The effects of different presentation modes of multimedia annotations on sentential listening comprehension

Multimedia annotations of both definitions and visual aids have been reported to facilitate vocabulary learning based on learners' performances on word retention. Vocabulary auditory input, however, was overlooked in many studies; listening comprehension, likewise, was seldom assessed as learning outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of vocabulary auditory input and those of learning style preference on vocabulary learning, in general, and on sentential listening comprehension, in particular. English beginners, 423 in total, were recruited from various junior high schools in Taiwan. Five nouns and five verbs, selected as the target words, were embedded in a reading text and annotated by one of the four methods: Text-only, text-picture, text-sound, and text-picture-sound. One month before the treatment all participants were required to take a pretest of the target words; and, their learning style preferences, including verbal, visual and auditory, were determined by a questionnaire. In the treatment session every participant was randomly assigned to one of the four annotation groups aforementioned and read the text. Immediately after the reading they took a vocabulary recognition test and a listening comprehension test; the two tests were administered again two weeks later without prior notice. The data was submitted to two-way repeated measures ANOVA, with annotation type and learning style as between-subject factors, time of measurement as within-subject factor, and scores of the two tests as dependable variable. The results showed that in the recognition tests, none reached significance level but time of measurement, with the immediate higher than the delayed. In the listening tests, only the main effect of annotation type reached significance level, with text-picture-sound group and text-sound group both outperformed text group; no differences were found between the immediate and the delayed posttests. While various annotations had equivalent effects on vocabulary learning, annotations with audio input contributed to the construction of phonological knowledge of new words, facilitating their listening comprehension in sentences. More importantly, the effects of audio input sustained for two weeks. The learning style preference of our English beginners, whether verbal, visual or auditory, played no role in vocabulary recognition and listening comprehension.