Author : Winston Tan Kian Ann

Summary : An experiment was carried out to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the programmed text (PT) and the conventional text (CT) in preventing reading materials to supplement mass lectures. Effectiveness was measured in terms of a set of criteria, namely:knowledge gain, delayed recall, reading and testing time, and preferences for and attitudes toward a presentation technique. Two sets of instructional materials were prepared on the subject of S-R Psychology (associative learning)- one set in the linear programmed format, and the other in the conventional prose format. Both sets had equivalent content, identical sequence, and similar examples. The experiment was conducted among a new batch of university graduate teachers enrolled at the Institute of Education, Republic of Singapore. They were randomly devided into two groups: the experimental and the control. Based on the Latin Square design, each experimental subject was alternately exposed to the PT and the CT treatment. After exposure, they immediately took the posttest; and two weeks later, the delayed recall test. It was found that there were no significant differences between the PT and the CT in terms of knowledge gain, delayed recall, and testing time. However, the mean PT reading time was significantly longer than the mean CT reading time. Also, a comparison of the posttest scores showed that there was a significantly larger proportion of PT scores above the common mean compared with the CT scores. While treatments contributed 60 percent to the variance in student performance, the other variables--subject characteristics, attitudes, and time--did not make any statistically significant contribution. A majority of the subjects preferred the PT over the CT for reasons of acceptability, clarity, ease of reading and understanding, effectiveness, and suitability. Also, the majority were favorably disposed towards the basic features of the PT, such as breakdown of knowledge in small units, progress in sequential steps.