Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: In this experiment, we examined whether text difficulty moderates the effect of the modality of explaining on students’ learning. Students (N = 115) read a high-difficult and a low-difficult text. Additionally, students generated either a written or an oral explanation. A control group of students retrieved the content. For the low-difficult text, we found no significant differences between conditions. For the high-difficult text, however, oral explaining yielded better comprehension than writing explanations. The retrieval condition showed the lowest performance. Mediation analyses revealed that the effect of explaining modality was mediated by the number of personal references and the comprehensiveness of the generated explanations. Our findings suggest that the effect of explaining modality emerges when students are required to learn from difficult text materials. Furthermore, the findings show that oral explaining is effective, as it triggers distinct generative processes due to increased social presence during explaining.
Source: Learning and Instruction
Institutions: Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, University of Tübingen
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Award: G397447170
OpenAlex ID: W3017366813