Learning From Text, Video, or Subtitles: A Comparative Analysis

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: Testing Technology-Based Enhancements and Interventions

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence of media (text, video, or subtitled video) on students’ learning outcomes. Past studies have raised concerns about the efficacy of learning from online videos over content-equivalent texts. Moreover, subtitled videos place additional demands on learning. Two-hundred and forty-seven undergraduate students were randomly assigned to a text, video, or subtitled-video condition, in a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design. Performance in immediate comprehension did not change across media. In the long-term, the text condition hindered the memory of surface information, but fostered the creation of a situation model of the content, which allows participants to apply what they learned to different scenarios. The subtitle condition was characterized by a decrease in transfer performance over time.

Authors

• Christian Tarchi, University of Florence

• Sonia Zaccoletti, Università degli Studi di Padova

• Lucia Mason, University of Padua