Exploring ESL Learners' Use of Hypermedia Reading Glosses

GULCAN ERCETIN
Bogazici University

Abstract:
This study explores the types of annotations intermediate and advanced ESL learners preferred to use while they were engaged in reading a hypermedia text. The study also investigated learners' attitudes towards reading in a hypermedia environment. The participants were 84 ESL adult learners enrolled at the Center for English as a Second Language at the University of Arizona. Data were collected through a tracking tool, a reading comprehension test, a questionnaire, and interviews. Quantitative data indicated that the intermediate ESL learners accessed annotations more frequently than those in the advanced group. However, they did not differ in the amount of time they spent on annotations. On the other hand, the advanced learners performed better on the reading comprehension test. Both groups of learners preferred word definitions to pronunciations of words and graphics in order to get information about the text at the word level. However, they preferred videos and graphics to get extra information about the topic. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that hypermedia reading had a positive impact on the participants' attitudes towards reading on the computer. The participants indicated that the hypermedia environment made reading more enjoyable and comprehensible.

INTRODUCTION

New digital technologies such as hypermedia, hypertext, or multimedia have great potential for teaching and learning because of the innovative ways they present information and the control and freedom they give learners over their learning (Means, Blando, Olson, Morocco, Remz, & Zorfass., 1993; Heller, 1990; Marsh & Kumar, 1992; Roblyer, Edwards, & Havriluk, 1997; Popkewitz & Shutkin, 1995). Hypermedia combines hypertext and multimedia within one system (Jonassen, 1996). In other words, hypermedia environments such as those found on the web or in electronic books utilize text, sound, graphics, video, and animation in the same document and present information in a nonlinear fashion through nodes and links. Thus, hypermedia is a type of multimedia distinguished by the richness and depth of information it provides through links and multiple presentation modes (Preece, 1993). Although hypermedia provides "flexible information environments" (Goldman, 1996), reading hypermedia documents poses certain challenges for readers. Successful reading comprehension in a hypermedia environment goes beyond effective uses of top-down and bottom-up processes; it requires additional reading skills to cope with the demands of the new environment. For instance, readers need to be able to interpret visual images, video, film, charts, and tables (Lemke, 1998), navigate through complex and continually changing systems of information, (Leu, 1999), make decisions concerning when to read a definition or an explanation (Venezky, 1994), distinguish relevant and reliable information and make connections between discrete bodies of information and their relative importance (Synder, 1998; Landow, 1992), and monitor their reading in order not to become distracted from their reading purpose.

Hypermedia texts are mostly organized in a nonlinear manner because information is provided through nodes or links which may take readers to different types of glosses or annotations to help them understand the text better. Hypermedia glosses may be presented before or during reading; they may function to highlight or clarify important points or simply to provide lexical or syntactic information; their focus may be textual or extratextual; they may be provided within the body of text or outside the text; they may come in the form of text, images, sound recordings, or videos (Roby, 1999). Glossing is particularly useful in second language reading (L2 reading); words or phrases that are judged to be outside learners' current competence may be explained through glosses or annotations (Widdowson, 1984).¹ Thus, a given text may be made comprehensible for L2 readers without reducing its authenticity.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Few research studies have investigated ESL learners' use of computerized reading glosses. For instance, questions such as "Do ESL learners find computerized glosses useful for reading comprehension?" or "What types of glosses do they prefer and find useful?" remain largely unanswered. One tool that goes a long way to facilitate research is the use of a tracking tool which allows researchers to follow what learners actually do when they are engaged in a particular hypermedia learning task. Tracking learners' interaction with the text may help researchers trace and explore learners' reading strategies (Blake, 1992) and provide valid means for process-oriented research (Hulstijn, 1993). Thus, such technology may provide insights into both the product and the process of learning (Collentine, 2000).

Aust, Kelley, and Roby (1993) investigate fifth-semester Spanish learners' preferences regarding computerized and conventional dictionaries, which were referred to as hyper-references and paper references, respectively. The researchers found that participants who had access to bilingual hyperreferences made more consultations than those who had access to monolingual hyperreferences, bilingual paper references, or monolingual paper references. Monolingual hyperreferences were also used more frequently than the bilingual and monolingual paper references. However, whether references were bilingual or monolingual did not make a difference when they had access to conventional references. Thus, the study suggests that learners prefer computerized bilingual dictionaries for second language reading. However, no differences among the groups were found with respect to reading comprehension.

