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Multimedia Learning in a Second Language: A Cognitive Load Perspective
Author(s) -
Mayer Richard E.,
Lee Hyunjeong,
Peebles Alanna
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3050
Subject(s) - narrative , meaning (existential) , cognitive load , comprehension , cognition , psychology , perspective (graphical) , video game , linguistics , cognitive psychology , multimedia , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , neuroscience , psychotherapist
Summary What can be done to help college students who are not native speakers of English learn from computer‐based lessons that are presented in English? To help students access the meaning of spoken words in a slow‐paced 16‐minute narration about wildlife in Antarctica, a representational video was added that showed the scenes and animals being described in the narration (Experiment 1). Adding video resulted in improved performance of non‐native English speakers on a comprehension test (d = 0.63), perhaps because the video improved access to word meaning without creating extraneous cognitive load. To help students perceive the spoken words in a fast‐paced 9‐minute narrated video about chemical reactions, concurrent on‐screen captions were added (Experiment 2). Adding on‐screen captions did not improve performance by non‐native English speakers on comprehension tests, perhaps because learners did not have available capacity to take advantage of the captions. Implications for cognitive load theory are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.