reading tasks or low motivation to read. They are sent or forced to
attend by their parents. In addition, most parents have the desire to engage students in gaining high scores in
exams. These kinds of motivation are called extrinsic motivation. According to Wigfield & Guthrie (1997), with
extrinsic motivation, external factors motivate the individual to do a specific task (such as, getting good grades,
or better employment opportunities in the future), while intrinsic motivation has to do with pleasurable internal
feelings or thoughts and supports long-term learning. In this study, many students struggle with reading and
reading comprehension, called “Reading Phobia”. These students often feel less confident when they encounter
reading passages, not to mention the implementation of reading comprehension tests. Therefore, to help students
to be successful readers is the pursuit of all teachers, and teachers need to work hard to find the most appropriate
way to maintain student’s reading interest, overcome their phobia of reading and comprehension tests and, at the
same time, teachers or tutors should try to identify appropriate motivators for cultivating students’ intrinsic
motivation to engage their extended and long-terms reading activities.
Previous traditional teaching methods which were emphasized in the syntax and grammar teaching in
reading class seem to have been inefficient. It is imperative to tailor the instruction to meet the needs of
students’ learning, which could support the comprehension strategies, domain knowledge, word recognition,
fluency and motivation to read (as quoted in Richardson, 2010). Today we are all in the digital era, new
pedagogies that accommodate digital literacy by using authentic learning experiences, observation, intrinsic
motivation and collaboration are emerging in education (Parkhill, 2011). The majority of educators try to
incorporate various technologies into their teaching to create the optimal learning environment for students.
AVAILLL, Audio Visual Achievement in Literacy Language and Learning is the typical multimedia
programme widely implemented in New Zealand classrooms. According to Parkhill (2011), AVAILLL is an
inexpensive, innovative, multimedia, intensive reading programme to supplement classroom practice for
engaging students in reading.
It was observed that the students in this studyimmersed themselves in watching cartoon movies and
were fond of lively characters in the shown movies. Instead of resisting or criticizing this kind of “addiction”, it
is important to regard movies as a way of gaining new knowledge and hopefully help students to improve their
reading comprehension, and try to find an acceptable “central place”(Parkhill, 2011) for communication and
entertainment in their leisure lives. Because there have been no empirical studies on the effects of the use of
cartoon movies on reading comprehension of Chinese students, particularly at the elementary school level
reported in academic media and journals, this study investigated such effects at the elementary school level.
Incorporating effective instruction with the popular cartoon movies in the reading class was the focus of this
study. DVD as a popular digital source defined as “harmonious inputs”(Parkhill & Johnson, 2009) enables
simultaneous reading, viewing and listening; and currently is one of the most direct sources for exposing
Chinese students to English. Therefore 8 popular cartoon movies were selected by following the criteria of
movie clips and for presenting in 8 reading classes, respectively. The well-designed lesson plan demonstrates
how to utilize these movie clips in the class.
2. Problem Statement
Currently the traditional teacher-centered teaching method with the hierarchical relations between
teachers and students and the teachers’ authority in the classroom is being challenged by the new studentcentered, teacher-facilitated teaching methods (Hu, 2013). Memorization which is seen as the prerequisite factor
for learning success in China by both Chinese students and teachers, needs to be changed (Yang, 2013). This
present research attempts to gather empirical data about whether English cartoon movies, shown in an English
reading class, can actually motivate students to enjoy reading more and read better.
3. Objective
3.1 To find out whether the use of English cartoon movies with specific teaching methods and learning
activities can motivate Chinese elementary school students to read better.
3.2 To investigate whether the use of subtitled English cartoon movies with specific teaching methods
and learning activities can help increase reading comprehension in Chinese elementary school students.
4. Materials and methods
4.1 Subjects
Prior to the study, 38 Chinese Elementary School Students (Age 11-12 years old, Grade 5th-6th)
took the platform test: 5 students who gained scores higher than 80% and 3 students who had scores lower than
20% were excluded from the study; therefore there were 30 students who finally took part in the study.
 Participants Profile:
Age
11 years old
12 years old
21/30
9/30
70%
30%
Gender
Male
Female
20/30
10/30
67%
33%
History of Subjects: Hours of English Learning per week
135minutes/ (Government Elementary School)
23/30
225 minutes (Private Elementary School)
7/30
77%
23%
All 30 students in this study have 5-6 years of English. Seventy seven per cent (77%) of them have
their English classes in the Government Elementary School system; each class takes 2.25 hours (45minutes x 3
classes=135 minutes) per week per person. Twenty three per cent (23%) of students have their English classes in
the Private Elementary School system, which is 3.75hours (45minutes x 5 classes= 225 minutes) per week per
person.