Roby (1999) reports on an experimental study which investigated Spanish learners' use of paper and computer dictionary and glosses. While the dictionaries provided lexical information, the glosses contained "the meaning of an item in context." Roby found that learners who had access to computer dictionaries looked up substantially more words than those who had access to paper dictionaries. Moreover, the participants in the dictionary + gloss condition read the text in less time than those in the dictionary-alone condition. This study did not find any differences among the groups on reading comprehension. Unfortunately, insufficient numbers of such studies do not allow us to make any generalizations about L2 learners' use of computerized glosses and their attitudes about computerized reading.

Lomicka (1998) describes a pilot study which investigated the use of various types of glosses (i.e., images, references, questions, pronunciation, and translations in English) by 12 intermediate-level French learners. The tracker data revealed that the participants preferred definitional glosses to other types of glosses. Despite the small sample size and lack of statistical evidence, this study is useful because of its attempt to explore learners' preferences for different types of glosses. The purpose of the study presented here is to systematically explore intermediate and advanced ESL learners' interaction with a hypermedia text. The study investigates the following two questions: (a) What types of annotations do learners prefer to use when they are engaged in reading a hypermedia document? and (b) Are there any differences between intermediate and advanced learners with regard to their use of hypermedia annotations?

METHODOLOGY

Participants

Eighty-four participants learning English for academic purposes at the University of Arizona took part in this study. They came from a variety of language and cultural backgrounds: Arabic (29), Spanish (16), Japanese (13), Korean (10), Chinese (5), Indonesian (2), Portuguese (2), Thai (2), Bulgarian (1), Turkish (1), German (1), Pular (1), and Vietnamese (1). The average age of the participants was 24.06 years, ranging from 17-40 years of age. Students were placed at proficiency levels based on their performance on the Listening and Structure sections of a standardized placement test: A Comprehensive English Language Test for Learners of English. There were 34 intermediate- and 50 advanced-level learners.

Materials

An electronic reading text entitled "Stephen Hawking's Universe" was adapted from the Public Broadcasting Service web site (www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/html/home.html). In order to aid reading comprehension, the text was annotated using multiple forms of digital media created by using Macromedia Director, version 7.1.2. Based on the interactive theory of reading (Rumelhart 1977; Kintsch & Van Dijk, 1978; Bernhardt, 1991), the annotations were aimed at facilitating both top-down and bottom-up processes. Thus, they were categorized as (a) textual annotations—those providing information about the text such as definition of a word and its pronunciation, or (b) contextual annotations—those providing background information about the topic.

Textual annotations were provided within the body of text, whereas contextual annotations were provided outside the text. When participants clicked on a highlighted word, phrase, or a background information button, they could see in what form or forms of media the information was available (i.e., text, graphics, sound, or video). They were then able to choose and view as many annotations as were provided in the hyperactive link (see Figure 1).

Textual annotations involved three types of media: text, sound, and graphics. Text provided the definition of a word or phrase and its grammatical form—noun, adjective, verb, and so forth. Sound annotations provided the pronunciation of a word or phrase via audio recordings. Graphics annotations provided photos or drawings to illustrate the word, notion, or idea. Contextual annotations were of four types: text, sound, graphics, and movie. Text provided extra information on the topic in textual format. Sound involved audio recordings related to the topic. Graphics involved pictures or drawings related to the topic. Finally, movie involved digital videos about the topic.

Sample Hyperactive Reading Passage

In summary, the annotations are categorized as follows:

1. textual text annotations: dictionary definitions of words,

2. textual audio annotations: pronunciations of words,

3. textual graphics annotations: pictures or drawings describing the meanings of words,

4. contextual text annotations: extra information about the topic in the form of text,

5. contextual audio annotations: sound recordings providing extra information about the topic,

6. contextual graphics annotations: pictures, drawings, or photos providing extra information about the topic, and

7. contextual video annotations: digitized movies providing extra information about the topic.

The software tracked every interaction of the readers with the text, including which annotations readers had chosen to view, how much time (in seconds) they spent on a particular annotation, and the order in which they selected the annotations. This information was saved in a log file for each reader.

Once the participants finished reading the text, they were given a 14-item reading comprehension test on the computer. This test consisted of short-answer, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions. Participants did not have access to the reading text during the test, but they were allowed to take notes while reading the text and use their notes during the test. Upon quitting the test, each participant’s responses to the questions were also saved in a log file.

Procedures

The participants took part in the study during their regular class periods. They were told that this study was aimed at exploring their reading strategies in a computer environment. It was also emphasized that participation in the study was voluntary and that it would not affect their performance in the class.

