Author : Saisamorn Srisukphrasert

Summary : This study attempted to compare the effectiveness of two instructional media, comic strip and the audio cassette, in terms of time taken up by reading/listening to the media and time spent in taking the post-test, knowledge gained and relation, and media preference. Subjects of the study were 590 fifth grade pupils in five provincial kindergarten schools in the first educational region in Thailand. The respondents were randomly devided between comic strip group and audio cassette group. The comic strip group read the comics and took the post-test using the printed copy while the audio cassette group heard the tale and took the post-test via the cassette tape. Percentages, means, analysis of variance, and Chi-square test were used in data analysis. Findings showed that the comic strip group performed better than the audio cassette group in terms of time spent in learning and doing the post-test, and that the comic strip was preferable to the audio cassette. There were highly significant differences in testing time among the respondents categorized by age and general school average, and in learning time considering the occupation of father. Respondents differed significantly in both learning and testing time considering the mother's occupation. In terms of basic knowledge of subject matter, the respondents differed significantly only in learning time. There were highly significant differences both in knowledge gained and in retention among the respondents based on gender, general school average, and basic knowledge of subject matter. The occupation of mother and liking for subject matter significantly influenced only knowledge gained. There was a highly significant interaction on learning time between media and basic knowledge of subjct matter. On the other hand, the interaction on learning time between media and gender, and between media and general school average were significant. The combined effect of media and age, and of media and general school average on testing time was highly significant.