Abstract
Text-based learning media are often used in primary, secondary and university education. Therefore, text designers can support the learner by highlighting the most relevant information by using visual cues. Despite this signaling effect’s broad empirical basis, the extent to which the effectiveness of educational signals is dependent on moderator variables, like the design and layout of the text has not been investigated to date. In the current experiment, 138 university students learned about the formation of tsunamis from an instructional text. The text was manipulated in terms of signaling (color cues vs. no color cues) and induced learning-irrelevant extraneous cognitive load (fluent text font vs. disfluent text font). The results revealed that learners who had received the signaled text outperformed those who received the non-signaled text in terms of transfer performance. These results are explained by cognitive load, which was reduced in the signaling condition. The text font had no influence on the learning outcomes. Extraneous load induction further led to higher metacognitive accuracy and invested effort, while cognitive load and frustration were also increased. Interaction effects only occurred in terms of testing time, ease of learning and navigation. Results indicate that signaling is beneficial for transfer performance, independent of the font design of text.
Highlights
When considering complex instructional texts, it is difficult to distinguish between learning-relevant and learning-irrelevant information
The focus is on the learning outcomes and the main explanatory variables
The learning outcomes were investigated in order to support or reject the hypotheses and to answer the research question
Summary
When considering complex instructional texts, it is difficult to distinguish between learning-relevant and learning-irrelevant information. Learners who do not receive instructional help can be overwhelmed when trying to identify core information which is necessary for understanding the learning content (e.g., Anderson and Armbruster 1984; Mayer 2005). The signaling principle is a prominent design recommendation for supporting learners. Relevant information should be cued, in order to guide the learner’s attention to the most important parts of the text (van Gog 2014). This instructional support is especially necessary when the Handling Editor: Massimilano Palmiero (University of Bergamo). Reviewers: Three researchers who prefer to remain anonymous
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