Effects of content acquisition podcasts on vocabulary performance of secondary students with and without learning disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this experimental research study was to investigate effects of using Content Acquisition Podcasts (CAPs) to provide vocabulary instruction to adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD). A total of 279 urban high school students, including 30 with LD in an area related to reading, were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions with instruction occurring at individual computer terminals over a three-week period. The four experimental conditions contained various combinations of multimedia-instruction and evidence-based practices for vocabulary instruction including: (a) CAPs designed using validated instructional design principles and a combination of explicit instruction and the keyword mnemonic strategy (Group 1); (b) CAPs with validated design principles and only explicit instruction (Group 2); (c) CAPs with validated design principles and only the keyword mnemonic strategy (Group 3); and (d) multimedia instruction without adherence to validated design principles and explicit instruction (Group 4). Results indicated that students with LD who received vocabulary instruction using CAPs with explicit instruction and the keyword mnemonic strategy (Group 1) significantly outperformed all other students with LD on measures of vocabulary knowledge on a posttest of 30 history-specific vocabulary terms, and again on a maintenance probe three weeks later for 10 history terms. In addition, students with LD in Group 1 significantly outperformed students without disabilities who received multimedia instruction that did not adhere to validated design principles at posttest and maintenance (Group 4), and had higher mean scores than students without LD in Groups 2 and 3. Students without disabilities in Group 1 significantly outperformed all other students at both posttest and maintenance. A student satisfaction survey indicated a strong student preference for learning vocabulary using the CAPs.