Sex-based Short-term Memory of Vocabulary Trained with Pease and Pease’s Multimodality

Abstract

Abstract

Rose and Nicholl’s  view dealing with the effectiveness of multisensory learning seems contradictory with Pease and Pease’s theory regarding with gender-based multitasking. The present study aims at: 1)  determining the significance of the difference of STM of English vocabulary between males and females learned through different types of modalities; 2) testing  whether multimodality lowers  males’  STM of English vocabulary; and 3) exploring the trainees’ modality preference and their reasons based on sex.  This mix-methods study involved 60 subjects drawn through Allocation Random Sampling. Data were collected with tests, a structured questionnaire, an interview, a tape-recorder, observations and note-taking. They were analyzed with Two-way Anova, Chi-square (χ²) and cyclical qualitative analysis. It shows that: 1) there is a significant difference of  STM of English vocabulary between males and females trained with different types of modalities; 2) multimodality did not lower males’ STM of English vocabulary; and 3) Pease and Pease’s theory is not accepted. The effectiveness of a certain type of modality, their learning habits, and their school regulations  contribute to their  modality preference.

Key words:  multitasking, multimodality, sex, short-term memory, training, development