The Research On The Effectiveness Of The Presentation Modes Of Microlectures For English Teaching In Senior High School Based On The Cognitive Theory Of Multimedia Learning

With the development of information technology,“microlecture” as teaching video materials has become an important means in English teaching.However,different presentation modes play different roles in learners’ cognitive processing and influence learners’ learning effect and attention distribution.A presentation mode that is not properly designed may increase the learning difficulty,resulting in unsatisfactory learning results.Based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and the effective teaching theory,this study explores the effectiveness of presentation modes of microlecture on English teaching in senior high school.By selecting Mayer’s Redundancy Principle(full captions produce a redundancy effect when animations and narrations are presented),Voice Principle(narration with a human voice is better than a machine voice),and Modality Principle(processing information by visual and auditory channels is better than a single visual channel)the author puts forward the following three research questions:(1)for the presentation modes of nonredundant captions,full captions,and brief captions under the redundancy principle,which one is most effective in learning?(2)for the presentation modes of machine voice and human voice under the voice principle,which is more effective?(3)for the presentation modes of animation-with-onscreen-text and animation-with-narration under the principle of modality,which is more effective? Each research question is examined from three aspects: the test performance of learners,the test performance of different levels of prior knowledge,and students’ feedback in the interview.Three microlectures about history,psychology,and health were selected from the Ted website as teaching materials,and the original videos were adjusted to 0.7 times speed by i Movie software,and each microlecture lasted about 6 minutes.In these experiments,151 students from three special training classes in Grade One of a key high school in Nanning were selected as participants.First,the participants were tested for prior knowledge.Then,the microlectures with different presentation modes were assigned into different classes for teaching,and retention tests and transfer tests were conducted.Finally,35 students were interviewed after class to understand their preference for different microlecture presentation modes.In the aspect of data analysis,Experiment 1 adopted single factor variance analysis,and Experiments 2 and 3 adopted independent sample t-test to analyze whether there is a significant difference in students’ test scores under different presentation methods.Meanwhile,the independent sample t-test analyzes the differences between the high-experienced and the low-experienced groups under different variables.The results are as follows:(1)In the redundancy experiment,when the brief captions are presented,the learners get the best learning effect in overall scores of the retention test and the transfer test,and the gap between the high-experienced and low-experienced groups of prior knowledge is significantly reduced.Thus Experiment 1 verifying the redundancy principle and its boundary condition.However,compared with brief captions,most learners prefer the presentation mode of full captions.(2)In the voice experiment,the presentation mode of machine voice can make learners achieve the best learning effect in the overall scores of the retention test and the transfer test,and effectively reduce the gap between the high-experienced and low-experienced groups of prior knowledge;most learners also expressed their preference for the presentation mode of machine voice.However,this result is inconsistent with the voice principle because English is not the native language of Chinese learners who do not have the so-called “sense of social presence” proposed by Mayer,whose study is based on learners using English as their first language.(3)In the modality experiment,when the presentation mode is animation-with-narration,the learners get the best learning effect on the transfer test while effectively reduces the gap between the high-experienced and low-experienced groups of prior knowledge and is favored by most learners.This confirms the modality principle in these three aspects;however,when the presentation mode is animation-with-onscreen-text,the learners’ retention test scores are higher,which is inconsistent with the principle because Chinese learners are used to reading English words before processing and understanding them.To sum up,this study confirms the Redundancy Principle,but it does not entirely confirm the Voice Principle and the Modality Principle.Because the three principles put forward by Mayer took native English learners as participants,and they are not entirely applicable for Chinese English learners.Therefore,the cognitive theory of multimedia learning should be appropriately used in microlectures.Factors such as the way of thinking by native language,study habits,and cognitive preference should be considered to improve the effectiveness of presentation modes of microlecture in English teaching to enhance learners’ learning effect.This study provides evidence from Chinese English learners for examining the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and expands the application of the effective teaching theory.It will help educational practitioners,microlecture developers,and instructional designers conduct more in-depth research on the presentation modes of microlectures.