Etude de l'utilisation du récit dans les hypermédias de vulgarisation
(2012)
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- Abstract
- (en) This research is based on two observations. First, a lot of knowledge is communicated with narrative or using narrative references (like quest, characters, etc..), especially in science popularization or non-formal education. The supporting role of narrative for memorization is well known. Different theories also postulate that narrative may also be a larger cognitive support, but few works showed it empirically. On the other hand, non-formal education often uses digital interactive media, while maintaining their reference to the narrative world. However interactivity and nonlinearity radically disrupt the traditional narrative models. This raises two questions: how work non-linear narratives? How non-linear narrative may transmit a knowledge domain? In this research, educational media is defined in terms of understanding: constructing a mental model of the knowledge domain following a mechanism based on the model of text comprehension of Teun Van Dijk and Walter Kintsch. With this model and David Herman’s work on cognitive narratology, the research proposes a model of educative narrative processing where the storyworld is the basis for understanding the domain knowledge. Research assumptions are based on this model. These assumptions concern the effects of the narrative, the kind of interaction between the diegetic universe and the knowledge domain, the hypertextual structure, and the impact of characters’ role on the understanding of the knowledge domain. These hypotheses are tested in two quasi-experimental studies conducted on a total sample of 300 children completing primary school. Children had first to read an educational story (whether linear or non-linear), and their representations of the diegetic universe and the knowledge domain were evaluated using questionnaires. Data processing was done by quali-quantitative methods. The results show that, consistently with what is reported in the literature, narrative serves as cognitive support for certain operations. Narrative is favoring richer and more contextualized representations of the knowledge domain concepts. However, the results do not show that users consider alternative hypertext possibilities as relevant inputs for processing the educational narrative. Similarly, the role played by the characters in relation to hyperlinks does not affect representations constructed by the children. These two results lead us to consider critically the interest of developing interactive narratives to teach complex knowledge’s. The research also concludes that the distinctions of interactions between diegetic universe and knowledge domain are really interesting for speculative analysis, but they require further study to be fully seated empirically. The research concludes with a critical perspective on the methodology and results produced, including highlighting the possible effects of not-considered or neutralized variables (such as the motivational effect of narrative). Developing a real "empirical narratology" appears necessary for a better understanding and control of educational narrative mechanisms.
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Campion, B. (2012). Etude de l’utilisation du récit dans les hypermédias de vulgarisation. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/160386