Abstract
Multimedia learning environments are becoming more and more common in education. In these environments, information is presented in pictorial, written, and/or auditorial form. A specific form of a multimedia learning environment is the audio-support children and adults with dyslexia often use to compensate for their reading problems. However, while audio-support may compensate reading problems, it may also impact learning. According to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML presenting the same content simultaneously as written text and as audio would hamper learning, due to overloading the working memory. For students with dyslexia, on the one hand it can be hypothesized that adding audio to written text could enhance learning since it compensates for their reading difficulties. On the other hand, working memory in students with dyslexia is often found to be impaired, and they also seem to process information differently than typically developing peers. Existing research is inconclusive regarding the extent to which audio-support impacts learning in learners with dyslexia. The main goal of the current dissertation is to examine how audio support affects learning of learners with and without dyslexia. The findings show that theoretical models can certainly not be applied on a one-to-one basis to authentic learning environments. It also highlights the importance of a developmental perspective when constructing theoretical models. In this dissertation an extended view on the multimedia learning process is proposed. In addition, results show that audio-support in multimedia environments affects what learners learn, how learners learn, and that there are certain boundary conditions that apply to learning with audio-support. This dissertation shows that audio-support may support children in efficient multimedia learning, but that it is ineffective in adult learners, even those with dyslexia.