In order to implement this kind of special teaching method, which utilizes the watching of popular
cartoon movies, 2 classes were designated out of a total of 4 classes per month over the period of 4 months, 8
classes in total to study. During the study, there were a total of eight popular and funny American cartoon series
viewed. Square-pant SpongeBob and Charlie Brown were selected for showing in the theme-related reading
class along with the implementation of well-designed lesson plans.
4.2 Criteria for Input Selection
4.2.1 Movie clips Selection
(8 cartoon movie clips should be selected by following this specification)
Context
--- western culture/western holiday activities/ western daily life
Content of movies --- suitable for children 6-13 years old, no violence, nudity,
sexuality
scenes;
Language
--- authentic daily used English
Student ages
--- 10-13 years old
Grade level
--- 5th - 6th
Gender
--- suitable for either male or female
Length of movie --- 20 minutes (approximately)
Characters
--- popular, not too many,
Accessible
--- easy to buy
Visuals
--- colorful
Pronunciation
--- articulate
Subtitle
--- both English and Chinese
Soundtrack
--- both English and Chinese
SpongeBob Square Pants Series
(Created by Stephen Hillenburg, published in 1999)
Episode selected:
Texas
Charlie Brown Series
(Created by Charles M. Schluz, published in 1983)
Episode selected:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Life is a circus, Charlie Brown
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! [Part 1]
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! [Part 2]
What a nightmare, Charlie Brown!
The Great Inventors
4.2.2 Material/Text Selection
The work of Spilich et al. (1979) quoted in Urquhart & Weir (1998) claimed that the interaction
between the text and the reader is very important. The content of a text should be sufficiently familiar to
subjects so that students have sufficient existing schemata to enable them to deploy appropriate skills and
strategies to understand the text. Therefore, students should not be faced with texts which are too far outside
their academic culture Grabe (1991).
For facilitating the teaching in the reading class, students were given a list of the topics of the movies;
then they were interviewed about selecting the topic of the text; according to their reading level, appropriate
reading passages from Website of the Reading a-z were selected. (www.readinga-z.com).
4.3 Research Instruments
To meet the study objectives, 6 instruments were designed to collect data:
Instrument 1: Reading Comprehension Test (Study Objective 2)
Instrument 2: The teaching method, procedure, self-reflection, and peer teacher’s feedback
(Study Objective 1& 2)
Instrument 3: Presentation of selected English cartoon movies (Study Objective 1& 2)
Instrument 4: Reading activities (Study Objective 1 & 2)
Instrument 5: Students’ weekly reading comprehension assessments (Study Objective 2)
Instrument 6: Students’ motivation assessment (Study Objectives 1 & 2)
Procedures for data collection for the second semester of academic year 2010
(from September 1, 2010 to December 28, 2010).
4.4 Teaching method and lesson plan
The researcher used the teaching method which procedure focused on the subjects’ attention,
participation and two kinds of interactions: teacher-student and student-student.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students have positive improvements in their reading comprehension and language
learning; students have positive motivation for reading.
LEARNING TASK 1
LEARNING TASK 2
LEARNING TASK 3
LEARNING TASK 4
LEARNING TAST 5
LEARNING TASK 6
Reading comprehension test 1
Reading comprehension test 2
Small group discussion
Role plays
Homework (writing)
Final group discussion
LEARING OUTCOME
1. Language achievement
1.1 Students can actively communicate with peer students and their teacher in
English;
1.2 Students performed better in the reading comprehension test;
2.
Motivation of students
2.1 Students actively take part in the activities of the class;
2.2 Students actively complete the homework;
2.3 Students understand how to establish schemata in four stages:
Prior knowledge and cultural background;
Domain and topic knowledge;
Discourse and genre knowledge;
Vocabulary knowledge;
Lesson Time Allocated
90 minutes allocated
5 minutes+20minutes+5minutes+35minutes+20minutes+5minutes
5 minutes: Warm up. Prepare the subjects for this particular class: teaching method
explanation; target learning outcome, objectives, learning tasks, performance
assessment, students’ feedback, teacher’s feedback. Present the selected
English cartoon movie.
20 minutes: Give the specific direction for reminding students what they should be paying
attention to or look for in viewing each assigned movie clip; present the
selected English cartoon movie.