The data collection consisted of two major phases. The first phase lasted two class periods. During this part of the study, participants were given a demonstration on how the software worked. Then, they were asked to read the text for its content and use the annotations to help them understand the text better. They were told that they would be given a comprehension test when they finished reading, that they would not have access to the text during the test, and that they should take notes on the paper provided. Although the comprehension test did not include any information from the annotations, this was not indicated to the participants so that they would not opt to read the text only instead of using the annotations. When they quit the software, two log files were saved on the hard disk: one for the participants' interaction with the text and the other for their answers to the comprehension test questions. Finally, some of the participants filled out a background questionnaire the same day, while others did so the next day. The background questionnaire involved questions regarding the demographic information about the participants as well as their perceptions about the usefulness of annotations.

The second phase of the study involved interviews with 20 volunteering participants within three days after they took part in the study. The goal of the interviews was to obtain in-depth data about the participants' attitudes about reading a text in a hypermedia environment and the usefulness of the annotations.

Data Analysis and Results

Before discussing the results of the analyses, a brief discussion about the difficulty of the text is in order. The data regarding the difficulty of the text were obtained from the questionnaire the participants completed after they participated in the study. The participants were asked to rate Vocabulary, Grammar, and Content from 1 to 5, 1 being very easy and 5 being very difficult.

Independent-samples chi-square tests were conducted in order to ascertain whether the differences between the two groups were statistically significant. Results indicated that the groups were statistically different in their ratings of Vocabulary (χ² = 9.97, p =.006) and Grammar (χ ² = 8.25, p = .01), but not Content (χ ² = 4.16, p = .12). In other words, the intermediate group considered Vocabulary and Grammar significantly more difficult than the advanced group. However, the difficulty level of Content was similar for both groups.

Since the difficulty level of certain aspects of the text was different for the groups, it was hypothesized that the two groups would interact with the text differently. In other words, they would differ in their use of the annotations incorporated into the text. The frequency with which the annotations were accessed, the amount of time spent on annotations, as well as the total amount of time spent reading the text were variables investigated with regard to participants' interaction with the text.

Frequency of Access to Hypermedia Annotations

The number of clicks made by the participants to view the annotations determined the frequency of access to annotations. Participants could click on a given annotation as many times as they wished. Whether there were any differences in each group with regard to access to each type of annotation and whether the two groups differed in their access to annotations were analyzed by a two-way mixed-design ANOVA with one grouping variable (proficiency level) and one within-subjects variable (annotation type). Hence, language proficiency was the independent variable with two levels (intermediate and advanced), whereas the annotation type was the dependent variable with seven levels measured on an interval/ratio scale.

In summary, contextual annotations were accessed significantly more frequently than the textual annotations. Among the textual annotations definitions of words were accessed the most, and among the contextual annotations video and text annotations were accessed the most.

The Amount of Time Spent on Annotations

The determination of the amount of time participants spent on hypermedia annotations was based on the amount of time they viewed the annotations. Since the annotations appeared only while the mouse button was down, the amount of time the participants kept their hands on the mouse was considered to be the time they viewed a given annotation. Annotations viewed for less than one second were not tabulated

Total Time Spent on Reading the Text

The results of the independent samples t test indicated that the difference in the total amount of time spent in reading the text between the two groups was significant (t(82) = 2.78, p = .007). Thus, the intermediate group spent significantly more time on reading or studying the text than the advanced group.

Performance on the Reading Comprehension Test

The performance of the groups on the reading comprehension test was compared through an independent samples t test. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that the mean score for the intermediate group was lower (M = 9.16) than that of the advanced group (M = 11.72). The highest possible score on this test was 22. Both distributions were normally distributed, and variances between the groups were found to be homogenous.

 Insights from the Questionnaires and Interviews

A qualitative investigation through the questionnaire and interviews provided valuable information regarding the participants' perceptions of the usefulness of annotations and their experience of reading in a hypermedia environment.

All the participants who were interviewed indicated that they enjoyed reading on the computer; it was different from the readings they did in class. They defined reading on the computer as "more interesting," "easier," and "comprehensible." For all of the participants, definitions of words were "necessary" or "essential." Some considered pronunciation not very important to understanding the text, but, for some, it was still useful because, as stated by Participant 4, "Pronunciation is one of the most difficult things in English. Any opportunity to improve pronunciation is very important." Finally, for some participants contextual annotations offered too much information, and they thought it was not necessary to use the contextual annotations to understand the text. For instance, Participant 7 viewed most of the contextual annotations, but he also stated: "My new understanding of the universe is from the reading, not from the movies or picture."

