How can multimedia be designed to assist comprehension of the literary text for foreign language learners? / Julia VanLoan Aguilar.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Aguilar, Julia VanLoan.

Contributor:

Lloyd, Paul M., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Romance Languages.

Romance Languages--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Romance Languages.

Romance Languages--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

x, 191 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

1996.

Summary:

Educational software for foreign language reading often focuses solely on reading as a process of decoding and ignores the importance of hypothesis testing a reader does to comprehend a text. The purpose of this research study was to devise a computer-integrated multimedia program informed by research in second language reading that might assist students' comprehension of the short literary text in Spanish "Es que somos muy pobres" by Mexican author, Juan Rulfo. The design of this multimedia product targeted both top-down and bottom-up processing in reading, i.e. hypothesis-testing and decoding and therefore included: (1) pre-reading strategies shown to increase comprehension for foreign language students, as well as (2) supplemental material to augment their socio-cultural background knowledge and (3) an interactive glossary to provide them with definitions of unknown vocabulary.

These multimedia materials were pressed into CD-ROMs for an experimental study carried out with students in the intermediate Spanish course at the University of Pennsylvania., to see if the multimedia program had a positive effect on learning. Four assessments of learning gains were carried out with a control group and an experimental multimedia group. These measurements were: (1) comprehension quiz; (2) an immediate vocabulary recall measurement; (3) a test of recall of the narrative two weeks following the reading; and (4) a delayed vocabulary recall measurement two weeks after the study. Students also answered a questionnaire reporting on the aspects they liked or disliked in the multimedia program and what aspects of the technology appeared to aid or hinder their reading.

The study found that this particular multimedia program was successful in assisting students' reading comprehension of the foreign language text. The multimedia group scored particularly higher than the control group in questions requiring the use of inference, analysis and synthesis in reading.

With regards to the students' acquisition of new vocabulary words, the students who used the interactive glossary showed a statistically significant improvement over the control group but the number of vocabulary words acquired was quite small.

Both delayed assessments, the recall of the narrative and the recall of vocabulary did not show significant differences between groups.

Notes:

Supervisor: Paul M. Lloyd.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Romance Languages) -- University of Pennsylvania, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 96-27874.

OCLC:

244969605