5 minutes: Instructions for the target reading text.
35 minutes: Reading activities: small-group discussion or role play, only one
activity per class.
20 minutes: Reading comprehension assessment
5 minutes: Teacher’s feedback
4.5 Teaching procedures
The teaching procedure covered 90 minutes and was divided into six phases:
Class 1
Theme: Thanksgiving
Movie clip: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Reading Text: Turkey in the tree
Phase 1 Warm-up (5 minutes);
The researcher and the peer teacher arranged the seats of students and settled them down; told
students what was new in today’s class:
“Today, I’m going to give you a different reading class. I’m going to show you a popular
movie clip and I want you to try to understand what you hear and see from the movie; then later, I will pass you
the reading text to finish the testing. The purpose of this reading testing is to know whether you understood the
reading text or not.”
The researcher should tell the students that will be 6 phases in this class, and all phases will
serve to finish the reading comprehension assessment, therefore, students should pay attention and accomplish
each phase within the time limits.
For example:
1. Name of episode: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving;
2. Plot: “Charlie Brown has dinner with his friends on Thanksgiving day. His friend Linus
will explain the history of the Thanksgiving Holiday to everyone”;
3. The teacher will ask students some questions and remind them to pay attention to some
points: 1: Please listen to the explanation of Linus and try to remember what Linus talked about when he
described the origin of Thanksgiving; 2: Please pay attention to what are the symbols of Thanksgiving day, and
write them down.
Phase 2 Display cartoon movie clip; (20 minutes)
The episode was presented. While playing the clip it was paused at important times to remind
students to focus on the key points;
Phase 3 Session after the movie showing (5 minutes):
1. The students were given 5 minutes to recall the main points of the movie, and about
what they learned from watching the movie within the discussion group.
2. Words the students heard or learned from the movie were written on the whiteboard.
3. In order to enhance understanding, important words along with images were displayed
over the OHP (over-head-projector). These images were downloaded from the Internet or Screenshot from the
movie clip. Each word was carefully pronounced, while at the same time, students were requested to read the
words and repeat them.
Phase 4 Instructions for target reading text (5 minutes);
Strategy-based instruction was adopted in preparing students for the target reading text.
The reading text was passed to students and they were asked to follow the steps as below:
Brainstorm, activate prior knowledge
The students were asked to look at the topic first, “Maria’s First Thanksgiving”.
They were then asked to brainstorm as follows:
What is Thanksgiving? Have you ever celebrated Thanksgiving Day with anyone? Can
you please tell everyone about ‘Thanksgiving Day’?
Make a prediction
Students were repeatedly asked the following questions:
“When you look at the topic of the text, can you tell what and who it is about? Who is
Maria? Can you make a guess about what will happen in this story? Do you remember Charlie Brown’s
Thanksgiving?”
Activate Schema
Students were lead to activate their schema on Thanksgiving.
“Do you remember the Thanksgiving Day of Charlie Brown and his friends in the movie
clip? Please read the text to see the common factors and differences of Thanksgiving Day between Charlie
Brown and Maria.”
Make a conclusion
Students were asked to make a conclusion about the text and recheck their predictions.
“After you finish reading, please check whether the text has the same ending as your
prediction prior to the reading? Do you understand the purpose of the author, or the true meaning of
Thanksgiving? Please summarize and retell the whole story. I hope you do well in your next reading activities:
group discussion and role play sessions.”
Phase 5 Reading Activities (35 minutes)
Students were instructed to do one of the reading activities alternately: small-group discussion
and role play. The detailed requirements of these two activities and the Schedule of Reading
Discussion questions for Class 1:
1. Who is the main character of this reading text?
2. What are the different experiences of the characters between the cartoon movie and the
reading text?
3. What are the common experiences of the characters between the cartoon movie and the
reading text?
Phase 6 Assessment of reading comprehension (20 minutes)
The reading comprehension test was given to the students, and the directions were read again.
Students were reminded to finish the test within the allotted time. Students’ scores were recorded in percentages
as part of their individual reading comprehension performance files.
Phase 7 Teachers’ feedback (5 minutes).
After the assessment, students were asked some questions in order to check their
comprehension of the text, such as, the main idea of the text, recall the main details, and comment on the
characters in the text. Through this 5-minutes checking, a general overview about the teaching result of this
class could be assessed, and also help to improve the teaching method of next class.
