The impact of silent story on teaching grammar in a foreign language environment

Today, more than ever, technology use within educational settings is the main focus of attention of all nations. It has certainly changed the way we live. It has impacted numerous aspects of life and redefined living. Undoubtedly, technology plays an important role in every sphere of life. The importance of technology in the educational field cannot be ignored. The use of technology has made the process of teaching and learning more engaging and appealing according to some researchers. The question addressed in this thesis is: are teachers and learners of English language grammar ready for the use of technology with a focus on the implementation of Silent Story in learning grammar and whether they are aware of its potential benefits. Silent Story is a non-audio story-based language acquisition technique that has been developed and tested by this researcher for language learning purposes. In this exploratory study the researcher has investigated the issues that face the students in the preparatory year programme in a Saudi Arabian University and their attitudes towards implementing Silent Story in teaching English grammar in their classrooms. In order to give an overview of the importance and use of Silent Story in the classroom, a mixed-method approach was used to gather relevant data; including pre- mid- and post-tests of learners with a focus on the past simple tense for the experimental group and pre- and post- tests for the control group. The researcher used carefully selected Silent Story video clips as part of a learning and teaching technique, accompanied by tests and questionnaires for the experimental group. The data elicitation also included individual and group interviews. The results and findings show that the implementation of the Silent Story technique in teaching and learning grammar can improve students’ ability to recognise, understand, analyse and construct sentences, in addition to engaging their imagination, creativity, and innovation as well as influencing their mood positively