Synopsis
This paper reports the findings of an experiment conducted with 192 undergraduate Japanese students of the English language at two Osaka universities, one public and one private. Data was collected regarding comprehension of a one-minute news story narrated and accompanied by a relevant map, the map presented on a big screen in one of three different conditions regarding visual cues about details. The hypothesis that visual cues would improve posttest comprehension scores was not supported by the data. Rather, the effect of additional visual information was to depress test scores. The lower fluency students suffered more from the effect than the higher fluency students, leading to the speculation that visual stimuli could confuse and distract comprehension in a setting of language learning. The results of this study have implications for the classroom.
Eye movement directed by additional information decreased comprehension. The decrease was greater for lower fluency students. Higher fluency students benefited from eye movement directed to additional accurate information.