Learning grammar with adaptive hypertexts: Reading or searching?

Abstract

Using adaptive hypertext as a learning tool, the present study addresses the question of the effects of different processing goals, especially the goal of general reading a hypertext as opposed to the goal of searching for specific information, on learning content and skills at English grammar. Twenty students with German as mother tongue processed the present continuous chapter of the Chemnitz InternetGrammar. It has been shown that readers answer a higher amount of questions about details and, more importantly, they answer them in more detail than searchers. Nevertheless, searchers tend to produce more elaborated answers to complex questions than readers. Both groups performed better on skill tests after the session, showing no effect of the performed task. Based on this experimental evidence, the requirements on adaptive learning tools are discussed. © 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.