Teach and/or support learning
How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)
The modality effect is about how learning improves when you pair visuals (like diagrams) with spoken words instead of written ones. This works because our brains have separate systems for visual and verbal information. If both text and pictures are shown visually, it can overload students. Narration helps balance the load. This is especially important when students can't pause or rewind — like in fast-paced videos or live presentations.
Narrated visuals improve learning more than visual-only presentations under system-paced conditions ➕➕➕ (Ginns, 2005). The effect shrinks when students control the pace or when text is short and simple. Reinwein (2012) confirmed the effect but warned it's often overestimated due to publication bias, with the true effect closer to small ➕➕. The benefits are clearer in complex tasks and fade when learners are experienced or reading is easy. Hu et al. (2021) added that representational and organisational visuals also improve accuracy (g = 0.24 to 0.52) and confidence, suggesting modality is part of a broader multimedia benefit.
This summary is based on three meta-analyses. Ginns (2005) included 43 effects and found a large effect of narration with visuals (d = 0.72), especially when learners couldn't control the pace. Reinwein (2012) re-analysed 86 effects and found a smaller, but still positive, corrected effect (d = 0.20). Hu et al. (2021) analysed 51 studies and showed modest multimedia benefits in problem-solving settings (accuracy g = 0.32, certainty g = 0.74). All three studies used robust methods and are rated high (++++) for quality.
Ginns, P. (2005). Meta-analysis of the modality effect. Learning and Instruction, 15(4), 313–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.07.001
Hu, Y., Ginns, P., & Bobis, J. (2021). Effects of visual representations on mathematics problem solving: A meta-analysis of intervention studies. Educational Psychology Review, 33(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09610-z
Reinwein, J. (2012). Does the modality effect exist? And if so, which modality effect? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 41(1), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-011-9180-4
Noetel, M., Griffith, S., Delaney, O., Harris, N. R., Sanders, T., Parker, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., & Lonsdale, C. (2022). Multimedia design for learning: An overview of reviews with meta-meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 92(3), 413-454. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543211052329
