Do alternating-color words facilitate reading aloud text in Chinese? Evidence with developing and adult readers

First Online: 12 June 2017Prior research has shown that colors induce perceptual grouping and, hence, colors can be used as word dividers during reading (Pinna & Deiana, 2014). This issue is particularly important for those writing systems that do not employ interword spaces (e.g., Chinese). The rationale is that alternating colors across words in these scripts may facilitate the process of word identification without altering the spatial distribution of text. Here, we tested whether color alternation across words produces a benefit in a reading-aloud task in native speakers of Chinese. Participants had to read two texts: one with color alternation across words and the other with mono-color words. Experiments 1 and 2 were conducted with adult readers, whereas Experiment 3 was conducted with developing readers (Grade 2 children). Results showed that color information facilitated reading aloud a text for adult readers—restricted to texts containing technical, unfamiliar words (Experiment 2)—and developing readers. We examined the implications of these findings in the context of literacy and vocabulary training.The research reported in this article has been partially supported by Grant PSI2014-53444-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. We thank Raymond Bertram, Tuomo Häikiö, and Simon Liversedge for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article

Effects of interword spacing on native English readers of Chinese as a second language

Interword spacing facilitates English native readers but not native readers of Chinese, a writing system that does not mark word boundaries. L1-English readers of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) could then be facilitated if spacing is added between words in Chinese materials. However, previous studies produced inconsistent results. This study tested the hypothesis that interword spacing facilitates L1-English CSL readers. We used an online multiple-choice gap-filling task to test 12 English CSL readers and 12 Chinese natives reading a series of eight texts of suitable difficulty, written with or without interword spacing. The CSL readers read faster with interword spacing than without, while Chinese native readers were not affected. The interword spacing effect was negatively correlated with measures of reading proficiency. It is argued that interword spacing facilitates CSL readers reading materials of sufficient difficulty by facilitating their lexical parsing. Pedagogical implications are discussed

Chinese Text Presentations and Reading Efficiency

Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese text marks no word demarcation. Previous research inserted word-demarcating spaces into Chinese text but found inconsistent effects on reading efficiency. To address the potential trade-off effects of the additional length caused by inserted spaces, this study introduces color-and-font formatting as a word demarcation. A total of 41 first-language (L1) and English-speaking second-language (L2) Chinese speakers read Chinese text presented in conventional, interword spaced, nonword spaced, interword formatted, and nonword formatted conditions. Participants further answered comprehension questions and shared retrospective perceptions. The results suggest altered text presentations can facilitate reading for L2 Chinese learners in accordance with proficiency levels and learning objectives. Interword spaced text facilitated reading speed, especially for higher-level Chinese learners. Interword formatted text facilitated accuracy for all L2 Chinese learners. Nonword formatted text facilitated accuracy for lower-level Chinese learners. In addition, altered text presentations were generally acknowledged and welcomed by L2 Chinese learners

Investigating oculomotor control during the learning and scanning of character strings

