Effects of Mode of Instruction, Testing, Order of Testing, and Cued Recall on Student Achievement

Abstract

This experiment was designed to investigate the effect of verbal instruction alone vs. verbal instruction complemented by simple line drawings; the effect of visual testing vs. nonvisual testing; the effect of verbal cued vs. free recall on student achievement; the effect of order of testing on subsequent achievement; and the interaction among type of instruction, type of testing, and order of testing. The findings of this study indicate that the visualized version of the instructional unit significantly improved students’ information acquisition of the type measured by the criterion measures employed in this study on both the immediate and delayed retention tests. The verbal testing mode was found to be more effective on the comprehension and total criterion tests (immediate retention) and on the identification tests (delayed retention). Interactions among mode of instruction and order of testing indicate that student performance is influenced not only by how content is presented and evaluated, but also by the order in which specific cognitive learning levels are evaluated.