Summary

The participants did not agree on the usefulness of contextual annotations in aiding reading comprehension, but they did agree that word definitions were essential. Interviews indicated that the participants with prior knowledge utilized contextual annotations differently from those without prior knowledge. For those with prior knowledge, extra information about the topic was utilized because of "curiosity" or "interest," while those without prior knowledge utilized them to understand the concepts better.

The amount of time it took the intermediate group to read the text was much longer than the advanced group. However, the advanced group performed better on the reading comprehension test. Thus, despite the efforts of the intermediate group to understand the text by utilizing more annotations and spending more time on studying or reading the text, they still were not able to reach the level of performance displayed by the advanced group.

DISCUSSION

This study provided evidence for the positive impact of hypermedia on the learners' perceptions of their reading experience. The provision of authentic input and interaction between the reader and the text were found to be important features of hypermedia, leading to positive attitudes. The authentic input aroused the readers' interest because the linguistic input was contextualized and, therefore, easier to understand. As indicated by one of the participants, they were able to fulfill their curiosity about "what Stephen Hawking looked like and how he sounded."

Interviews revealed that the participants enjoyed interacting with the text at their own pace and selecting information based on their own needs and interests. The individualized reading gave them control over the reading process. Hence, the interactivity between the reader and the text motivated the participants in the reading process.

Finally, an examination of the specific types of annotations used by the learners revealed that both intermediate and advanced learners preferred word definitions in order to decode the text. They preferred visual information (i.e., graphics and videos) to get schematic information about the topic. The usefulness of these annotations was rated highly by the participants.

Pedagogical Implications

Interactivity, authenticity, and multimodal learning are important characteristics of a hypermedia environment for L2 reading. Interaction between readers and text provides individualized learning (Soo, 1999) and promotes learner autonomy (Healey, 1999). Learners get a chance to read at their own pace, select information based on their interests and needs, and take responsibility for their learning. As one of the participants put it, students may not be able to ask questions in a classroom environment because they feel shy or they cannot keep up with the pace of the class. These problems disappear in a hypermedia environment. Learners take control over their reading and make decisions about the amount of time they spend on reading, the pace of their reading, and the path they choose to construct a meaning. Moreover, students get actively involved in the reading process. They take the initiative to select the relevant information in the process of meaning construction. Hence, reading becomes a more personal and meaningful process for learners because they create their own meaning based on the way they interact with the text.

Provision of authentic input poses less challenge for L2 readers in a hypermedia environment because they are not only presented with authentic language but also with the means to deal with it. Annotations were considered to be highly useful for reading comprehension in this study. Easy access to annotations through multiple forms of media makes the reading of authentic texts more manageable and motivating for L2 readers. The participants of this study complained to their teachers why they could not read "like this all the time."

Limitations of the Study

This study has several limitations, which may caution us about the results obtained. First, the target population was ESL students learning English for academic purposes. The sample consisted of intermediate and advanced level ESL learners who were enrolled at a specific US university in a given semester to learn English for academic purposes. Unless the study is replicated in other learning contexts with different samples, the findings cannot be generalized to the general target population. Second, the reading comprehension test used in this study caused several problems. Some participants perceived that the whole purpose of the study was to test them on their reading ability. These participants did not utilize the annotations because they wanted to spend more time on the test. They also indicated that had there not been a test, they would have interacted with the text differently. Third, other factors might have influenced learners' interaction with a hypermedia text such as reading goals, learner styles, reading strategies, experience with computers, and reader's interest in the topic. These factors were not investigated in the study presented here, and they may be more related to performance and annotation use. Finally, the study did not investigate whether the difference on reading comprehension between the two groups was due to proficiency level, annotation use, or other factors. A more controlled study would be necessary to investigate the effectiveness of hypermedia annotations for reading comprehension.

Recommendations for Future Research

This study was exploratory in nature. Participants' interaction with text was not controlled for the sake of simulating a real-life task. However, an experimental study, which controls access to annotation types and investigates its relationship with reading comprehension may provide us with the true effect of annotations on performance. Second, in addition to experimental data, more qualitative data would also provide deeper insights into the reading process. For instance, using think-aloud protocols while learners are interacting with the text would provide information about the students' thinking processes and reading strategies in a hypermedia environment. Third, a longitudinal study in a context, where hypermedia is integrated into the curriculum and where learners are experienced users, would provide more valid findings than a study conducted at a given time with learners of varying computer experience. Finally, considering other variables such as learner styles, motivation, cultural background, gender, reading strategies, and how these variables may affect annotation use would add substantially to our understanding of the phenomenon.