28.3 Audio Technology

Early educational technology such as the radio, the telephone, the tape recorder, and the loudspeaker attracted the attention of researchers. Loder (1937) compared the retention of factual materials presented over a loudspeaker system and directly by a speaker. Two groups totaling 449 students were rotated in the experiment. A pretest, a test immediately after the lesson, a test I day later, and one 20 days later were given. One group saw the speaker, and the other group heard him from another room. The direct group performed better, but later tests showed that the means were not significantly different.

Cook and Nemzek (1939) compared the effectiveness of radio instruction and conventional teaching. Two intermediate school groups were match-paired by age, sex, and intelligence for this experiment. Pretests and posttests were given. Their results showed a superiority for the radio-taught classes.

Rulon (1943a), using phonographic recordings, conducted an experiment to compare the amount of information gained by students who listened and those who studied the same material in printed form. Time was equalized. A total of 418 students listened to the recordings; 426 students studied the printed material. All students involved took a pretest, a posttest, and a test I week after the experiment was completed. Separate t tests were used to compare means of the pretest and posttest and also the delayed test. According to Rulon, the study of the printed material was superior to the method employing the recordings. However, a comparison in tests taken after a week showed little difference in methods employed. From this result, he concluded illogically that recordings make more of a lasting impression than printed materials.

Rulon (1943b) later conducted a similar experiment to compare the amount of information gained by students using phonographic recordings with the amount gained by students who studied a unit incorporating the same material presented in a textbook. This experiment probably is closer to an actual classroom situation, although, in this case, the textbook was prepared using the recordings as a primary source. Instructional methods using the textbook were not controlled. Testing procedures were similar to those above. The results, also using the t test, showed that phonographic recordings failed to show any superior effectiveness in teaching the "informational" aspects of the lesson.

In a third study on the effects of phonographic recordings, Rulon (1943c) investigated the motivational values of recordings. Using the same recordings and textbooks prepared for the earlier experiment, two groups of students were given access to supplementary reading materials after one group had heard the recordings and the other had read the material. Motivation was measured by which group used more supplementary reading materials. A total of 193 students used the recording, and 187 used the textbook presentation. Rulon's study showed no difference between the groups in terms of motivation to use supplementary reading material.

Kramer and Lewis (1951) investigated whether there was a difference in memory and comprehension between two groups of students in which one group sees and hears the speaker and another group only hears him. In the visual group were 128 students, and 120 were in the audio group. Both groups were in the same lecture room separated by a large, heavy curtain. Loudspeakers were used, and the lecture was given simultaneously to both groups. After the lecture, both groups took the same test. Both groups had been told that grades would not be counted. Kramer and Lewis reported that the mean of the visual group was higher than that of the audio group and that the visual group had a wider range. They concluded that the speaker's visible action somehow contributed to the ability to understand and remember the ideas in the lecture.

Leshan (1942) used a phonograph record to determine if a habit could be broken by suggestion while the subjects were asleep. At a summer camp, three, small groups of young boys, all fingernail biters, were chosen for the study. The experimental group heard the suggestion to stop biting nails played 300 times a night over a period of a month and a half. The control groups received no auditory messages. Leshan reports that, at the end of the experiment, 40% of the experimental group had stopped nail biting, whereas none in the control groups had.

Similarly, a series of research studies with tape recorders attempted to determine whether or not students could be taught while they were sleeping. Fox and Roblin (1952) selected 30 people who had no knowledge of Chinese. Pretests and posttests were given. A tape recorder with a pillow microphone and an automatic timer switch was used for one-half hour during the night. Matched Chinese words with English words were given. Three groups were chosen: group I heard Chinese words and true English equivalents, group 2 heard Chinese words with false English equivalents, and group 3 heard music only. There were several weaknesses in the design, including the fact that the students were not observed at night. Fox and Roblin reported that the following morning the group that had the true translations learned the same list much more quickly than the other two groups, with the false translation group taking the longest. The authors conclude that learning can occur during sleep.

