The effects of pictures on the reading comprehension of low-proficiency Taiwanese English foreign language college students: An action research study
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Abstract
Abstract. This study investigates the extent to which the presence of pictures in text benefits low-proficiency Taiwanese English foreign language (EFL) college students. The findings show that the low-proficiency participants had significantly higher scores on their translation tasks when the text was presented together with the pictures, and that the accompanying pictures facilitated those low-level participants in comprehending not only the simpler but also the more difficult text. Student responses to the effects of visuals on their reading comprehension also revealed that the pictures enhanced their understanding of the text itself. Implications are suggested for EFL college teachers, textbook designers, and materials developers.
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References
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[35] L.B. Gambrell, R. Bales, Mental imagery and the comprehension monitoring performance of fourth- and fifth-grade poor readers, Reading Research Quarterly, 11 (1986), 454.
H.L. Swanson, Verbal coding deficits in learning-disabled readers: A multiple stage model, Educational psychology review, 1 (1989), 235.
[2] E. Daley, Expanding the concept of literacy, Educause Review, 38(2) (2003), 33.
[3] E. Eisner, The arts and the creation of mind, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
[4] S. Evans, Graphic organizers for Japanese readers of expository texts in English, Language Research Bulletin, 18 (2003), 1.
[5] V. Gyselinck, H. Tardieu, The role of illustrations in text comprehension: what, when for whom, and why? In H.Vvan Oostendorp & S.R. Goldman (Eds.), The construction of mental representations during reading (pp. 195-218), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999.
[6] J. Hanley, C. Herron, S. Cole, Using video as an advance organizer to a written passage in the FLES classroom, Modern Language Journal, 79 (1995), 57.
[7] M.C. Liu, The application of differential illustration on children’s English learning, Master’s thesis, National Pingtung Institute of Commerce, Taiwan, 2007.
[8] M. Mackay, Researching new forms of literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, 38 (3) (2003), 403.
[9] N. Marcus, M. Cooper, J. Sweller, Understanding instructions, Journal of Educational Psychology, 88 (1996), 49.
[10] P.D. Mautone, R.E. Mayer, Signaling as a cognitive guide in multimedia learning, Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(2) (2001), 377.
[11] A.C. Omaggio, Pictures and second language comprehension: Do they help? Foreign Language Annals, 12 (2) (1979), 107.
[12] G. Rose, Visual methodologies, London: Sage, 2001.
[13] G. Tang, The effect of graphic representation of knowledge structures on ESL reading comprehension, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14 (1992), 177.
[14] W.H. Levie, R. Lentz, Effects of text illustrations: A review of research, Education Communication and Technology Journal, 30 (1982), 195.
[15] J.R. Levin, G.J. Angling, R.N. Carney, On empirically validating functions of pictures in prose, In D. M. Willows & H. A. Houghton (Eds.), The psychology of illustration: Vol. 1 (1987), 51. New York: Springer-Verlag.
[16] E.B. Bernhardt, Reading development in a second language, New Jersey: Ablex, 1991.
[17] A.N. Hibbing, J.L. Rankin-Erickson, A picture is worth a thousand words: Using visual images to improve comprehension for middle school struggling readers, The reading teacher, 56 (8), (2003), 758.
[18] R. Lowe, Visual literacy and learning in science, ERIC Digest, ED463945, 2000.
[19] E. Thomas, N. Place, C. Hillyard, Students and teachers learning to see Part I: Using visual images in the college classroom to promote students’ capacities and skills, College teaching, 56(1) (2008), 23.
[20] P.N. Johnson-Laird, Mental models, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
[21] M. Siegel, How picture books work: A semiotically framed theory of text-picture relationships, Children’s literature in education, 29 (2) (1995), 97.
[22] A. Paivio, Imagery and verbal processes, New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1971.
[23] A. Paivio, Mental representations: A dual coding approach, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
[24] M. Sadoski, A. Paivio, Imagery and text: A dual coding theory of reading and writing,Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001.
[25] S.L. Lai, Influence of audio-visual presentations on learning abstract concepts, International Journal of Instructional Media, 27 (2) (2000), 199.
[26] K.N. Purnell, R.T. Solman, The influence of technical illustrations on students’ comprehension of geography, Reading Research Quarterly, 26 (1991), 277.
[27] R.W. Kullhavy, B.J. Lee, L.C. Caterino, Conjoint retention of maps and related discourse, Contemporary Education Psychology, 10 (1985), 28.
[28] L.B. Gambrell, P.B. Jawitz, Mental imagery, text illustrations, and children’s story comprehension and recall, Reading Research Quarterly, 28 (1993), 264.
[29] R.E. Mayer, Research-based principles for the design of instructional messages: The case of multimedia explanations, Document design, 1 (1999), 7.
[30] T. Hudson, The effects of induced schemata on the “short circuit” in L2 reading: Non-decoding factors in L2 reading performance, Language Learning, 32 (1982), 1.
[31] V.C. Hall, J. Bailey, C. Tillman, Can student generated-illustrations be worth ten thousand words? Journal of Educational Psychology, 89 (4) (1997), 677.
[32] B. Heaton, D. Dunmore, Topics in English, Hong Kong: Longman Asia Limited, 1994.
[33] R. Schmidt, The role of consciousness in second language learning, Applied Linguistics, 11 (1990), 1299.
[34] R.C. Anderson, Encoding processes in the storage and retrieval of sentences, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 91 (1971), 338.
[35] L.B. Gambrell, R. Bales, Mental imagery and the comprehension monitoring performance of fourth- and fifth-grade poor readers, Reading Research Quarterly, 11 (1986), 454.
H.L. Swanson, Verbal coding deficits in learning-disabled readers: A multiple stage model, Educational psychology review, 1 (1989), 235.