The effects of observing, imagining, and imitating the instructor’s depictive gestures on learning from instructional videos

Abstract

The instructor’s depictive gestures in instructional videos are beneficial for learning, and learning strategies are crucial to make full use of them. This study adopted a within-subjects design to investigate the effects of learning strategies (i.e., observing, imagining, and imitating the instructor’s depictive gestures) on learning from instructional videos (i.e., learning performance, cognitive load, learning efficiency, learning satisfaction, and attention allocation). The repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed that when using imitation strategy, students showed the best learning performance, learning efficiency, and satisfaction. The Friedman tests results showed that when using imagination and imitation strategies, students’ attention was distracted by the instructor. Additionally, spatial ability played a moderation role in transfer performance. The results lead to a strong recommendation for educational practice when using instructional videos: (1) when watching videos with the instructor’s depictive gestures, students are encouraged to use imitation strategy in preference to imagination strategy, and passive observation is not recommended; and (2) low-spatial-ability students are encouraged to use active learning strategies (i.e., imagining and imitating the instructor’s depictive gestures) to improve transfer performance.