Reading authentic EFL text using visualization and advance organizers in a multimedia learning environment.

The purpose of this experimental study was to compare the effects of different types of computer-generated visuals (static versus animated) and advance organizers (descriptive versus question) in enhancing comprehension and retention of a content-based lesson for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Additionally, the study investigated the interactive effect of students' existing reading proficiency level and the above-mentioned treatments on their reading comprehension achievement. Students from two EFL reading sections (N = 115) were tested on their reading proficiency and then randomly assigned to one of four computer-based instructional modules--static visual alone, animation alone, animation plus descriptive advance organizer, and animation plus question advance organizer. Once having interacted with their respective instructional materials, students then took four criterion tests immediately afterward and again four weeks later. The results showed that the animation group outperformed the static visual group in one of the four tests, and that animation embedded with a question advance organizer had a marginal effect among the four treatments in facilitating the acquisition of L2 reading comprehension both for the immediate and the delayed posttests.

INTRODUCTION

Instructional materials designed and developed using multimedia have provided exciting potential learning opportunities thanks to advancement in information technology, making their pedagogical effects on learning and teaching worth examining. L1 reading comprehension takes place when a previous acquired schema stored in the long-term memory is retrieved to assist the processing and understanding of new unfamiliar information (Anderson & Pearson, 1984). The process of transforming incoming information/knowledge elements into schemata requires considerable cognitive mental effort. Native language speakers typically encounter difficulties in reading when they have gaps in their content knowledge. However, the problems faced by L1 readers can also be applied to L2 readers. Insufficient background knowledge hinders top-down processing of the new information, and limited language competence of second/foreign language learners makes the decoding process even more difficult. For ESL/EFL learners with low prior knowledge of a subject matter, instructional strategies need to be integrated into the course material. Instructional materials developed using multimedia are believed to be able to facilitate learners' information processing, and to enhance effective cognitive encoding due to the multiple representations that trigger both verbal and visual modes of processing in human beings.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Theoretical Framework

Dual-coding theory (Paivio 1971, 1978, 1990, 1991) provides theoretical justifications for the use of visuals in the instructional presentations. According to the dual-coding theory, human memory is composed of two independent but interconnected coding systems. The visual system primarily deals with visual codes, such as images, pictures, concrete objects, or events; the other system, the verbal system, deals with non-visual codes such as words, speech, language, or semantic codes. Generally, each of the systems functions independently but most information processing requires connections and reinforcement between the two systems (Lai, 2000). Generally speaking, visuals are more likely to be processed in both verbal and visual systems, and hence the probability that they are retained in working memory and retrieved later from long-term memory is higher than when the presentation contains verbal information alone (Kobayashi, 1986).

Mayer (1994) developed a generative theory of multimedia learning to provide design principles of multimedia instructional materials. The basic tenet of the generative theory of multimedia learning is that learners actively construct knowledge and are involved in a meaningful learning process. A meaningful process occurs when learners consciously select information from presented stimuli, organize information into coherent representations, and then make efforts to integrate new information with other information. The step of integration of information from two individual systems, i.e. verbal and visual, is especially critical. For a successful integration process to occur, both verbal and its corresponding visual information must be held in the working memory simultaneously.

Advance Organizers and Meaningful Learning

An advance organizer is defined as an instructional unit that is introduced in advance of direct instruction. It is generally presented at a higher level of abstraction and is intended to connect learners' prior knowledge to what they will learn (Ausubel, 1963). According to Ausubel, for meaningful learning to occur, learners must possess a meaningful learning set and the material must be meaningful to them. The learning set refers to an existing cognitive structure that contains components to which the learner can connect substantive and relevant features of new information and thus draw various relationships between existing knowledge and newly acquired information. Kloster and Winne (1989) suggest that advance organizers may promote learning because they "... supply a learner with a new cognitive structure so that the new information can be connected to it ..." and that advance organizers "... cue students to assemble links between new information and more abstract, general, and inconclusive information that the students already know ..." (p. 9). An advance organizer is designed to give learners a general overview of the new material before the actual confrontation, and it creates a cognitive connection between established knowledge and new material in terms of the relevant concepts, therefore enhanceing the "familiarity and learn-ability of new material ..."(Ausubel, 1963, p. 82).

Research findings have provided evidence of the superior effects of various types of advance organizers used to facilitate reading comprehension. Evans (2003) investigated the effects of graphic organizers, one type of advance organizers for Japanese readers on expository texts in English and found that studentgenerated graphic organizers help accommodate different learner styles, lead to meaningful learning, and enhance reading comprehension. In their study looking into how the use of a dynamic visual advance organizer can facilitate reading comprehension of L2 learners, Chun and Plass (1996) indicated that a dynamic visual advance organizer is effective on the macro level of processing while reading.

Herron, York, Cole, and Linden (1998) study compared the effect of declarative versus interrogative advance organizers in facilitating learners' comprehension of a foreign language video. The results indicated that the students' listening comprehension of the foreign language video was greatly improved when advance organizers were used prior to the viewing of the video than not, although there were no significant differences in tests between the two advance organizer experimental groups. Using fifth graders as subjects, Hanley, Herron, and Cole (1995) compared two visual advance organizers and pictures, plus the teacher's narrative, in the comprehension and retention of a written French passage. The result suggested that the video advance organizer was superior in enhancing the comprehension of the foreign text. Herron (1994) conducted an experiment to investigate the effectiveness of using a verbal advance organizer that outlined major scenes from the video. The advance organizer written on the blackboard was presented orally by the teacher, outlining major scenes from the video which both the control and the advance organizer groups watched in its entirety. The results suggested that an advance organizer was "... a more natural strategy than, for example providing students with a list of fifteen key vocabulary words extracted from the video" (p. 196).

Instructional Visualizations

Recent advances in instructional technology have made it possible to design instructional material that incorporates varied visualizations. Diagrams and images, typically presented as still or static in both print and computer-based environments, can now be animated or programmed to be dynamic to vividly present abstract concepts or phenomena that are invisible to human eyes (Hegarty, 2004; Rieber, 1996). However, visualization has a long history in instructional material and previous research has shown that simply adopting a new technology does not necessarily improve learning (Hegarty, 2004). Generally speaking, animated (dynamic) visualization is more likely than static visuals to present effectively motions or movements imperceptible to the human eye or changes in shapes or motions of objects (Caraballo, 1985; Rieber, 1996; Wong, 1994).