Abstract:
This study explores the effect of online annotations via Interactive White Boards (IWBs) on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this aim, 60 students from a language institute were selected as homogeneous based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (2014). Then, they were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups of 20, and subsequently exposed to the research treatment after taking a pre-test of reading comprehension. The experimental groups received the L2 texts on IWB screen for comprehension and, at the same time, received the online annotations (auditory, pictorial, and video) attached to the target words. During the session of instruction, the participants read the texts through IWB for comprehension while consulting the annotations attached to the target words. Then, they were tested on their reading comprehension through an immediate post-test in order to measure the effect of instruction on reading comprehension immediately. The results of one-way ANOVA analysis of the data indicated that pictorial annotation group comprehended the L2 texts insignificantly better than the auditory annotation group. The results also revealed that video annotation group significantly outperformed the other two groups in L2 reading comprehension, confirming the Dual-coding Theory (Paivio, 1971, 1990). The findings of this study may have important implications for foreign language syllabus designers and instructors as well.
Machine summary:
Given verbal and visual input simultaneously might assist the construction of referential connection, most previous studies have centered on exploring the effects of the combination of these two modes of multimedia annotations on vocabulary Learning and/or reading comprehension of adult ESL/EFL learners (Bell, & LeBlanc, 2000; Chun & Plass, 1996a; Jones, 2004; Kost, Foss & Lenzini, 1999; Leutner & Plass, 1998; Lomicka, 1998; Yeh & Wang, 2003).
Regarding the effectiveness of annotations on L2 reading comprehension, some studies have shown that visual glosses combined with verbal ones tend to make a difference (Akbulut, 2007; Yanguas, 2009).
Considering the importance of reading comprehension in an EFL text, this study focuses on investigating the effects of online annotations(namely auditory, pictorial and video) through IWB on L2 reading comprehension process in Iranian classrooms.
The results of the current study supports the previous study conducted by Plass,& Jones (2005), who investigated the effect of different types of glosses according to the students’ preferred mode on text comprehension and learning of the new words.
Glosses, whether multimedia or traditional have had significant effect on reading comprehension process (Bowles, 2004; Chen, 2002; Cheng & Good, 2009; Mayer, 2005b; Yanguas, 2009; Yoshii, 2006; Yun, 2011).
The present study investigated the effect of online annotations via Interactive White Boards or IWBs on reading comprehension only after a very short period of time by immediate post-tests.
Effects of multimedia annotations on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced learners of English as a foreign language.