Word spacing plays an important role in both word identification and saccadic targeting in the reading of spaced languages (e.g., English), however, the spacing facilitation is not present when word spacing is added in normally unspaced Chinese text in Chinese native speakers (e.g., Grade-3 children, young adults, old adults). Frequency effects are well-documented in the reading of normal text. However, it remains controversial as to whether frequency effects would occur in non-reading tasks, such as searching for a target in normal text or text-like strings. Furthermore, it is unclear whether spacing would also play an important role in the guidance of eye movement control in text-like string scanning as it does in the reading of spaced languages. In three experiments, the present thesis examined how exposure frequency effects are established during the learning of novel stimuli in a learning session (Landolt-C clusters in Experiment 1 vs. pseudowords in Experiments 2 & 3) and how the simulated exposure frequency would affect the scanning of longer strings with or without boundary demarcation cues (spaced vs. unspaced shaded vs. unspaced) in a scanning session. Importantly, the present thesis investigated whether learning and scanning of novel character strings would be qualified by the stimulus type (Landolt-C vs. English pseudoword) and the population (English native speakers vs. Chinese participants). In Experiment 1, robust interactive effects between exposure frequency and learning blocks (e.g., learning rate effects) occurred during the learning of target stimuli. However, the exposure frequency effects did not carry over to the scanning session. Robust spacing effects occurred. Spacing facilitated eye movements to a greater degree than the shading manipulation. In Experiments 2 & 3, again, robust learning rate effects occurred in learning target pseudowords. The exposure frequency was simulated successfully and effectively during learning, however, the exposure frequency showed no influence on eye movements in the scanning session. The meta-analysis across the three experiments demonstrated that learning was more effective using pseudoword stimuli relative to Landolt- C stimuli, and more effective in Chinese participants than English participants. Generally, the degree of shading facilitation was much smaller in the scanning of Landolt-C strings compared to pseudoword strings and it was smaller for English participants relative to Chinese participants. The constant occurrence of learning rate effects across experiments suggests the replicability and reliability of the current character learning paradigm. Spacing facilitation constantly occurred in scanning either Landolt-C strings or pseudoword strings, indicating that spacing plays an important role in non-reading string scanning tasks. The absence of exposure frequency effects in the scanning session across three experiments seems to suggest that exposure frequency effects might not occur in string scanning when the task is to search for a pre-learnt target in the string. The differential pattern of shading and spacing facilitation between Chinese participants and English participants suggests an influence from the writing system of the native language on eye movements in the current string scanning

Anaphoric resolution of zero pronouns in Chinese in translation and reading comprehension

The primary aim of the thesis is to investigate some of the processes of reading Chinese text by means of comparing and analysing approximately 100 parallel translations of four texts from Chinese to English. The translations are answers to A Level examination questions. The focus of the investigation is interpretation of the zero pronoun, a common phenomenon in Chinese, which often requires explicitation when translated into English. The secondary aim is to show how translation gives evidence of comprehension, as shown by the variation in interpretation of zero pronouns. The thesis reviews relevant psycholinguistic research into reading, particularly reading of Chinese text. This is followed by reviews of relevant research into translation as a reading activity, and a discussion of its role in language teaching and testing.The core of the thesis is the discussion of the zero pronoun in Chinese, including discussion of anaphoric choice - the writer's decision on when to use zero in preference to an explicit anaphoric form - and of anaphoric resolution - how a reader decides what a zero pronoun refers to. Anaphoric resolution may be problematic for less experienced readers of Chinese owing to its lack of rich morphological inflection which, in other languages, provides the reader with information. Some of the key ideas on anaphoric choice and resolution are then applied to the analysis of the data in the parallel translations. It would appear that factors in Chinese texts which have an effect on comprehending zero pronouns are antecedent distance, topic persistence, abstraction, multiplicity of arguments and the meaning of the verb. Characteristics of the reader which may affect comprehension of the zero pronoun include personal schemata which may lead to elaborative inferences. On the basis of the data I suggest that mark schemes could be devised on a scalar system encompassing optimal solution, proximal solution and nonsolution, which might help to solve the problem of variability in marking translation.A by-product of the thesis, and an avenue for further research, is the apparent close relationship between idea units, clause length, punctuation breaks and antecedent distance in Chinese texts and saccade length and working memory capacity in the reader of Chinese

