A mode comparison study about the effect of tracing on children's poem learning in actual classroom contexts

Research on tracing has predominantly examined instructional materials in science and mathematics, with limited attention to humanities-based content. Moreover, most studies have been conducted in tightly controlled laboratory environments. The narrow focuses may constrain the generalizability of the observed tracing effect.

Guided by the ICAP framework and cognitive load theory, this study investigated the effects of different learning strategies (tracing, reading and drawing) on children's recall, comprehension and cognitive load when studying an ancient Chinese poem, a prototypical form of humanities-based text.

Participants included 93 fifth-grade children recruited from three classes at an elementary school in China.

Classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: tracing, reading or drawing. Using the parallel-mode and cross-mode comparisons in an authentic classroom context, we examined how these strategies influence learning outcomes. During the class, children were instructed to learn an ancient Chinese poem. Afterwards, their recall accuracy, comprehension accuracy and cognitive load were assessed. Data analyses were conducted using (generalized) linear mixed-effects models.

Results indicated that the tracing class outperformed the reading class in recall accuracy, which exceeded the drawing class. Similarly, the tracing class demonstrated superior comprehension accuracy compared to both the reading and drawing classes. However, no significant differences were observed across classes in extraneous or intrinsic cognitive load.

These findings provide support for the potential value of tracing (but not drawing) in children's poetry education.