A Visual Interactive Reading System Based on Eye Tracking Technology to Improve Digital Reading Performance

Abstract

Developing attention-aware systems and interfaces based on eye tracking technology could revolutionize mainstream human-computer interaction to make that interaction between human beings and computers more effective and immersive than can be achieved traditionally using a computer mouse. This study proposes an eye-controlled interactive reading system (ECIRS) that uses human eyes instead of the traditional mouse to control digital text to support screen-based digital reading. This study uses a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of an experimental group and a control group of learners who respectively used the ECIRS and a mouse-controlled interactive reading system (MCIRS) to support their reading of two types of English-language text online - pure text and Q & A type articles. Analytical results reveal that the reading comprehension of learners in the experimental group significantly exceeded that of those in the control group for the Q & A article, but the difference was insignificant for the pure text article. Moreover, the ECIRS improved the reading comprehension of field-independent learners more than it did that of field-dependent learners. Clearly, the proposed ECIRS supports deeper digital reading than does the MCIRS.