Gallacher and Stevens (1954) found that the use of tape recorders to teach spelling improved performance from 50 to 100%. The published description of this study was incomplete. However, as a result of this report, other studies were conducted on the effectiveness of tape recording used with spelling.

Gibson (1958, 1959, 1960) reported a 3-year experimental comparison of a tape teaching program with conventional instruction at an Omaha, Nebraska, junior high school. Two areas were chosen to study the effectiveness of tape recording: spelling and conversational Spanish. Oral and written tests were used. Results of findings included the assertion that tape instruction was superior to conventional instruction when the criterion was in the number of words correctly spelled. Both methods were similar with respect to the recognition of words misspelled. Spanish classes taught, by a non-Spanish teacher using Spanish tapes, and classes taught by a Spanish teacher were similar in achievement scores. The following conclusions were made: (a) Tape recording is an effective method for teaching conversational Spanish to seventh-graders; (b) regular classroom teachers can effectively teach conversational Spanish by means of tape prepared by Spanish specialists; (c) students can learn to spell as effectively with a tape as with conventional classroom procedures; (d) with proper orientation, large groups can be taught spelling effectively; and (e) teaching with tapes produced no adverse effect on attitudes toward the subject.

Popham (1962) studied the effectiveness of tape recorded lectures in teaching a college-level education class. Thirty-six students were divided into 18 matched pairs. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant difference between assorted variables. One group was a conventional lecture discussion; die other group was taught by tape-recorded lectures with student-led discussions. This experiment continued over one semester. Pretests in achievement and a test to measure student opinion were given. Both tests were repeated at the completion of the course. Popham reports that both groups had increased performance on the achievement tests; there was no significant difference between them. There was no significant difference on reactions to the courses. However, the opinions of the tape-lecture sections were generally favorable towards the technique.

In a similar study, Menne, Klingenschmidt, and Nord (1969) provided taped lectures, tape recorders, and printed notes to 209 college students. Another 408 students attended regular lectures. Overall, there was no significant difference, but students in the lowest quartile showed an advantage in the tape condition. Also the dropout rate was lower with the students using tape.

As a result of the interest in taped instruction, the National Center for Audio Tapes (NCAT) was established in 1955 and was known popularly as the National Tape Repository (DeKieffer, 1973). The repository originated at Kent State University and by 1960 housed approximately 2,000 titles. The NCAT was moved to the University of Colorado in 1960 because of the facilities for high-speed duplication that had been established. A survey of tape duplication facilities by NCAT in 1965 determined that of 350 institutions responding, 223 had tape-duplication libraries. The majority were in institutions of higher learning. In 1973 the NCAT had over 14,000 titles and duplicated more than 17,000 tapes.

In addition to the tape recorder, there was interest in the telephone as an instructional medium. Cutler, McKeachie, and McNeil (1958) conducted a study concerning the relative effectiveness of teaching via the telephone. Two matched groups of 10 were selected. One group was taught elementary psychology in the traditional manner, the other by telephone alone. No text was used, but a list of suggested readings was furnished. The telephone group was connected to a system in which all participants could speak to each other. Gains in knowledge were found in both groups, and there was no significant difference in the gain between the two classes. Although there was evidence of a novelty effect, the method appeared practical. Rao (1977) summarized the limited research on telephone teaching and concluded, "... the research done on the effectiveness of teleteaching indicates that teleteaching is an economical and effective tool" (p. 483).

In conclusion, audiotechnology such as the tape recorder, has been generally shown to be as instructionally effective in conventional teaching. In addition, such technologies lend themselves to special situations. The telephone obviously allows distance education where students are unable to attend classes. In addition, it appears that the tape recorder allows learning while asleep. Although it is difficult to assess the validity of these sleep-learning studies, they point out that auditory media may have applications under conditions when conventional media are not feasible.