The Effect of Multimodal Learning Approach on Students: An

Example of YouTube Videos for Learning Spanish Grammar

Jingjing Jiang

University International College, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China

Keywords: Multimodal Teaching, Spanish, Grammar, YouTube videos.

Abstract: The multimodal teaching approach is increasingly recognized as a vital method for learning and teaching. The

variety of grammar videos on YouTube provides students with a wider perspective and a personalized

approach to learning grammar. While some studies have explored students' perceptions of using YouTube for

second language learning, there has been insufficient focus on the grammatical learning aspects of Spanish

learners. This study aims to explore university students' perceptions of learning grammar using multimodal

YouTube videos of Spanish language tutoring. The method used in this research was a descriptive quantitative

technique. 108 Chinese students completed a questionnaire. The results of the study show that most of them

have a more positive attitude towards YouTube Spanish teaching videos. Some students had a skeptical

attitude towards the content of these individual creators and expressed concerns about self-discipline in using

YouTube for learning.

1 INTRODUCTION

In digital learning environments, multimodal learning

has become an important development trend in

language teaching and learning. As the most widely

used video platform in the world, YouTube provides

language learners with a wealth of multimodal

learning resources (Olivier, 2019). Students can

conveniently and quickly access YouTube to gain a

large amount of language learning content anytime

and anywhere, which is the main advantage of

learning through online video (Ahmad et al., 2023).

Based on a wide demand for Spanish grammar

learning, YouTube provides various videos with

content related to it. It provides a more flexible and

personalized learning experience than traditional

learning methods through multiple formats such as

video images, spoken narration and animation

(Nasution, 2019).

Many studies have discussed students’

perceptions of using YouTube for second language

learning. The majority of English majors believe that

YouTube lectures and videos from personal

education creators play a positive role in enhancing

foreign language learning, but that they need to be

supervised by teachers and parents in order to avoid

possible negative effects (Sadaf et al., 2024).

Moreover, since the popularity of home-based

learning, YouTube videos for learning foreign

languages have been widely used by students for self-

study and in university classes, and students have

shown positive attitudes towards this multimodal

learning approach (Simanjuntak et al., 2021).

Students find this multimodal approach to learning

interesting and can improve the efficiency of foreign

language learning, however, they still want to

maintain direct interaction between the teacher and

the student while watching the videos (Djamdjuri et

al., 2021). In addition, this educational pathway not

only develops students’ knowledge and skills of

language directly but also encourages students to

broaden their perspectives on cultural diversity. In the

case of international students, it guides them to

integrate into the study abroad environment (Kim &

Kim, 2021). In terms of negative impact, students

often use YouTube for other content such as

entertainment, which interferes with concentrating on

their studies (Girón-García et al., 2020). Regarding

research gaps, most of the studies in related fields

have focused on examining students' motivation,

literacy, and listening practice, and there is a lack of

attention to the aspect of grammar learning

(Rodríguez-Peñarroja, 2022; Girón-García et al.,

2020; Chien et al., 2020). It is worth mentioning that

there is more content on English language learning

and less research on Spanish language learners.

Jiang, J.

The Effect of Multimodal Learning Approach on Students: An Example of YouTube Videos for Learning Spanish Grammar.

DOI: 10.5220/0013965000004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 66-69

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

The purpose of this study is to investigate

students' perceptions, learning experiences,

expectations, and shortcomings of this learning

method regarding the use of multimodal YouTube

videos of Spanish grammar learning. This study can

be a reference for early Spanish learners who are at

the beginning of their approach to grammar learning.

For educators of Spanish, it can provide inspiration

for improving teaching methods.

2 METHOD

This research employs a qualitative research design to

explore data analysis. The data was collected by

means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was

adapted from a study exploring students' effects on

the use of YouTube for English language learning

(Simanjuntak et al., 2021). The questionnaire uses a

Likert scale. Participants could choose the following

five options: ‘Strongly Agree (SA)’, ‘Agree (A)’,

‘Neutral (N)’, ‘Disagree (D)’ and “Strongly Disagree

(SD)”. The questionnaire consists of 12 questions and

the content has been adapted in order to be more

targeted to learners of Spanish grammar. The

questions in the questionnaire are divided into five

sections that explore students' perceptions of

YouTube grammar instructional videos in five

separate areas, with each section containing two to

three questions. The five sections are: attractiveness,

effectiveness, relevance, motivation, and concerns.

The questionnaire content and data results will be

presented in the third part of the findings. The

questionnaire was posted on WeChat's Questionnaire

Star platform and collection lasted one week. The

data collected was statistically analyzed using

SPSSAU. The participants in the study were all

Chinese university students majoring in Spanish who

used YouTube to learn Spanish. The ages ranged

from 18 to 22 years old. A total of 108 questionnaires

were collected. These students aim to pass the DELE

(Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera)

exams at level B2 and above. DELE exams,

organized by Spanish Instituto Cervantes, are

designed to assess the learners’ level of Spanish.

3 FINDINGS

Descriptive methods analyze data results. The

questionnaire comprises five aspects that examine

students' perceptions of using YouTube grammar

videos for learning: attractiveness, effectiveness,

relevance, motivation, and concerns.

Table 1 reflects the attractiveness of YouTube

grammar videos to students, with a neutral response

of around 40%, followed by 25 students stating that

online grammar videos are more engaging and more

relaxing. 23 students do not tend to interact in the

comments section, while 20 students prefer to share

their grammar knowledge on the internet.

Table 2 suggests the majority of students believe

that these Spanish grammar videos have helped them

with their understanding of grammar, however, 15

students stated that the videos do not provide them

with effective help. In terms of completing their

homework, over 43% of students agreed that it is

effective, however nine students still feel that it does

not provide them with enough help.

