Abstract
This study explores the psycholinguistic dimensions of school signage within a private academic institution in Midsayap, North Cotabato, focusing on how multimodal signs influence cognitive processing among students. Grounded in the concepts of Cognitive Load Theory and Schema Theory, the study investigates how signage materials' textual and visual elements impact understanding, retention, and interpretation, especially among second language (L2) learners in a multilingual environment. Employing a descriptive-qualitative design, the study uses a document-based analysis of 15 school signages selected based on ecolinguistic relevance, including themes on environmental awareness, health promotion, and social behavior. The Linguistic Landscape framework was used to classify the signage into top-down, bottom-up, and mixed-source categories. The levels of element interactivity and necessary schema activation were then examined. The results showed that most signs had a top-down layout and varied in their level of cognitive complexity. While high interactivity indications presented a risk of cognitive overload in the absence of helpful design cues, low interactivity signs were easily understood. The study emphasizes the significance of creating educational signage that aligns with students' cognitive abilities and past knowledge. Thematic categorization revealed three dominant schema domains: Environmental and Civic Responsibility, Behavioral and Social Norms, and Health and Hygiene Literacy. It recommends that to improve sign comprehension, especially in linguistically and culturally diverse environments, school administrators and designers consider both cognitive load and schema accessibility. This aims not only to produce visually pleasing signage materials but also to create less cognitive load, facilitating faster understanding and, ideally, immediate compliance and necessary actions upon reading the materials.
