The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of textual display (manner in which text information is presented on a page) in printed instruction on learner attention to the instruction and performance of the instructional goal. Secondary purposes were to investigate any differential effects of textual display for high and low ability learners and to determine learner preference for textual display. / Subjects were 90 preservice teachers who were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: Simple Textual Display, Moderate Textual Display, Complex Textual Display. The treatments were manipulated by varying specified elements of print design (text column width and position, horizontal and vertical spacing, and heading placement). Ability, measured by GPA, was a moderating variable. / Attention was measured by the Attention subscale of the Instructional Materials Motivation Scale (Keller, 1987). Performance was measured by an objective-referenced test of recall. Preference was measured by items from the IMMS Attention and Confidence subscales. / Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and chi-square. Results indicated that there was an interaction between ability and textual display for performance (p =.009), but not for attention. Results also indicated a main effect of textual display for performance (p =.004), but not for attention. The Moderate Textual Display produced significantly higher performance scores for low ability subjects (p $<$.001). Results of the test for preference revealed that, of the three versions, learners preferred the text exhibiting the Moderate Textual Display. / These results show that a moderate textual display is preferred by learners and can improve performance of low ability learners. These findings have implications for the design and development of print instruction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3902. / Major Professor: John M. Keller. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78123 |
| Contributors | Price, Catherine Blanton., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 140 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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