The authorís introduction to learning styles theory offered insight into the various sensory-motor modalities of students. It was a challenge to adapt teaching style to learning style and to develop multi-sensory, student-centered experiences to meet individual needs.
Chun, Plass, Mayer, Lomicka, Lyman-Hager, Davis and others have highlighted positive and negative effects of glossed/annotated multimedia on L2 readers. In certain situations, multimedia instruction has accommodated individual learning styles resulting in higher performance. In others, it is discredited as an appropriate learning tool. Since most of the research referenced within this paper was conducted in post-secondary institutions, the impact that multiple forms of media might have on younger students in light of specific learning styles is relatively unknown. At a time when multimedia has so rapidly permeated the primary/elementary classroom, this project set out to explore its appropriateness and educational value to primary/elementary students and the interactions between sensory modalities and multimedia.
The goals of this study were:
i) To track the multimedia choices made by 8 and 9 year old L2 readers according to modality preference;
ii) To compare vocabulary recognition scores and comprehension scores on pre-tests of non-annotated texts and post-tests of texts enhanced with multimedia annotations;
iii) To interpret the interactions between the scores on the test and the types of multimedia selected in relation to sensory-motor modality.
It was hoped that this might help answer such questions as: What multimedia choices do L2 learners in a computer-assisted multimedia reading experience make? Do certain media have a more or less effective impact on the vocabulary recognition of L2 students in relation to their specific learning styles? What are the implications of multimedia on reading and what does this mean for the educational community?