The effects of verbally redundant information on student learning: An instance of reverse redundancy Fatih Ari a, * , Raymond Flores b , Fethi A. Inan b , Jongpil Cheon b , Steven M. Crooks b , Dmitrii Paniukov b , Murat Kurucay b a Office of Institutional Planning and Assessment, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 36014th Street MS 6231, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA b Texas Tech University, 2500 Broadway, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA article info Article history: Received 12 November 2013 Received in revised form 14 February 2014 Accepted 2 April 2014 Available online 13 April 2014 Keywords: Redundancy principle Cognitive load Multimedia learning Reverse-redundancy effect abstract This study aimed to examine the effects of redundant on-screen text on student learning outcomes (i.e. comprehension, matching, spatial labeling, and diagram reconstruction) when learning from multimedia instruction. An interactive, learner-controlled multimedia material was developed to teach the points of articulation used to describe human speech sounds. Participants included 137 undergraduate students from a large southwestern university in the U.S. who were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: (1) an audio only treatment where audio descriptions of each point of articulation were provided, (2) an audio with text label treatment where audio descriptions of each point of articulation plus redundant text labels were provided. The results showed that having redundant on-screen text with spoken information was helpful for student learning. Overall, results confirm an instance of the reverse redundancy effect when instructional material is complex; redundant on-screen text is short; and learners have control over the pace of instruction. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Multimedia instruction can contain information in visual (i.e. graphics, animation) and verbal (i.e. narration, text) forms (Mayer & Moreno, 2002). With innovations in computer and internet technologies, multimedia materials have been used widely when delivering instruction through computers (Adesope & Nesbit,2012; Mayer, 2009). Further, it has been found by many researchers that multimedia instruction, if designed effectively, can enhance learning (Mayer, 2009; Sweller, 1999; Van Merriënboer, 1997). With his multimedia principles, Mayer (1999) defines the boundaries of learning from multimedia when the instructional materials incorporate different forms of information (i.e. verbal, non-verbal). Mayer further provides practitioners with theoretical explanations and specific recommendations for how multimedia instruction should be designed. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) is built on three assumptions: dual channels, which postulates that working memory has two channels (i.e. visual and verbal channels), limited capacity, which claims that each channel in working memory has limited capacity for processing incoming information, and active processing, which requires learners to actively participate in the learning process, summarize and synthesize just learned information and connect it with prior knowledge (Mayer, 2009). CTML postulates the flow of newly received information as follows: (1) information is first received by the eyes and ears, and goes to sensory memory which has unlimited capacity but keeps information for a very brief period of time; (2) selecting by attention, information is transferred to working memory where it is processed and integrated with existing knowledge from long term memory; and (3) infor- mation is stored in long-term memory (Mayer, 2009). Built on Paivio’s dual coding theory which proposes that human cognitive system is composed of two distinct subsystems to process verbal (e.g., spoken words) and nonverbal (e.g., images) information (Paivio, 1986), the dual * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 806 743 2918x256, þ1 806 786 3635 (mobile). E-mail addresses: fatih.ari@ttuhsc.edu (F. Ari), raymond.flores@ttu.edu (R. Flores), fethi.inan@ttu.edu (F.A. Inan), jongpil.cheon@ttu.edu (J. Cheon), steven.crooks@ttu.edu (S.M. Crooks), dmitry.panyukov@ttu.edu (D. Paniukov), murat.kurucay@ttu.edu (M. Kurucay). URL: http://www.fatihari.net. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers & Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.04.002 0360-1315/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Computers & Education 76 (2014) 199–204