Capacidad de lectores competentes y lectores poco hábiles para recordar información de un texto hipermedial e impreso

Resumen

La tecnología digital permite nuevas formas de presentación y organización textual, y está imponiendo una visión distinta de los procesos de lectura y escritura. Un documento hipermedial que contiene palabras escritas, sonidos, imágenes, y videos no se lee de la misma manera que un documento impreso. El propósito de este estudio fue indagar y comparar la capacidad de un grupo de estudiantes, unos considerados lectores competentes y otros lectores poco hábiles, para recordar las ideas principales y los detalles de un texto presentado en formato impreso y en formato hipermedial. Los sujetos fueron 40 niños de sexto grado, entre 11 y 12 años, seleccionados por su rendimiento en una prueba de comprensión lectora. El análisis de los resultados reveló que tanto los lectores competentes como los lectores poco hábiles recordaron más ideas importantes cuando utilizaron el texto hipermedial que cuando leyeron el texto impreso. Con relación al recuerdo de detalles, en el grupo de lectores competentes no hubo diferencias entre los usuarios del texto hipermedial y los usuarios del texto impreso; pero entre los lectores poco hábiles los usuarios del texto hipermedial recordaron más detalles que los lectores del texto impreso.

Abstract

Digital technology supports new formats of textual presentation and organization, and it is imposing a different view of the reading and writing process. A hypermedia document that contains written words, sounds, images and videos is not read in the same way as a printed document. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare the capacity of a group of students, half considered competent readers and the other half poor readers, to remember the main ideas and details of a text presented in hypermedia and in printed format. The subjects were 40 sixth grade children, 11–12 year olds, selected according to their performance on a reading comprehension test. Analysis of results revealed that both competent and poor readers remembered more important ideas when they read a hypermedia text than when they read the printed version. As for remembering details, in the group of competent readers there were no differences between the users of hypermedia text and the users of printed materials. In contrast, in the group of poor readers, the users of hypermedia text remembered more details than the users of printed text.

Extended Summary

New information and communication technologies are changing the cultural status of writing, the relationships between the writer and the text, the author and the reader, the reader and the text. Consequently this will transform theoretical and practical aspects of the process of teaching and learning how to read and write. Likewise, the emergence of hypertext and hypermedia has questioned the nature of written text, and therefore the very concept of literacy. An electronic text that integrates written words, sounds, and images, is not read in the same way as a printed text. The new forms of textual organization that can be achieved with hypermedia technology entail a different view of the reading and writing process, which has profound cultural and educational implications.

The purpose of this study was to explore, analyse, and compare the capacity of a group of students, half considered competent readers and the other half poor readers, to remember the main ideas and details of a text presented in hypermedia and in print. The subjects were 40 sixth grade children, 11–12 year olds, from a middle class private school located in Medellín, Colombia, selected according to their performance in a reading comprehension test given to 70 students enrolled in three different groups at this grade level.

Analysis of results revealed that both competent and poor readers remembered more important ideas when they read a hypermedia text than when they read a printed version, a difference that in both cases was statistically significant at a 0.05 level. As for remembering details, among the group of competent readers there were no significant differences between the users of hypermedia and the users of printed materials. In contrast, among the group of poor readers, the users of hypermedia remembered more details than the users of print.

These results may be explained by the interactivity that a hypermedia text allows a reader. The user can participate more actively in the reading process controlling the flow of information. This interaction, through which readers intentionally select, decode, relate, organize, and compare the diverse contents of the text, could have positive effects on information recall, comprehension level, and amount of learning.

Most likely, the audiovisual richness offered by the hypermedia text was another factor that influenced recall. Several authors have established that when contents displayed on a text are accompanied by good illustrations, they are assimilated and recalled more efficiently. Paivio's theory constitutes a valid explanatory framework for this study's findings, both with respect to recall of main ideas and of details. According to this author, learning is more efficient when information is processed through two sensory channels than when is processed through only one channel, since this dual processing generates several cognitive paths that subjects can use to trace and recover information from memory.

In conclusion, if texts in hypermedia format empower and stimulate recall and identification of main ideas, two basic skills for reading comprehension and learning, it is evident that using them in schools as teaching tools and study materials offers educational advantages.

Palabras clave:

• Hipertexto
• hipermedios
• recuerdo de información
• comprensión lectora
• recuerdo de ideas importantes y detalles

Keywords:

• Hypertext
• hypermedia
• recall of information
• reading comprehension
• recall of main ideas and details