Exploring the Role of Animated Fable in Facilitating Eighth Grade Students’ Narrative Comprehension

Abstract

This research aimed to explore how animated fables facilitate students' narrative comprehension and to investigate students' perceptions of learning narrative texts through animated fables. This study employed a qualitative research design using thematic analysis. The participants consisted of one English teacher and six eighth-grade students of SMP Negeri 4 Gunungsitoli who were selected through purposive sampling based on their English summative assessment scores to represent high, medium-, and low-achieving students. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations documented in field notes, and students' worksheets. The data were analyzed through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. To ensure the trustworthiness of the findings, data source triangulation was conducted by comparing the data obtained from interviews, field notes, and students' worksheets. The findings revealed two major themes. The first theme showed that animated fables facilitated students' narrative comprehension through five categories: Visual Support, Increased Engagement, Ease of Understanding, Dual Coding, and Audio Support, with Visual Support emerging as the most dominant category. Visual elements, character movements, and narration enabled students to understand the storyline, narrative structure, and moral values more effectively. The second theme indicated that students had positive perceptions of learning through animated fables. Their perceptions were reflected in five categories: Interesting, Emotional Response, Enjoyable, Perceived Learning Benefits, and Learning Preference, with Interesting emerging as the most frequently identified category. Overall, students perceived animated fables as an engaging, enjoyable, and beneficial learning medium that helped them comprehend narrative texts. In conclusion, animated fables effectively facilitated students' narrative comprehension.