4.6 Procedures of presentation of selected English cartoon movies
Name of clip: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Name of text: Turkeys in the trees
Step 1 Brainstorm "Thanksgiving"
Step 2 Brief introduction of the movie clip: e.g. Patty forces Charlie Brown to invite his
friends to have Thanksgiving dinner in Charlie's house, and Snoopy is the chef. During the dinner, Linus
explains the history of Thanksgiving.
Step 3 Remind students to focus on the history of and symbols of "Thanksgiving", note down
high frequency words
(The above 3 steps were done in the warm-up session)
Step 4 Clips showing
Step 5 Pause to allow students to recall what they watched (if necessary)
Step 6 The end of the clips.
[Research Instruments: pre/post test, researcher self-feedback, student feedback, peer teacher
feedback, homework feedback and final motivation discussion]
5. Data Collection and Procedure
Data collection was in the second semester of academic year 2010, which started from September 1,
2010 until December 28, 2010 in the Yang Guang English Training Center in Chengdu, one of the western cities
of China. Prior to the study, finding the subjects was time -consuming. At first, because the study was an
experimental study, it had not been approved to be a formal teaching method, most of the English training center
was afraid the study would influence their students’ performance scores in exams, which then would affect their
enrollment rates. Secondly, because parents were sending their children to the training center to gain high
scores, few of them wanted their children to be the subjects of the study. Thirdly, some centers wanted to earn
money from the subjects, and this conflicted with the intention of the study, in which children were to be taught
without charge. The Yang Guang English Training Centre was founded in 2006, and is located in Chengdu, a
western city in China. It has 4 permanent English teachers and other part-time teachers, around 90-120 students
are enrolled each year. It provides a special one-to-one tutor in a normal English class. Contact with the Centre
was by way of email, and the owner of the Centre supported this research. Permission was granted and parents
were informed. The study eventually was implemented on September 1, 2010.
Six instruments were used to collect data. The data collection procedures are shown in Figure 1.
Instrument 1
Students
took the
Platform
Test
• 5 Students
took the
pilot study
• 38 Students
took the
platform
study
• 30 out of
38students
were
selected as
the subjects
of the study
• The
platform
scores of
students
were kept
into the
individual
profile.
Instrument 2
Teaching
Procedures
(Six phases);
Observation
and Feedback
• Warm up
(5 minutes)
• Presented
cartoon
movie clip
(20 minutes)
Instruction
(10 minutes)
• Small group
discussion or
role play(30
minutes)
• Weekly test
(20minutes)
• Teacher'
feedback
(5minutes)
Instrument 3
Presentation
of English
cartoon
movies
Instrument
4 Reading
Activites
• Presentati
on of
English
cartoon
movies
• Students
were
arranged
into 5
groups to
do the
reading
activities
(Small
group
discussion
or Role
play)
Insrument 5
Weekly Test
• Students
took the
weekly test
and their
scores were
kept into
the
individual
profile
Figure 1. Data collection procedures
Insrument 6
Students'
motivation
survey
• Students
complet
ed their
after class
100 words
homewor
k
• Students
took part
in the
final
group
discussion
and
completed
the
motivatio
n survey
6. Data Analysis
Data obtained based on Instruments 1& 5 are quantitative data, presented in frequency, percentage tables.
Data obtained based on Instruments 2, 3, 4 and 6 are qualitative data, presented in brief descriptions and reports.
7. Findings
Through the data collected from instruments 1 and 5, the results of the reading comprehension were shown,
followed by discussion; and through the data collected from instruments 2,3,4 and 6, the findings of the
motivation were shown in students’ motivation survey form and teachers’ evaluation form and complementary
descriptions in the teachers’ reflection notes.
7.1 Findings
7.1.1 Students’ reading comprehension scores increased.
The difference between reading comprehension scores from the platform test to the weekly tests
indicates the changes in reading comprehension of the participating students. Two kinds of scores were focused:
one is the whole class mean score increased (14%); the other is the individual score increased respectively. The
individual progression is the focus of this study, no matter his/her score higher than or lower than the mean
score of the whole class. Through monitoring their own performance each week through the individual profile,
students gained self-efficacy and built up their confidence gradually which in turn motivated better performance
in the target reading tasks. (See details in Appendix I)
7.1.2 The positive effect of using cartoon movie in teaching was proved by the high satisfactory
of teachers and students toward the cartoon movie combined teaching method of this study.
7.1.2.1 The majority of students (Mean 79%, S.D. =0.21) showed that they were fond of
the presented cartoon movie characters in their final group discussion and survey form. A motivation survey
showed a better picture of students’ perception about reading classes. The motivation survey consists of 10
questions focusing on students’ attitudes about utilizing the cartoon movie teaching method in the class.
