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Instructional videos for teaching second language (L2) vocabulary often feature an instructor onscreen. The instructor in the video may involuntarily produce beat gestures with their hands, as occurs in real teaching settings. Beat gestures highlight key information in speech by conveying the rhythm of the language, but do not themselves convey semantic meaning. However, little is known about how the instructor's beat gestures affect L2 vocabulary learning. We conducted two experiments on the effects of the instructor's purposeful (scripted) beat gestures in instructional videos that included an instructor and slides, with English L2 vocabulary as the topic. In Experiment 1, using a within-participant design, we tested the hypothesis that an instructor's gestures (beat gesture vs. no gesture) would improve learning performance. The results showed that the instructor's use of beat gestures increased learners' accuracy and reduced reaction time on an L2 learning performance test. In Experiment 2, using a between-participants design, we tested the assumption that the benefits of beat gestures in L2 vocabulary learning are in part due to reductions in cognitive load while learning. This assumption was supported by both a self-report measurement of cognitive load and electroencephalogram (EEG) data showing lower theta power and lower alpha power when the instructor used beat gestures. The results of this study have applied value for designing effective instructional videos on the topic of L2 vocabulary learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the mutual effects of the instructor's eye gaze and facial expression on students' eye movements (i.e. first fixation time to the slides, percentage dwell time on the slides, and percentage dwell time on the instructor), parasocial interaction, and learning performance in pre-recorded video lectures. Students (N = 118 undergraduate and graduate students) were assigned to watch one of four videos in a 2 (gaze: direct, guided) × 2 (facial expression: surprised, neutral) between-groups design. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye movement data showed that students who watched the video lecture with the instructor's guided gaze and surprised face showed longer first fixation time to the slides and lower dwell time on the slides; these students also had lower learning scores. Instructor eye gaze and facial expression did not influence students' ratings of parasocial interaction. Our results suggest that in reference to social cues during video lectures with slides, "more" is not necessarily "better." The findings have practical implications for designing pre-recorded slide-based video lectures: An instructor is cautioned against using multiple social cues simultaneously, especially in video lectures in which the instructor and the visual learning materials compete for students' attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated the effect of an instructor's positive (vs. neutral) emotions in video lectures on student learning using either easy or difficult geography topics (i.e. easy: the Earth within the universe; difficult: understanding time and date calculations of Earth). The results showed that, first, students responded more positively towards the video lectures in which the instructor demonstrated a positive emotional state, compared to videos with a neutral instructor, regardless of content difficulty. Second, the content difficulty of the video lecture moderated the effect of the instructor's positive emotion on students' retention performance. Notably, for the easy content, the instructor's positive emotion significantly enhanced retention performance. Third, the instructor's positive emotion in the both easy and difficult video lectures improved students' transfer performance. This beneficial effect was found to be mediated by students' perceived attention during the learning process. These findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of emotional design in video lectures. Practical recommendations drawn from these findings should be interpreted with consideration of the study context and complemented with other empirical evidence, however one interpretation of these results can be that instructors should consider displaying positive emotions while teaching, particularly when delivering easier content, to improve both retention and transfer performance among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested whether seeing others' typed messages while viewing video lectures affected learners' attention and learning performance. Participants viewed one of three versions of a video lecture: (a) conventional video lecture as control; (b) video lecture with others' programmed messages appearing onscreen when the instructor was giving demonstrations on course content; (c) video lecture with others' programmed messages appearing onscreen when the instructor was posing questions. In Experiment 1, participants viewed video lectures without pause and could not post messages themselves. Eye tracking data revealed that although seeing others' messages did not decrease learners' attention to the learning content in the video, greater attention to others' messages was associated with lower retention. Furthermore, learners who viewed the conventional video lecture showed higher transfer than those who viewed either of the video lectures that included others' messages. In Experiment 2, participants viewed self-paced lectures and could post messages themselves. Experiment 2 duplicated the results of Experiment 1 in a realistic educational setting. Overall, these findings suggest that seeing others' messages during a video lecture has negative effects on learners' attention and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although more and more online courses use video lectures that feature an instructor and slides, there are few specific guidelines for designing these video lectures. This experiment tested whether the instructor should appear on the screen and whether her position on the screen (left, middle, right of the content on the slides) influenced students. Students were randomly assigned to watch one of four video lectures on the topic of sleep. The results showed that the video lectures with an instructor's presence (regardless of position) motivated students more than the video lecture without an instructor presence did. Learning performance and satisfaction were highest when the instructor appeared on the right side of the screen. Furthermore, eye movement data showed that compared to students in all other conditions, students in the middle condition paid more attention to the instructor and less attention to the learning content, and switched more between instructor and learning content. The findings highlight the positive effects of the instructor appearing on the right side of the screen in video lectures with slides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eye-tracking technology was used in this study to investigate the effects of embedded questions and feedback in instructional videos on learning performance and attention allocation and whether an expertise reversal effect existed. The experiment involved 49 learners with high-level prior knowledge and 45 ones with low-level prior knowledge from a university. Meanwhile, they learned instructional videos with no embedded feedback, embedded questions without feedback and embedded questions with feedback. Findings from the experiment showed that the instructional videos with embedded questions but without feedback not only improved the participants’ attention but also enhanced their learning performance. Furthermore, there was an expertise reversal effect on the learning performance whereby instructional videos with embedded questions but without feedback improved the learning performance of learners with low-level prior knowledge, but not those with high-level prior knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study tested achievement motivation as a moderator of the relationship between pre-interpolated questions and learning from video lectures. Participants were 63 university students who were selected from a group of 123 volunteers, based on having high (n = 31) or low (n = 32) scores on the Achievement Motivation Scale. The students in each group were randomly assigned to view an instructional video with or without interpolated pre-questions. Visual attention was assessed by eye tracking measures of fixation duration and first time to fixation, and learning performance was assessed by tests of retention and transfer. The results of ANCOVAs showed that after controlling for prior knowledge, students with high achievement motivation benefitted more from the pre-questions than students with low achievement motivation. Among students with high achievement motivation, there was longer fixation duration to the learning materials and better transfer in the pre-questions condition than in the no-questions condition, but these differences based on video type were not apparent among students with low achievement. The findings have practical implications: interpolated pre-questions in video learning appear to be helpful for highly motivated students, and the benefit is seen in transfer rather than retention. • Interpolated pre-questions enhance visual search efficiency. • Interpolated pre-questions promote attention and transfer for students with high achievement motivation but not for low achievement motivation students. • Interpolated pre-questions do not facilitate retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]