Researchers across many fields have called for greater attention to heterogeneity of treatment effects--shifting focus from the average effect to variation in effects between different treatments, studies, or subgroups. True heterogeneity is important, but many reports of heterogeneity have proved to be false, non-replicable, or exaggerated. In…

Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research is of both theoretical and practical interest to second language (L2) learning, since it provides insights into the processes linking learner-internal individual difference factors and learner-external contextual variables including instructional approach--variables that jointly determine L2 outcomes.…

Research on aptitude-instructional treatment interactions has shown that the relation of general ability to learning tends to increase as instruction places increased information processing burdens on learners and to decrease as instruction is designed to reduce the information processing demands on learners. This report summarizes a research…

The author proposes that Guilford's structure-of-intellect model be used as a starting point for researchers studying the interaction of instructional media attributes with individual differences in cognitive variables. (BD)

Two studies investigated whether instructing students to organize recall would differentially facilitate performance of "fast" and "slow" learners (defined from pretest recall performance). Instructions to employ alphabetic organization facilated performance of both groups to the same extent, whereas categorical organization facilitated slow…

Fourteen studies were reviewed whose findings indicate that learner control of certain presentation characteristics interacts with certain learner characteristics. Thus, learner control is not a panacea for accomodating individual differences. Instead, some kinds of individual differences probably should be taken into account by teachers and…

Three functions that might explain why analogies are effective reading aids are described. Six experiments using elementary, secondary, and college students are reported which address the use of analogies as reading aids. Performance improvement, reading time, effects of restrictive time conditions, and aptitude treatment interactions are…

The theoretical and methodological concepts for research on aptitudes as cognitive processes are discussed. Individual differences constructs are reviewed in relation to cognitive processing models, and studies of short-term memory are reviewed. A coordinated approach to the study of aptitude as information processing is recommended. (Author/RD)

Reading comprehension and vocabulary scores, and verbal and nonverbal IQ were significantly related to both simultaneous and successive processing ability in fourth grade Canadian boys. High levels of both types of processing ability are necessary for high achievement; high levels of one type only will result in moderate achievement. (Author/GDC)

In the area of aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) research, an outcome variable which has received relatively little attention is differential student learning times, or students' relative learning efficiency on one treatment as opposed to another. Although it has been argued that learning times are not appropriate variables for evaluating…

Research investigated three topics. These were: 1) the effect of paragraph organization on free recall of sentences and on the selection of clustering strategies; 2) how persons differing in subjective organization differ on recall and strategy selection; and 3) the relation between subjective organization and other cognitive abilities. Three…

Learning styles represent a type of aptitude-treatment interaction suggesting that a person's distinctive characteristics (aptitudes) can be matched to a specific treatment (instructional method) yielding a more effective outcome than could otherwise have been achieved. Special education research does not support categorizing youngsters or using…

The effects of elaboration instructions and imagery characteristics of verbal material on learning of Malay--English word pairs were investigated, as well as the moderating effects of individual differences. Results reflect aptitude X treatment interactions and the importance of individual differences in planning instructional methods. (Author/JAC)

Discusses the problems involved in matching differences between learners and differences between different types of media to improve the learning process. Thirty-eight references are cited. (CHC)

In order to examine the influence of interactive media on children's story memory, first-grade children experienced a computer-based story in one of four presentation modes, two of which were interactive. In the interaction groups, there was no relation between the amount of interaction with the story and subsequent memory. (Author)