7.1.2.2 The majority of students (Mean87%, S.D.=0.07) indicated that they liked the
characters of presented cartoon movies in their 100 words homework. The students were encouraged to write
their opinions in their homework.
7.1.2.3 The positive effect of using cartoon movies in the teaching of English on the
motivation of students was revealed in analyzing the evaluation form and complementary descriptions in the
teachers’ reflection notes.
8. Discussion of Major Findings
8.1 Several aspects were concluded to explain how the students gained upward progression in their
reading comprehension performance during the study.
8.1.1 The students’ needs and interests were respected by teachers, which the movie clip
selection criteria were based on the preferences of the students.
The findings of this study are in line with the statement of Snow (2002): High interest, derived
from choice, leads to high comprehension.
Second, the findings support the statement of Rumerlhart (1977, as quoted in Zhang 2008),
who viewed reading comprehension as the process of choosing and verifying conceptual schemata for the text;
and the statement of Zhang (2010), who emphasized that the process of comprehension was guided by the
principle that every input was mapped against some existing schema and that all aspects of the schema must be
compatible with the input information.
8.1.2 All reading comprehension tests were constructed strictly by following the Test
Specifications which were based on the proficiency of the students, Chinese elementary school curriculum, the
feedback from either the 5 students’ pilot study or the peer teacher and most important, all tests were reviewed
by specialists and one native specialist. Students were guaranteed that the tests they would deal with would not
too easy nors too hard, thus students started to break their “phobia” of reading comprehension tests and
approached the reading comprehension tests gradually.
This finding supports the statement of B orelli, M .B ., et al.(2 010): “The test specifications
must be developed deliberately and thoughtfully with input from numerous stakeholders before developing any
assessment items or tests, and a clearly articulated set of test specifications contributes to improved reliability
and validity of the assessment instruments.”
8.1.3 The formalized topic and content of the target reading texts the students gained from the
cartoon movie clips helped them comprehend better.
The schemata or prior knowledge the students learned from the movie were assimilated into
the existing schema, which is in line with the statement of Gilakjani & Ahmadi (2011) and were stored in the
students’ memory, which was in line with the statement of Alshumaimeri (2011); then later the schemata were
naturally activated when needed.
8.1.4 The colorful and visual images of the cartoon movies created a more relaxed learning
environment, and the popular cartoon characters supported their imagination and helped create fanciful
activities. The statement of Potzsch (2013), “the images or sounds of movies make students react affectively”,
was verified by this study. The students were attracted by the characters and showed their positive emotions
(Metzler, 2010) like enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity, and interest while they actively took part in the reading
activities, and in turn, their active performance in activities helped their reading comprehension.
The findings are in line with the quotation of Lippman (2010) “The learner and the learning
environment were active… 21 st century learning environments are using today’s tools (i.e. information
technologies) which are believed to guide the learner and lead development”. Also the finding supports the
s t a t e m e n t o f Hsieh, et al.,(2010), the “lower level of anxiety” learning environment of using DVD films
promoted the students’ language development.
8.1.5 The subtitled movies connected the visual images and verbal to help students’ improve
their reading performance.
The findings of the study support the statement of Sternberg (1987), who said that subtitled
movies could be seen as contexts, and the statement of Hamidon et al.,(2013), who claimed that visual effects in
the movies could enhance the audience understanding on each scene displayed on the screen due to its ability to
bring it to life. The findings of the study are also in line with the investigation of Sharif & Ebrahimian (2013)
and Krajka(2013), they claimed that movies with subtitles would help the connection between words and images
while children were watching the movies; the subtitles were seen as an educational tool to maximize the
effectiveness of language learning by helping students visualized what they hear and provided students a more
stress-free learning context.
8.1.6 The cartoon movie combined reading instruction which included cooperative learning
activities in this study helped students comprehend the target reading better. It also helped students comprehend
the target reading better and motivated students to take part in the cooperative learning activities. The findings
support the statement of Gambrell et., al, (2000), who emphasized that the cooperative learning provides
students with a supportive environment in which they could learn how to interpret how to text collaboratively
and also support the statement of the Guthrie et al.,(2007) who claimed that cooperative learning increased
student’s motivation. In order to reach the same agreement, the students offered the explanation or sh ared the
thoughts with the other students, the “reciprocity” encouraged by Nuttall (1996) were displayed in the group
discussion of each class and prompted students to read better in their reading comprehension performance.
