Attitudes Toward Animation-Based Instruction (ABI): A Multilevel Investigation of Adoption, Cognitive Engagement, Affective Orientations, Pedagogical Efficacy, and Academic Outcomes in Primary Classrooms

Abstract

Although the theoretical basis for the use of animation-based instruction (ABI) is established in the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and the Technology Acceptance Model, researchers’ attitudinal work has been limited to the use of unidimensional operationalisation, single-level analysis, and high resource contexts, which obscures the multilevel mechanisms that link teacher disposition to student outcomes. Drawing on CTML, TAM, the tripartite attitude model, and Self-Efficacy Theory, this study is the first to investigate the ABI adoption intention, cognitive engagement, affective orientations, pedagogical efficacy, and academic achievement in Bangladeshi primary EFL classrooms at multiple levels simultaneously. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used: a cross-sectional multilevel survey with a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest component (N = 270 teachers; N ≈ 5,400 Grade III–V students; 90 government primary schools), analysed through three-level ML-SEM, latent profile analysis, and multilevel CFA, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with 30 purposively selected teachers. LPA delineated three dispositionally diverse teacher profiles – Convergent Positive Adopters (38.3%), Cognitively Elevated Ambivalents (29.9%), and Convergent Reluctant Non-Adopters (31.8%) – with considerably divergent ABI integration frequencies. All tripartite attitude components independently predicted adoption intention (R2 = .583). Pedagogical self-efficacy significantly moderated and mediated the attitude–adoption connection. Cross-level mediation indicated that 61% of teacher attitudinal profile impacts on student achievement gain were transferred via classroom ABI integration intensity (R2L2 =.67). Overall, students responded positively to the profiles (|d| = 0.81–1.23). Qualitative findings reframe a large share of apparent non-adopters as efficacy-constrained, suggesting structural impediments that go beyond attitudinal traits. The findings advance cross-cultural empirical testing of CTML and TAM, while offering differentiated evidence for professional development, curriculum design, and educational policy in resource-constrained environments.