Hypermedia Annotation Preferences and Their Effects on Reading Comprehension by English-major Students

摘要

Mayer (2001) hypothesized that multimedia should facilitate learning as people seem to learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone.However, relevant studies in multimedia learning and language learning have produced inconsistent results. The present study examines Chinese English majors' preferences for hypermedia annotations while reading in multimedia environment.It also examines whether hypermedia annotations facilitate reading comprehension.31 second-year English majors in a Chinese university volunteered to participate in the experiment. Data were collected through a tracking tool, as well as the students' hand-written glossary, a reading comprehension test, a questionnaire,and post-experiment interviews. The results indicate that the participants preferred text annotations more than audio or pictorial annotations. No significant relationship was found between general use of annotations and reading comprehension results. The qualitative data revealed that the participants held positive attitudes towards annotation use and hypermedia reading in general.Pedagogical suggestions in multimedia learning and foreign language reading will be discussed.