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Version 1.3 – Updated November 2024

Underlining and highlighting

Overview

  • Influence: Underlining and highlighting
  • Domain: Student Learning Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Learning strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: This involves underlining or highlighting the main ideas, or how ideas are related, and aims to help the reader with recall and seeing the links between parts of the text.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 4
  • Number of studies: 152
  • Number of students: 2,070
  • Number of effects: 254
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.44
  • Robustness index: 3

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author First Author's Country Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Nature: Science of Learning Hattie & Donoghue Australia Learning strategies: A synthesis and conceptual model 2016 Underlining 56 2,070 56 0.44
Educational Psychology Review Ponce, Mayer, & Méndez USA Effects of Learner-Generated Highlighting and Instructor-Provided Highlighting on Learning from Text: A Meta-Analysis 2022 Learner highlighting 36 0 85 0.36
Educational Research Review Dignath, Buettner, & Langfeldt USA How can primary school students learn self-regulated learning strategies most effectively?: A meta-analysis on self-regulation training programmes. 2022 Teacher highlighting 36 0 85 0.44
Conference paper Bisra, Marzouk, Guloy, & Winne Canada A meta-analysis of the effects of highlighting or underlining while studying 2014 Underlining and highlighting 24 0 28 0.55
TOTAL/AVERAGE 152 2,070 254 0.45
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