Table 1: Attractiveness section.

No Statements Scales

SA A N D SD

1. YouTube Spanish grammar videos are more appealing

to me than

rammar lessons in school

12.04%

(

)

23.15%

(

)

41.67%

(

)

12.96%

(

)

10.19%

(

)

2. I feel more relaxed and comfortable using the

YouTube S

anish

rammar videos

15.74%

(

)

24.07%

(

)

37.96%

(

)

14.81%

(

)

7.41%

(

)

3. I feel interested discussing Spanish grammar with the

creator and other viewers in the comments section

18.52%

(20)

12.04%

(13)

40.74%

(44)

21.3%

(23)

7.41%

(8)

Table 2: Effectiveness section.

No Statements Scales

SA A N D SD

4. YouTube Spanish grammar videos help me

understand S

anish

rammar bette

32.41%

(

)

29.63%

(

)

12.04%

(

)

13.89%

(

)

12.04%

(

)

5. YouTube Spanish grammar videos help me

with my grammar homework effectivel

20.37%

(22)

43.52%

(47)

15.74%

(17)

12.04%

(13)

8.33%

(9)

The Effect of Multimodal Learning Approach on Students: An Example of YouTube Videos for Learning Spanish Grammar

Table 3: Relevance section.

No Statements

Scales

SA A N D SD

6. YouTube Spanish grammar videos are relevant to

my course content in universit

24.07%

(26)

36.11%

(39)

17.59%

(19)

13.89%

(15)

8.33%

(9)

7. If there are grammar points I do not understand in

class, I would like to go for the videos to figure them

out

15.74%

(17)

34.26%

(37)

30.56%

(33)

10.19%

(11)

9.26%

(10)

Table 4. Motivation section.

No Statements

Scales

SA A N D SD

8. Watching YouTube Spanish grammar videos

inspires me to learn more about Spanish

29.63%

(32)

41.67%

(45)

10.19%

(11)

11.11%

(12)

7.41%

(8)

9. Watching YouTube Spanish grammar videos

inspires me to use a multimodal learning approach

more frequentl

35.19%

(38)

37.96%

(41)

14.81%

(16)

7.41%

(8)

4.63%

(5)

Table 5: Concerns section.

No Statements

Scales

SA A N D SD

10. The correctness of the individual creator's video

content cannot be verifie

12.96%

(

)

35.19%

(

)

31.48%

(

)

12.04%

(

)

8.33%

(

)

11. Learning with YouTube often distracts me

(

. recommended videos on the side

)

15.74%

(

)

29.63%

(

)

28.7%

(

)

18.52%

(

)

7.41%

(

)

12. Grammar that YouTube videos present is too

personal and colloquial to correspond to what is

written in books

12.04%

(13)

14.81%

(16)

39.81%

(43)

25.93%

(28)

7.41%

(8)

Table 3 examines whether students believe that

the grammar videos on YouTube correspond to the

content of their college grammar classes. The

majority of students agree that they matched,

however, there is a small percentage of students who

disagreed and completely disagreed that they

correspond exactly to the class. Over 34% of students

admitted to using YouTube to check for gaps after

class, however, there were still over 20% of students

who would not use this method.

As can be seen in Table 4 more than 41% of the

students state that watching grammar videos gave

them more motivation to learn Spanish. Moreover,

more than 37% of the students said that by watching

the videos they were more inclined to learn by using

a multimodal approach.

Referring to the results of previous studies, three

of the most common problems encountered in using

YouTube for learning among college students are

selected in Table 5. More than 35% of students agree

that videos from individual creators may contain

errors, and around 31% cannot confirm. Nearly 30%

of students acknowledge that cannot be able to fully

discipline themselves while using YouTube. Nearly

40% of students could not confirm the view that the

grammar in the videos was too personal, and nearly

26% disagreed.

4 CONCLUSION

Based on the data collected from the questionnaire,

the following conclusions can be drawn: YouTube

grammar videos appealed to them, but not much.

Most students were neutral and slightly supportive.

Those videos help most of them in their grammar

learning which corresponds with classes. The videos

help them to expand their other related studies in

Spanish, as well as having a positive attitude towards

using a multimodal approach. On the other hand,

students were skeptical about the accuracy, and some

self-discipline problems are also mentioned.

However, students tended to be unable to confirm or

disagree with the video creators on the issue of overly

personal use of creators. Compared to other studies

on the use of YouTube for second language learning,

results show that students do not have a very strong

positive attitude towards using YouTube for learning

grammar aspects. The percent of negative category

choices in the first three aspects of the question is still

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

more than 20%, but in general, there is a tendency for

students to use a multimodal approach for learning

grammar. For this result, initial Spanish learners can

use this as a reference for grammar learning, but they

need to learn the video content critically, which might

be difficult for beginners. For educators of Spanish, it

can inspire them to improve teaching methods and

selectively introduce multimodal learning styles into

the classroom after a correctness review. Otherwise,

the teacher may select the videos on the website and

share the better ones with the students as

supplementary materials to be watched after class. In

terms of the creators of educational videos for second

language learning, they can further improve their

video content based on the results of the study. There

are also some limitations of this study that need to be

noted. The research focused exclusively on YouTube

videos of Spanish grammar explanations made by

Spanish speakers. However, grammar videos made

by Chinese people on video sites within China (e.g.,

Bilibili) were not used as materials for the

experiment. Regarding the discussion of multimodal

learning approaches to language, it may also be

necessary to consider the different languages used for

the multimodal learning materials. This may have

implications for the five student dimensions

mentioned above (attentiveness, effectiveness,

relevance, motivation, and concerns), which may

allow the study to produce different results.

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The Effect of Multimodal Learning Approach on Students: An Example of YouTube Videos for Learning Spanish Grammar