An informatics system for exploring eye movements in reading

Eye tracking techniques have been widely used in many research areas including cognitive science, psychology, human-computer interaction, marketing research, medical research etc. Many computer programs have emerged to help these researchers to design experiments, present visual stimuli and process the large quantity of numerical data produced by the eye tracker. However, most applications, especially commercial products, are designed for a particular tracking device and tend to be general purpose. Few of them are designed specifically for reading research. This can be inconvenient when dealing with complex experimental design, multi-source data collection, and text based data analysis, including almost every aspect of a reading study lifecycle. A flexible and powerful system that manages the lifecycle of different reading studies is required to fulfill these demands. Therefore, we created an informatics system with two major software suites: Experiment Executor and EyeMap. It is a system designed specifically for reading research. Experiment Executor helps reading researchers build complex experimental environments, which can rapidly present display changes and support the co-registration of eye tracking information with other data collection devices such as EEG (electroencephalography) amplifiers. The EyeMap component helps researchers visualize and analysis a wide range of writing systems including spaced and unspaced scripts, which can be presented in proportional or non-proportional font types. The aim of the system is to accelerate the life cycle of a reading experiment from design through analysis. Several experiments were conducted on this system. These experiments confirmed the effectiveness and the capability of the system with several new reading research findings from the visual information processing stages of reading

Graphic organizers, activity, and the positioning of language and learners: An ethnographic case study

There were two main purposes for this research and one parallel purpose. One main purpose was to investigate how learners of English in an EFL/ESL context, who were also teachers of English and/or learning to be teachers of English, perceived and responded to different types of graphic organizers and associated activities. These graphic organizers and activities were presented at a university in Northern Thailand through an advanced reading comprehension course for preservice and inservice teachers taught by the primary researcher. The second main purpose was to explore, synthesize, and apply theories of mediated activity and research methods originating from or related to the work of the famous Russian troika of Vygotsky, Leont\u27ev, and Luria. The parallel purpose was to provide the participants with an insider\u27s perspective on qualitative case-study research that investigated their interactions and learning/teaching contexts. Participants in this study were nine MATEFL (Master of Arts (MA) in Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students from China, the Netherlands, Turkey, the U.S., and Thailand. The overall research design was an interpretive, ethnographic case study. Within this research design principles of Vygotsky\u27s developmental method were used (i.e., genetic method). Data collected included interviews, ethnographic fieldnotes of the participants\u27 use of graphic organizers in their teaching contexts, graphic organizers generated by the participants, and video and audio data of classroom interactions; The results were divided into three sections. Principles of Vygotsky\u27s developmental approach were primarily used for the first two sections. These microgenetic analyses revealed the intersubjective and interwoven nature of gesture and graphic representations as these were used to mediate content knowledge. The third section of the Results provided a broader view of the nine participants\u27 engagement with graphic organizers. Participants were found to have distinctive styles and preferences for different graphic organizers. Distinctive styles and preferences were related to the participants\u27 communities of teaching and learning practice. Findings have implications for learning English as a second or foreign language, literacy, teacher education, multicultural and cross-cultural education, and non-verbal speech. Moreover, the research design and theoretical lens were presented as appropriate for investigating language and literacy contexts

The Nature of Writing – A Theory of Grapholinguistics [book cover]

Cover illustration: Purgatory: Canto VII – The Rule of the Mountain from A Typographic Dante (2008) by Barrie Tullett (also displayed in Barrie Tullett, Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology, London: Laurence King Publishing, 2014, p. 167). With kind permission by Barrie Tullett. The text is taken from Dante. The Divine Comedy, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers, Harmondsworth­Middlesex: The Penguin Classics, 1949. On the lower part of the illustration, one can read the concluding verses of the Canto: But now the poet was going on before; “Forward!” said he; “look how the sun doth stand Meridian­high, while on the Western shore Night sets her foot upon Morocco’s strand.

Hypertext versus Footnotes: High School English Learners’ Online Reading Recall

This study considers forty adolescent English Language Learners who read a passage online containing additional information available through either hypertext links or footnotes. Participants were attending a special high school for English learners at the time of the study. Two versions of the text were offered, one with hypertext and the other with footnotes, and participants were randomly assigned to the footnote or hypertext condition. Answers to multiple choice questions showed no significant difference between groups in recall of the reading under the two conditions, in contrast with an earlier study of learners in higher education settings whose recall of reading with hypertext was significantly lower than with footnotes. Learners’ ratings of perceived comprehensibility of the 2 texts was also not significantly different. Additional interpretive data came from focus group interviews involving all of the participants