Eye Movements in Primary Schoolchildren with Different Levels of Reading Skills

Abstract

We studied the reading skills in primary schoolchildren (8–9 years of age) using the neuropsychological and eye tracking methods. We analyzed possible correlations between the level of reading skills and the preferred reading strategy with the features of eye movements and the cognitive function of children. The study involved 46 third-graders. Their reading skill was evaluated using the words with regular and irregular spelling. Based on a cluster analysis of reading performance, these children were divided into four groups according to the level and quality of reading development. Group 1 read all types of words well enough; group 2 read well regular words and slightly worse irregular words; children from groups 3 and 4 read regular words at a satisfactory level, while irregular words were read significantly worse than regular ones in group 3 and were not read by group 4 children. An eye tracking study allowed us to suggest that children with good reading skills are more likely to use the lexical strategy, and children with relatively poor reading skills use the sublexical strategy, which is more available to them. Moreover, analysis of the individual differences in poor readers showed that some of them were also able to recruit lexical strategy in the reading process.