The Potential of Animated Videos In The Development of English Tense-Aspect Usage For Saudi EFL Learners

Abstract

Learning to use the English tense-aspect (TA) system appropriately appears to be one of the greatest challenges that EFL students face (Celce-Murcia et al., 1999, p. 131), with Saudi learners experiencing particular difficulty due to fundamental typological differences between Arabic and English temporal-aspectual systems. While explicit instruction raises metalinguistic awareness, it frequently fails to produce mastery of complex TA structures (Ellis, 2015). This study investigates whether multimedia-based incidental learning through animated videos offers a more effective alternative to traditional text-based instruction, and examines whether visual input enhancement, specifically, colour-coded caption highlighting, increases learning effectiveness. Sixty female intermediate Saudi EFL learners were assigned to three instructional conditions and were taught usage of three TAs: Simple Past, Present Perfect, and Present Perfect Progressive. The Control Group (N=20) received traditional text-only instruction through written dialogues. The Non-Enhanced Treatment Group (N=20) watched identical animated videos with standard black-font captions without visual enhancement. The Enhanced Treatment Group (N=20) viewed 2D character-based animated videos with red-font colour-coded captions highlighting target TA items. The animations presented TA forms through meaningful character dialogue and narrative contexts but did not include explicit visual illustrations of temporal concepts such as timelines or temporal markers. Learners' knowledge was assessed before the intervention and immediately post-intervention through four task types: forced-choice judgments, verb selections, cloze completion tasks, and error correction exercises. Learner attitudes were measured through post-treatment questionnaires assessing enjoyment, anxiety, and perceived usefulness. Generalised Linear Mixed-Effects modelling revealed unexpected patterns contradicting theoretical predictions. The Non-Enhanced Treatment Group demonstrated the strongest and most statistically significant improvement, while the Enhanced Treatment Group showed modest but significant gains, and the Control Group displayed negligible improvement. Paradoxically, attitude data revealed an opposite relationship with learning outcomes. The Control group reported highest enjoyment, lowest anxiety, and strongest perceived usefulness despite minimal learning gains. Conversely, the non-enhanced group, which learned most, reported lowest enjoyment, highest anxiety, and lowest perceived usefulness. The Enhanced group exhibited intermediate attitudes between these extremes. This research advances understanding of multimedia-based grammar instruction for Saudi EFL learners while highlighting the importance of balancing cognitive outcomes with affective dimensions in materials development and instructional implementation.