Exploring the Effect of Multimedia Annotations on Metacognitive Awareness and Vocabulary Learning Strategies

One aspect of second language teaching via multimedia to have received attention over the past fewyears is the impact of glossing individual vocabulary words through different modalities. This studyexamines which of the image modalities--dynamic video or still picture--is more effective in aidingvocabulary acquisition. The participants, ۳۰ ESL students, were introduced to a hypermedialearningprogram, designed by the researcher for reading comprehension. The program providesusers reading a narrative English text with a variety of glosses or annotations for words in the formof printed text, graphics, video, and sound, all of which are intended to aid in the understanding andlearning of unknown words. A within-subject design was used in this study with ۳۰ participantsbeing measured under three conditions: printed text definition alone, printed text definition coupledwith still pictures, and printed text definition coupled with video clips. In order to assess the efficacyof each mode, a vocabulary test was designed and administered to participants after they had readthe English narrative. Two types of tests were administered: recognition and production. Inaddition, a face-to-face interview was conducted, and questionnaires were distributed. Results of theboth tests were analyzed using analysis of variance procedures. The investigation has yielded theconclusion that a video clip is more effective in teaching unknown vocabulary words than a stillpicture. Among the suggested factors that explain such a result are that video better builds a mentalimage, better creates curiosity leading to increased concentration, and embodies an advantageouscombination of modalities (vivid or dynamic image, sound, and printed text).

کلیدواژه ها:

Effect of Multimedia ، Annotations ، Vocabulary ، Learning Strategies