Investigation into the effect of language on performance in a multimedia food studies application

An investigation into how performance in a multimedia learning application was related to the level of language support available is reported. Teachers from a College of Further Education, National Vocation Qualification (NVQ) level 2 catering students and Higher Education Diploma (HND) catering management students took part. After a language and subject pre-test, participants were randomly assigned to presentations of a multimedia catering course having either full, or no additional language support available. Immediately after completion, a post-test and two weeks later a re-test were taken. No significant difference between staff or HND users with different levels of language support was found. Significant differences were found for the NVQ users with difference language support. The results of this study are discussed in relation to language skills and the potential for the individual configuration of multimedia.