Children’s comprehension processes and outcomes across different media formats: A think-aloud study comparing expository texts and videos

This study compared the comprehension processes and outcomes of 81 fourth-grade children when understanding expository texts and videos. All children were instructed to think-aloud while reading two texts and watching two videos, providing insight into their comprehension processes. Comprehension outcomes were measured with open-ended questions after each text and video. Results showed no significant differences in comprehension outcomes and underlying processes for text and video. Additional latent profile analyses identified four different comprehension profiles based on children’s think-aloud responses, which were very similar for text and video. We found that 69% of children fell in the same profile in the text and video condition, suggesting that the majority of children tended to use a similar approach for understanding different media. To conclude, our findings provide empirical support for a unitary process view by showing that comprehension of our texts and videos was associated with similar cognitive processes.