Personalization in Multimedia Integrated Environments: An Example from an EAP Course

This study aims to examine the effects of a multimedia presentation designed according to the researched principles in both nonpersonalized (formal) and personalized (informal) narrations concerning students’ understanding of the exam questions in a freshman year course with a focus on English for academic purposes. A nonequivalent control group design was employed in this five-week study in which a group of students were exposed to the multimedia presentation in non-personalized narration (NPN) while another group of students were exposed to the multimedia presentation in personalized narration (PN). Both groups took to the same test at the pre-stage and post-stage of the study. The design of the study also required the participants in both groups, to evaluate the language that they were exposed to in the presentation and their own learning experience, through an open ended question. The findings of the study yielded meaningful differences between the groups.