Impact of Imagery - Tests

Blue highlight = essay research influence

Asking peers to read information and tell me if the imagery helps, do they think it's needed. Thinking of Guo et al and image concreteness. 

Did this by creating primary research, using this presentation , asking participants to discuss their level of understanding with text only then asking if image matches what they thought, and how it affects their understanding. 

PRESENTATION USED:

ROSIE:

• Felt some of the text was easy to understand without an image but then when there image was there it helped regardless of whether she understood the text without the image.
• Felt if someone who didn't know how to drive was to read them they might not understand straight away so the image would be more helpful.

SOPHIE:

• Feel the first one was difficult to understand without the image, the image made it a lot easier. 
• Understand the second slide more, understand how they work already, image doesn't really help anything can understand without the text. 
• Toucan crossing, image helps to see bike and people, and understand it with the image a little better. 
• Equestrian crossing is easily understood but wants to see the image to understand it better.
  - This seems the case when it's something she hasn't seen before.
  - Would like the images because it makes it quicker to understand the text.
• Staggered crossings, don't know what the central refugee is, understood central island. Saw what the image  was. 

ZOE:

• Traffic lights - understood okay without the image but the image helps, visual example clarifies the understanding of the text, feels the image has provided more information (e.g. telling you when it flashes you shouldn't go on the crossing). 
• Zebra crossing - Image was less helpful, the description says more that the image doesn't show.
• Toucan crossing - Didn't know the term 'toucan crossing'. The text was okay, but the imagery helped because got confused about if it was pedestrians crossing cyclist path or cyclist pedestrian crossing road.
• Equestrian crossing - don't understand with type alone. The imagery helped because she doesn't have any prior knowledge to the crossing.
• Staggered crossing - Without text didn't understand 'central refugee' but understood it with term 'central island'. With image it helps to clarify what reading and thinking was the same. 

REFLECTIONS:

• Really interesting that people wanted the images the be there with the text even if they had an understanding of what the text was describing.
  - Relates to Guo et al and concreteness really strongly.
• Individuals were able to understand the images if the words were something they'd heard before or, drawing on existing knowledge (This particular finding may be as a result of visual experience of the graduate students which creates memories of past stimuli that can later serve as a context for perceiving new stimuli.
  - Really strong relation to this finding from research 'For example ordinarily, when you read, you use the context of your prior experience with words to process what you are reading.' Olurinola, O. and Tayo, O., 2015. Colour in Learning: It’s Effect on the Retention Rate of Graduate Students. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(14), pp.1-6. )
  - And again linking to Andragogy theory. 
  - 'Illustrations can provide knowledge to the reader on something they're not familiar with' Hibbing, A., and Rankin-Erickson, J. (2003) The Reading Teacher Vol. 56(8) pp. 758-770