Naumann, J., Richter, T., Flender, J., Christmann, U., & Groeben, N. (2007). Signaling in expository hypertexts compensates for deficits in reading skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(4), 791-807.
Naumann, J.; Richter, T.; Flender, J.; Christmann, U.; Groeben, N.
2007
Naumann, J., Richter, T., Flender, J., Christmann, U., & Groeben, N. (2007). Signaling in expository hypertexts compensates for deficits in reading skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(4), 791-807.
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Expository hypertexts may contain specific types of signals such as navigable topical overviews and hyperlinks that map conceptual relationships between text contents. Two experiments with German university students (N = 130, 75% female, mean age 25 years) were conducted to test the hypothesis that hypertext-specific signals particularly support learners with badly routinized reading skills in organizing and integrating complex learning materials. The experiments were based on naturalistic texts and essay-writing tasks typical for exam preparation. Learning outcomes were measured by characteristics of participants' essays (amount of knowledge, knowledge focusing, knowledge integration). In both experiments, a hypertext with a high amount of signaling yielded better learning outcomes than did a linear text for readers with a low level of skill, whereas there were no differences for readers with a high level of skill. In Experiment 2, the same interaction pattern was found for hypertext with a high versus a low amount of hypertext-specific signals. Moreover, a lack of signals led to less efficient navigation behavior. These results demonstrate that hypertexts equipped with hypertext-specific signals may compensate for deficits in reading skill.
Taken together, these results provide strong support for the assumption that an expository hypertext with topical and rhetorical signals can compensate for deficits in reading skill. Compared to learning with a typical linear text in which basic reading skill is an important predictor of learning outcomes, learning with a hypertext that contains topical and rhetorical signals completely alleviates negative effects of poorly routinized reading comprehension processes, yielding overall good learning outcomes for readers of all levels of reading skill. This pattern of effects was found not only for the amount of knowledge that learners acquired, but also for the two more qualitative indicators knowledge focusing and degree of integration. These two aspects of learning outcomes correspond to the strategies of information selection and integration that are pointed out by the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mautone & Mayer, 2001). Thus, the results provide indirect support for the idea that the signals provided by the hypertext facilitate the application of these strategies.
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