Struggling Readers Learn Better From Text and Animation With Signals Than From Text Alone

• In Event: Cognition and Motivation in Reading Instruction and Achievement

Abstract

Learning from a multimedia document is particularly effective when learners manage to link verbal and pictorial information. Previous studies showed that inserting signals in one or both sources of information lead to better comprehension. However, these studies rarely focus on reading abilities or on levels of comprehension (i.e. text base versus requiring inferences). In this study (N = 148), we investigated the cross-representational signaling (with, without) in a text with animations on three levels of comprehension (text base, local inference, global inference), when taking into account reading abilities. A text only condition was included to control for multimedia effect. Results confirm that learners benefit from an animation with cross-representational signaling, and even more so when they have low reading abilities.

Authors

• Juliette C. Desiron, University of Geneva

• Erica de Vries, University of Grenoble

• Mireille Betrancourt, University of Geneva