Investigating the Effects of Modality and Multimedia on the Learning Performance of College Students With Dyslexia

Healthy Communities Research Institute, Department of Psychological Sciences
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  3. Investigating the Effects of Modality and Multimedia on the Learning Performance of College Students With Dyslexia
Author(s)
Abstract
There has been a lack of research on how people with individual differences learn with multimedia materials, in particular with regard to individuals with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by subpar ability in reading, spelling, writing, word recognition, and phonological decoding. This population could potentially benefit from multimedia learning materials according to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and Orton-Gillingham multisensory instructional approach. This study examined how learning in four multimedia conditions influences dyslexic college students' ability to recall and recognize information. Seventy-three college students with dyslexia were assigned to one of the four conditions that integrated the modality (spoken text vs. on-screen text) and multimedia (picture present vs. picture absent) principles. They completed a cued-recall and a content recognition test. The results indicated pictures facilitated recognition, which validated the multimedia principle. On-screen text led to a superior performance in recall and recognition compared to spoken text. This finding suggested the modality principle did not hold for participants with dyslexia in this study, which is especially surprising given that dyslexics have difficulty processing written text. Possible explanations of the findings are discussed.
Format
Article
Identifier(s)
10.1177/0162643418754530
Publication Date
2018-09
Publication Title
Journal of Special Education Technology
Volume
33
Issue
3
First Page
182
Last Page
193
Keywords
Subject
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Community
Healthy Communities Research Institute
Department of Psychological Sciences
Permalink https://oaks.kent.edu/hcri/investigating-effects-modality-and-multimedia-learning-performance-college-students-dyslexia
Wang, J., Dawson, K., Saunders, K., Ritzhaupt, A., Antonenko, P., Lombardino, L., Keil, A., Agacli-Dogan, N., Luo, W., Cheng, L., & Davis, R. (2018). Investigating the Effects of Modality and Multimedia on the Learning Performance of College Students With Dyslexia (1–). Journal of Special Education Technology. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0162643418754530
Wang, Jiahui, Kara Dawson, Kendra Saunders, Albert Ritzhaupt, Pavlo Antonenko, Linda Lombardino, Andreas Keil, et al. 2018. “Investigating the Effects of Modality and Multimedia on the Learning Performance of College Students With Dyslexia”. Journal of Special Education Technology. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0162643418754530.
Wang, Jiahui, et al. Investigating the Effects of Modality and Multimedia on the Learning Performance of College Students With Dyslexia. Journal of Special Education Technology, Sept. 2018, https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0162643418754530.