Acquisition of Instructional Material Information as a Function of Manual Design and Material Complexity

The study, with 52 preservice special education teachers, focused on effects of two types of teacher manual design and two levels of material complexity on comprehension of instructional materials utilization. Two materials were selected from an instructional materials collection for less complex material and for more complex material, respectively. Professionally prepared teacher manuals for the materials were redesigned resulting in two versions of each, so that one version was illustrated, and incorporated such features as double spacing, indented paragraphs, and discrete sections, whereas the other was unillustrated, single spaced and had no indentations. The 52 teachers, in two groups, examined the materials and the two versions of the teacher manuals, and completed a comprehension questionnaire containing 16 and 18 items, respectively. Results indicated that superficial teacher guide characteristics aimed at enhancing readability were not a factor in conveying information to the users, and that the structural characteristic of complexity influenced the teachers' comprehension, as they achieved higher comprehension scores for the complex material. One conclusion drawn is that research on generic characteristics of instructional materials should be considered in conjunction with the more commonly conducted materials' evaluation studies. (For related material, see EC 052 344). (MC)