Comparison of Video and Text Narrative Presentations on Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition.

A study investigated the effect of video and narrative presentations on children's comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Participants were students in four heterogeneously grouped eighth-grade English classes (n=16, 22, 21, and 11) in a rural school district in southwestern New York. The short story selected was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed League. " It was chosen for its difficulty level--the text is at the instructional level of most of the students involved. Each class received a different mode of instruction: one class read the story to themselves; another class viewed a video rendition of the story; another class saw the same video but had captions included on the screen; the final class both read the text version to themselves during class and then viewed the video the following class period. A pretest (a matching test) and a posttest (the same matching test with answers in a different order, a series of multiple choice questions to measure comprehension and recall, and a short-answer evaluation question to measure critical thinking) were given. Significant findings are that students who read the text had greater vocabulary acquisition, while students who viewed the video showed a greater comprehension of the story. It appears that video watching has a positive effect on comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition seems to be positively affected when coupled with text. Closed captioning is a recent positive addition to teaching reading through television and video. (Contains two figures; 14 references; and sample pretest and posttests.) (NKA) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ****************************;*************************************************** Comparison of Video and Text Narrative Presentations on Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition Darcy Podszebka Candee Conklin Mary Apple Amy Windus Paper presented at the SUNYGeheseo Annual Reading and Literacy Research Symposium, Geneseo, NY, May, 1998 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement ED ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST 1 MI' AVAILABLE e's 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY K4f TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Television's Effect on Vocab. and Comp. 2 Television's Effect on Vocabulary and Comprehension The question of what effect television viewing has on children and their reading abilities is one that has been raised by many. This study investigates the effect of video and narrative presentations on children's comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Related Research In a study of over 4,000 children, Neuman (1980) did not find a difference between television viewers and non-viewers in terms of children's fatigue in the morning, in the quality of homework, nor in concentration on task. Neuman also investigated the effects of a technique called "scripting" (1980). In scripting, students view television programs in the classroom while at the same time reading along with a printed script. Teachers pre-teach word analysis and comprehension skills. After viewing the program, students have the opportunity to act out episodes or use the scripts to produce their own version of a scene. This method involves the students in interesting material and gives them an opportunity for self-expression and creativity. Greenstein (1954) compared the amount of television watched with grade point averages of 67 students. This study found that the number of hours of television watched had only a minor influence on reading achievement and school success. In a study by Smith, adult learners were presented with several television shows that were captioned (1990). These shows included Sesame Street, a soap opera, a courtroom drama, and an episode of Reading Rainbow. The Television's Effect on Vocab. and Comp. 3 Reading Rainbow program was the most successful with regard to language acquisition and language proficiency. Some positive results of the viewing of closed-captioned shows included the use of new and unusual vocabulary during discussion and written exercises that followed the viewing. A study by Gough (1979) found that commercial television versions of popular book series, including Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie and Mary Norton's The Borrowers, have led children to look for these books specifically. In 1978, a study by Busch found that 89% of students in grades 212 had watched at least one program on television that caused them to read a book (Gough, 1979). This study shows how students can become motivated to read a book after they view characters on television. Having seen programs on television, students become motivated to read to find out more about the characters on the television series. Sesame Street is designed to prepare disadvantaged children for school. After watching ten sequential, hour-long episodes of Sesame Street, Mates and Strommen (1996) gained an understanding of the curriculum taught on the show and subsequently discovered many problems with the show. They described some of the segments as flowing too fast (Number countdown 12-1) for students to understand the concept that is being taught. Also, some of the segments had no educational value (Cookie Monster eating cookies). The researchers present suggestions to improve the educational value of the show. These suggestions include showing the characters reading signs and messages, for the purpose of figuring out where to go or what to do. The