A convergent mixed methods study on the effectiveness of manually drawn visual timelines for teaching English tenses in Indian adult classrooms
摘要
This mixed-methods study investigates the efficacy of a manually drawn visual timeline as a pedagogical tool for teaching English verb tenses in a multilingual classroom. Data was collected from 55 intermediate-level adult learners from a post-lesson survey and quiz, supplemented by an in-depth case of a Tamil-medium educated learner. Quantitative results revealed that 76% of participants (n = 42) perceived the timeline as "helpful" or "very helpful." A positive correlation was found between this perception and objective quiz performance (t(10.7) = 10.3, p < .001), with the "Very Helpful" group achieving the highest mean score (M = 76.5). Qualitative analysis of the learner's interview highlighted the tool's role in helping understand abstract tense concepts and bridging cross-linguistic conceptual gaps. These results provide exploratory, context-bound evidence that manually drawn timelines are associated with improved comprehension of tense–aspect relations in this instructional setting.