Interacting with e-text in multimedia formats by ESB and NESB students

The work reported in this paper is a work-in-progress. For several years, online learning has been widely used within the Australian higher education system. As a cognitive tool, each individual media employed within a multimedia context, has its influence on learners' academic achievement. Moreover, the number of students from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) studying' in Australia has increased. English as a foreign language creates a critical challenge in comprehending learning materials. In this respect, students of English-speaking background (ESB) and NESB will perform differently. This study aims to evaluate the role that cognitive processes play in .interacting with hypertexts with different media links (namely, text, audio, images, animation, and video) in an authentic learning environment. The study will also compare the ability of ESB and NESB students to comprehend, hypertexts, and discuss further some basic reasons related to human cognitive style, which will probably affect students' performance within the instructional multimedia contexts