The Influence of Format Readability on Children’s Reading Speed and Comprehension
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Format Readability Research
1.1.1. Format Readability in Adults
1.1.2. Format Readability Research in Children
1.2. Conceptual Framework
1.3. Study Aims
Research Question 1: What is the effect of font and spacing on reading speed (words per minute)?
Research Question 2: Is there a speed–comprehension tradeoff for students’ best fitting font and spacing variations? In other words, is comprehension performance significantly lower for passages in which a student has the highest WPM?
2. Method
2.1. Participants
2.2. Measures
2.3. Procedure
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Research Question 1: What Is the Influence of Font and Spacing on Reading Speed (WPM)?
Spacing
3.2. Research Question 2: Is There a Speed–Comprehension Tradeoff for Students’ Best Fitting Font and Spacing Variations? In Other Words, Is Comprehension Performance Significantly Lower for Passages in Which a Student Has the Highest WPM?
4. Discussion
4.1. Limitations
4.2. Implications for Future Research
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Passage ID | Lexile Range | Word Count | Title |
---|---|---|---|
0 | 1010 L–1200 L | 297 | The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy |
1 | 1010 L–1200 L | 299 | White Fang |
2 | 410 L–600 L | 294 | The Story of Doctor Dolittle |
3 | 610 L–800 L | 300 | The Secret Garden |
4 | 810 L–1000 L | 301 | Grimms’ Fairy Tales: 12 Princesses |
5 | 1010 L–1200 L | 300 | The Farmer and the Badger |
6 | 810 L–1000 L | 303 | The Tale of Cuffy Bear |
7 | 610 L–800 L | 301 | Raggedy Ann |
8 | 610 L–800 L | 299 | Peter Pan |
10 | 810 L–1000 L | 299 | The Secret Garden |
11 | 810 L–1000 L | 301 | Peter Pan |
Min. | Max. | M | SD | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fastest Font Words Per Minute | 81.75 | 497.75 | 243.19 | 102.76 |
Font Clash Words Per Minute | 51.50 | 268.25 | 142.18 | 51.60 |
Comprehension % Font Fit | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.61 | 0.32 |
Comprehension % Font Clash | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.65 | 0.28 |
ARF-C Comprehension Total % | 0.27 | 0.93 | 0.65 | 0.14 |
WPM Difference between Fastest and Slowest Font | 23.75 | 345.00 | 101.00 | 75.82 |
Fastest Spacing WPM | 106.75 | 490.25 | 243.79 | 99.50 |
Slowest Spacing WPM | 56.00 | 352.50 | 161.63 | 66.22 |
Full ARF-C WPM | 18.50 | 311.80 | 170.12 | 78.81 |
Font Passages Only WPM | 68.16 | 340.64 | 181.16 | 63.16 |
Spacing Passages Only WPM | 89.08 | 401.58 | 201.86 | 77.36 |
Font/Spacing | Mean WPM | SD | Passage | Mean WPM | SD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Georgia | 176.171 | 66.472 | 0 | 178.293 | 78.018 |
Poppins | 178.735 | 78.771 | 1 | 185.538 | 88.887 |
Times | 182.485 | 80.286 | 2 | 155.765 | 58.569 |
Arial | 185.127 | 67.004 | 3 | 184.141 | 76.322 |
Merriweather | 173.196 | 68.282 | 4 | 170.681 | 66.433 |
Roboto | 194.650 | 86.204 | 5 | 198.824 | 73.662 |
Open Sans | 182.299 | 84.651 | 6 | 174.485 | 61.096 |
Source Serif Pro | 172.259 | 63.249 | 7 | 207.361 | 84.957 |
Narrow Spacing | 204.229 | 88.186 | 8 | 180.931 | 67.681 |
Normal Spacing | 197.903 | 95.084 | 10 | 181.631 | 76.932 |
Wide Spacing | 203.465 | 82.924 | 11 | 169.583 | 78.737 |
Parameter | Estimate | Std. Error | df | t | p-Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intercept | 99.530 | 15.411 | 184.202 | 6.458 | <0.001 |
Georgia | 2.489 | 6.048 | 329.824 | 0.412 | 0.682 |
Poppins | 7.054 | 7.545 | 329.902 | 0.935 | 0.353 |
Times New Roman | 12.108 | 8.067 | 331.926 | 1.501 | 0.137 |
Arial | 16.792 | 7.445 | 329.752 | 2.255 | 0.027 |
Merriweather | 1.350 | 7.478 | 329.621 | 0.180 | 0.857 |
Roboto | 23.281 | 10.486 | 329.630 | 2.220 | 0.030 |
Open Sans | 7.626 | 8.337 | 329.656 | 0.915 | 0.363 |
Source Serif Pro | −2.363 | 8.623 | 329.818 | −0.274 | 0.784 |
Passage 0 | 5.002 | 9.204 | 332.119 | 0.544 | 0.587 |
Passage 1 | 1.062 | 8.864 | 332.950 | 0.120 | 0.905 |
Passage 2 | 1.045 | 9.258 | 332.230 | 0.113 | 0.910 |
Passage 3 | 16.010 | 8.614 | 331.607 | 1.859 | 0.064 |
Passage 4 | 10.145 | 8.921 | 333.928 | 1.137 | 0.256 |
Passage 5 | 29.258 | 9.214 | 332.618 | 3.175 | 0.002 |
Passage 6 | −0.086 | 9.159 | 332.368 | −0.009 | 0.993 |
Passage 7 | 41.395 | 8.718 | 332.490 | 4.748 | <0.001 |
Passage 8 | 12.320 | 8.783 | 332.479 | 1.403 | 0.162 |
Passage 10 | 13.843 | 8.416 | 331.656 | 1.645 | 0.101 |
Passage 11 | −7.414 | 9.043 | 332.221 | −0.738 | 0.461 |
Average WPM Across ARF-C | 0.320 | 0.059 | 124.915 | 5.438 | <0.001 |
Estimate | Std. Error | t | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
(Constant) | 98.492 | 11.605 | 8.487 | <0.001 |
Grade Level | −13.804 | 15.675 | −0.881 | 0.386 |
MAP Growth RIT Score | −0.279 | 1.201 | −0.232 | 0.818 |
Average WPM ARF-C | 0.523 | 0.119 | 4.408 | <0.001 |
ARF-C Total Comprehension % | −59.435 | 97.372 | −0.61 | 0.546 |
Estimate | SE | t | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
(Constant) | 0.648 | 0.022 | 29.79 | <0.001 |
MAP Growth RIT Score | 0.007 | 0.002 | 3.98 | <0.001 |
Mean ARF-C WPM | 0 | 0 | 1.321 | 0.196 |
Grade | −0.043 | 0.028 | −1.501 | 0.144 |
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Day, S.L.; Atilgan, N.; Giroux, A.E.; Sawyer, B.D. The Influence of Format Readability on Children’s Reading Speed and Comprehension. Educ. Sci. 2024, 14, 854. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080854
Day SL, Atilgan N, Giroux AE, Sawyer BD. The Influence of Format Readability on Children’s Reading Speed and Comprehension. Education Sciences. 2024; 14(8):854. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080854
Chicago/Turabian StyleDay, Stephanie L., Nilsu Atilgan, Amy E. Giroux, and Ben D. Sawyer. 2024. "The Influence of Format Readability on Children’s Reading Speed and Comprehension" Education Sciences 14, no. 8: 854. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080854
APA StyleDay, S. L., Atilgan, N., Giroux, A. E., & Sawyer, B. D. (2024). The Influence of Format Readability on Children’s Reading Speed and Comprehension. Education Sciences, 14(8), 854. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080854