8.2 The cartoon movies utilized in the reading class of this study secured the students’ positive attitude
toward reading, and their recognition of the reading value. The students were motivated to read better and the
consequent reading competence or confidence in turn motivated students to read more and thus form their longlife reading habit. This finding supports the statement of Melekoglu (2013), who emphasized that if readers
appreciate the value of reading, then readers would develop a higher motivation to read and thus make even
more improvements in reading.
9. Significance of the Study
9.1 Significance of using cartoon movie clips in the class.
The cartoon movies the students selected by the newly developed specifications could be used in a
reading class to motivate students to read more and increase students’ reading comprehension of the target
reading text. These cartoon movies can be used with a specific teaching method and activities in the classroom.
The selected popular cartoon movies could be used by teachers in English teaching in Chinese schools to help
motivate students, especially “resistant” students, to read better and consequently help to build up students’
confidence, self-efficacy (intrinsic motivation) to form their long-life reading habits. The subtitles of cartoon
movies enhanced the understanding of the movies by enabling students to visualize and confirm what they hear
in the movies.
9.2 Significance of the schematic connection between the movie clip and the reading text
The presented cartoon movies in the classroom help readers become more familiar with the topic and
content of the selected text; the schematic connection between the movie clips and the reading text can help
motivate students to read better.
The schematic connection between the movie clip and the reading text is a very important point in
which teachers should remind themselves while they select the materials, and try to match the movie clip with
the reading text efficiently. Otherwise, the movie clips might only be an entertainment program rather than
teaching aids.
9.3 Significance of students’ feedback
All student feedback in the study, including the students’ attention and participation in the classroom,
students’ 100 word-homework, and students’ motivation responses, point to the students’ positive attitudes
toward the subtitled English cartoon movies used in reading lessons for Chinese elementary school students.
The subtitled English cartoon movies with specific teaching methods and learning activities can help support
reading comprehension skills of students.
The students’ feedback is very precious to teachers. It can be valuable in helping teachers improve their
teaching. Through the feedback, teachers have the chance to know which part of the teaching are strength worth
continuing and which part are a weakness requiring more development. Without students’ honest feedback, the
teaching would be directed to the teacher-centered teaching, which should be avoided in effective teaching.
9.4 Significance of classroom observation and peer teacher.
All reflections of the classroom observed by the peer teacher reveal that cartoon movies can help
motivate students to read better and the use of cartoon movies with specific teaching methods and learning
activities can support the reading comprehension skills of students.
Classroom observation by the peer teacher provides a reflective overview of the teaching procedure
that could be further adopted and adapted by teachers who are interested in using visual media in their reading
class.
10. Conclusion
This study was designed to find out whether subtitled cartoon movies can motivate Chinese students to
read better and the use of subtitled English cartoon movies with specific teaching methods and learning
activities can help increase reading comprehension of students. The upward individual progression and
increased rate of students’ reading comprehension scores, as well as the positive attitudes of teachers and
students all revealed that the objectives of the study were met. The significance of using the subtitled cartoon
movies in the reading class, reflections of teachers and students’ feedback are verified to be valuable for
teachers developing their future teaching method.
Teaching reading comprehension is a complex work and a dynamic process. There is not any one
teaching method that is most optimal one for everyone. The teacher himself/herself is the right person to design
the most appropriate teaching method for students, no one would be more perfect because they understand
what students really need. Fully taking the students’ needs and interests into consideration, selecting the most
suitable teaching materials, developing the most appropriate technology combined teaching method, adjusting
the teaching procedures by following the students’ and peer teachers’ feedback, the teaching goal will be met
finally and the student-centered class will be realized. Except for allowing students’ voices to lead the class, for
facilitating the reading comprehension, the prior knowledge or schema should be emphasized during teaching.
Utilizing cartoon movies in the cultural background instruction could help students become familiar with the
target reading tasks; the accumulating schemata would facilitate students to complete the reading
comprehension successfully; and the consequent confidence, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation would
motivate students forming their life-long reading. In addition, preparing the cooperating learning activities like
group discussion or role play are also important in teachers’ lesson plans, with the cartoon movie as the rich
resource or “catalyst”, to engage students immersing in a relaxed, and lively learning environment, intrigue their
vary and fancy thoughts, generate countless critical thinking, motivate them to reach the higher level of reading
comprehension. These are the optimal teaching methods of teachers.
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