Multimedia learning methods and affective, behavioural and cognitive engagement: a universal approach to dyslexia?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The number of students reporting dyslexia in HE institutions is increasing year on year, mirroring institutional inclusivity agendas. This article investigates the potential for a universal (but not sole) approach to teaching dyslexic learners across disciplines, institutions and academic content. The article discusses a largely unexplored nexus between commonly compromised working memory in many dyslexic learners, on the one hand; on the other, the scientifically validated capacity of multimedia learning (MML) methods to ease pressure on working memory by exploiting visual processing capacity. It advances this literature in two areas. First, MML’s focus on cognitive engagement neglects the affective and behavioural dimensions of engagement. Second, MML methods have not been tested coherently with dyslexic learners. A speculative hypothesis, therefore, asks how the use of MML methods might affect each dimension of engagement for dyslexic learners. A replicable mixed methods longitudinal randomised control group trial was devised, with the subjects being dyslexic learners in nine disciplines at a UK university. The resulting data confirms that MML enhances engagement across each dimension to varying degrees, and that the key increases were not in the domain of cognitive engagement. Further, it shows that dyslexic learners’ engagement across the spectrum is greater when exposed to multimedia methods than monomedia.