Examining the Influence of Gender on the Modality Effect

This study aimed to investigate the effects of modality and gender on learning from a computer-based matrix graphic organizer. A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was created by crossing two presentation modes (visual text vs. spoken text) and gender. Dependent measures included transfer and comprehension tests. Results revealed a significant modality by gender interaction on the transfer test. These results suggest that when the goal of learning is to transfer information to new contexts, males benefit from a dual mode presentation of text, whereas females benefit from a text only (single mode) presentation. This study adds to the literature by showing that gender is another factor to consider in conjunction with expertise and modality in multimedia learning.