The use of clickers to assess knowledge in foreign language classes and their failure to increase reading compliance

This is the first quantitative research on reading compliance in FL courses. It investigated the effect of clickers on learning gains for regularly assigned readings, determined by 16 quiz grades during a semester. 38 intermediate L2 Spanish students assigned to two group conditions also completed a questionnaire at the end of the semester about their preparedness for the quizzes and their opinions about the use of clickers. Results indicated that participants in the Clicker condition obtained significantly lower grades in the quizzes than those in the Paper and Pencil one, despite clickers receiving positive feedback and comments, and even though students in the Clicker condition reported preparing for class more often than those in the Paper and Pencil condition.