English as a Second Language (ESL) learners at the upper elementary level have struggled to demonstrate the vocabulary required to read in English at grade-level. Although multimedia technologies have demonstrated positive effects as language acquisition educational tools at the university level, it remains unclear how useful they are for language acquisition at the elementary level. This quasi-experimental study used dual coding theory as a framework to examine the relationship between the level of reading comprehension upper elementary students developed and their construction of word meanings through use of multimedia technologies. The study utilized convenience sampling of 85 students divided into treatment and control groups in a Puerto Rican Montessori school. The treatment consisted of use of multimedia technologies that included video, audio, images, and words in a digital environment for vocabulary acquisition instruction. Data sources included pretest and posttest results for the Maze Close test that measures reading comprehension. These results were analyzed using a paired t test. Results indicated that students in treatment groups developed greater reading comprehension than did those in control groups. However, the difference in scores between the groups was not significant, so the null hypothesis was not rejected. Further research is required in order to determine whether a positive relationship can exist between multimedia technology usage and development of upper elementary student vocabulary and reading comprehension. This study indicates the importance of examining whether multimedia technology use in elementary student English reading comprehension can create reading gains for upper elementary ESL students.

Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 130 pages. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effects of animation for a technology-assisted German grammar presentation on modal verbs. The premise was that many intangible concepts of dynamic grammar involve syntactic components that possess visuo-spatial characteristics. It was further speculated that these characteristics could be more effectively represented by animated versus static instructional presentations.The supposition that animation would lend pedagogical advantage was supported by dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971, 1990), which posits two functionally separate representational systems, the verbal and the nonverbal, with dynamic mental imagery residing solely in the nonverbal system. The strength of dually coded information is that it is represented in both subsystems and, due to referential associations that cross between the two, is more easily retained and recalled.Under two treatment conditions, 44 university students of beginning German (GER 101) received large-screen multimedia instruction concerning the meanings and conjugated forms of German modal auxiliary verbs, and the grammatical rules which govern sentence structure. The independent variable was the type of visualization: static or animated text. The dependent variables were participants' total test scores as well as their individual scores on each of two task types: conjugation and word order. In addition, a posttest survey asked participants for their opinions of the instructional treatments.Participants in both treatment groups achieved high scores on the posttest with no significant difference between them; however, the posttest survey showed that the groups did differ significantly in their opinions of the treatments, with those in the animated group reporting more positive reactions to the presentation. Detailed planning and lengthy preparation of both treatments may explain the high scores for both groups, and the elementary nature of the content may also account for the resulting ceiling effect. Animation should be studied further, especially with respect to more preliminary tasks, more complex tasks, as well as in concert with other aspects of multimedia, such as interactivity, user-control, practice, and feedback. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The aim of this paper is to get a better understanding of the potential advantages and disadvantages of the audiovisual education in relation to the teaching and learning of Spanish as a Foreign Language in 21st century Swedish upper secondary schools. From here, we will work on establishing a clearer view of if these audio and visual presentations of school materials should remain in its current state of utilization or if it should be either increased or decreased for the completion of the vision of a more advanced comprehension, a higher motivation and higher grades among the students.           For us to be able to accomplish the main purpose of this paper, we have chosen to base our investigation on the dual-coding theory and on a collection of questionnaires to work as a quantitative research method. These research instruments were distributed to three of the largest upper secondary schools in Karlskrona, Blekinge, Sweden; where three Spanish teachers and their total of 117 students answered a total of 13 questions that later were compared and generalized to aid us throughout our task of establishing the role of the audiovisual education.           As a conclusion, the results showed clear evidence of how many of the audiovisual technologies help or overturn the comprehension, the motivation and the grades of the students. Although two of these technologies lacked in frequency of utilization, which aggravated the results, we could with ease see that technologies such as Whiteboard, PowerPoint, movies and videos should be able to improve all three of the mentioned factors for the majority of the students. In turn, this would mean that a higher utilization rate of the audiovisual technology could be beneficial for future education of Spanish as a Foreign Language.

In a suggestion to build upon students’ historical knowledge through reading The Remains of the Day, this essay delves into cross-curricular teaching, dual-coded theory aspects and revision of suggested plans to improve learner’s understanding of historical novels, characters, events, and descriptions to grasp and reflect upon such historical knowledge. Several methods for enhancing students’ knowledge and to improve vocabulary knowledge are provided. The essay is theoretically based and presents different aspects of how students’ knowledge of English and history as separate subjects in school, could be combined to address the learning abilities of all students. Reading comprehension is mainly based upon students’ prior knowledge. Therefore, this essay delves into various parts of learners’ abilities to reflect upon the written word and its significance to reality. Furthermore, suggestions to how teachers can collaborate to achieve an improved understanding of the novel and its time period through history and vocabulary is presented.