Reading Behavior Research Articles

Measurement invariance of the English reading motivational structure of bilingual and multilingual university students

Self-related beliefs can influence language learning motivation. In turn, reading motivation can facilitate self-related beliefs in influencing English reading comprehension (ERC). Additionally, past language learning experience affects future language learning. Thus, this study examined the motivational structure in English reading of 1170 first-year students of 13 universities from nine Indonesian provinces (Mage = 19.3, SD = 0.85). Data were collected at one measurement point using the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire to measure reading self-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation (IM); a four-item self-concept questionnaire; the English Reading Behavior Questionnaire, and an ERC. The study developed and evaluated two hypothesized models on the moderating role of past second language (L2) learning experience. The results of structural equation modeling corroborated the moderating influence of being bilingual and multilingual learners on the motivational variables, although not each of the expected paths fit the model. Among the variables, intrinsic motivation exerted the highest effect on the ERC of Indonesian university students. A difference analysis using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the motivational variables between the two groups demonstrated that multilingual groups outperformed the bilingual group in nearly all motivational variables. The results implied that categorizing students according to their previous learning experience with a foreign language can help teachers to prioritize their teaching to improve the reading comprehension achievement of students.

Using the grouping function of machine learning algorithm to reduce the influence of information avoidance tendency during reading behavior

Information avoidance has been studied in medicine, economics, and psychology, and has recently been discussed in educational technology. In this study, the authors developed a grouping method to reduce students’ information avoidance in reading through group work. This two-step group method includes the k-means and genetic algorithm to explore the grouping method based on students’ marking tendencies. To examine the effect of this method, an experiment was conducted in a web-system development course with 33 graduate students. The results showed that information avoidance occurred less in the experimental group than in the control group. The students of the two-step grouping method evaluated group work as more helpful for their study than the students who attended the usual group work.

Statistical characteristics of comic panel viewing times

Comics are a bimodal form of art involving a mixture of text and images. Since comics require a combination of various cognitive processes to comprehend their contents, the analysis of human comic reading behavior sheds light on how humans process such bimodal forms of media. In this paper, we particularly focus on the viewing times of each comic panel as a quantitative measure of attention, and analyze the statistical characteristics of the distributions of comic panel viewing times. We create a user interface that presents comics in a panel-wise manner, and measure the viewing times of each panel through a user study experiment. We collected data from 18 participants reading 7 comic book volumes resulting in over 99,000 viewing time data points, which will be released publicly. The results show that the average viewing times are proportional to the text length contained in the panel’s speech bubbles, with a rate of proportion differing for each reader, despite the bimodal setting. Additionally, we find that the viewing time for all users follows a common heavy-tailed distribution.

Assessing the Effect of Programming Language and Task Type On Eye Movements of Computer Science Students

Background and Context: Understanding how a student programmer solves different task types in different programming languages is essential to understanding how we can further improve teaching tools to support students to be industry-ready when they graduate. It also provides insight into students’ thought processes in different task types and languages. Few (if any) studies investigate whether any differences exist between the reading and navigation behavior while completing different types of tasks in different programming languages. Objectives: We investigate whether the use of a certain programming language (C++ vs. Python) and type of task (new feature vs. bug fixing) has an impact on performance and eye movement behavior in students exposed to both languages and task types. Participants: Fourteen students were recruited from a Python course that taught Python as an introductory programming language. Study Method: An eye tracker was used to track how student programmers navigate and view source code in different programming languages for different types of tasks. The students worked in the Geany IDE (used also in their course) while eye tracking data was collected behind the scenes making their working environment realistic compared to prior studies. Each task type had a Python and C++ version, albeit on different problems to avoid learning effects. Standard eye tracking metrics of fixation count and fixation durations were calculated on various areas of the screen and on source code lines. Normalized versions of these metrics were used to compare across languages and tasks. Findings: We found that the participants had significantly longer average fixation duration and total fixation duration adjusted for source code length during bug fixing tasks than the feature addition tasks, indicating bug fixing is harder. Furthermore, participants looked at lines adjacent to the line containing the bug more often before looking at the buggy line itself. Participants who added a new feature correctly made their first edit earlier compared to those who failed to add the feature. Tasks in Python and C++ have similar overall fixation duration and counts when adjusted for character count. The participants spent more time fixating on the console output while doing Python tasks. Overall, task type has a bigger effect on the overall fixation duration and count compared to the programming language. Conclusions: CS educators can better support students in debugging their code if they know what they typically look at while bug fixing. For new feature tasks, training students not to fear edits to learn about the code could also be actively taught and encouraged in the classroom. CS education researchers can benefit by building better IDE plugins and tools based on eye movements that guide novices in recognizing bugs and aid in adding features. These results will lead to updating prior theories on mental models in program comprehension of how developers read and understand source code. They will eventually help in designing better programming languages and better methods of teaching programming based on evidence on how developers use them.

Digital Storytelling Video Analysis for Improving Digital Material Reading Practices (NILAM): A Case Study

One way to help students improve their digital reading skills is through a digital story video. The fact that students are starting to prefer digital reading materials is a good sign because it shows that they are keeping up with modern technology. Therefore, this study aims to analyze digital storytelling videos to improve the practice of reading digital materials (NILAM). The design of this study is qualitatively using document analysis and semi-structured interviews as a method of data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three study participants to examine the Reading Incentive Planning and Activity Report and school-level NILAM data. The findings imply that digital narrative videos can enhance reading behaviors. Via reading-promoting school activities, students have also been introduced to digitalization activities. Revising the school-based reading program (NILAM), this digital storytelling film can improve the practice of reading digital content. This study is expected to further expand digital storytelling videos by diversifying digital reading materials and improving the practice of reading digital materials (NILAM).

Adolescents’ Reading Motivation: Which Dimensions?

What lies behind reading behaviors? What dimensions form the construct of adolescent reading motivation, and how can these dimensions be measured? What is the role of the school library in recognizing, describing, and acting on these drives? A recent survey of 1,500 Italian students led to the emergence of interesting perspectives from which to approach the topic, including the availability of a new psychometric scale for measuring reading motivation.

The persistence of print books: exploring language preference and format preference among Arabic-speaking library patrons in Jordan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons behind the persistent preference for printed content among Arabic-speaking library patrons in Jordan. Specifically, this study highlights the availability of reading materials in print, electronic and audible formats in Arabic as an intervening factor shaping reading behavior. More broadly, it aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how language preference can impact reading format preferences. Design/methodology/approach This study’s research design revolves around understanding reading format preferences among registered members of Jordan’s largest and oldest private library. This approach involved the examination of secondary library user survey data collected from N = 313 of its patrons in 2022. To gain a greater understanding of the preference for printed materials, this study conducted semistructured interviews over the phone with n = 31 participants of the library’s survey. Findings The findings of this study indicate a strong preference for print books among Arabic-speaking library patrons in Jordan. However, the availability of content in electronic and audible formats in Arabic, their preferred reading language, emerged as a potentially significant factor in the persistent preference for printed reading materials. Originality/value This study offers new insights into the specific role that the availability of content in Arabic, and possibly languages other than English, may play in shaping reading format preferences. By shedding light on this aspect of reading behavior, this research offers valuable information for libraries and publishers seeking to cater to the needs and preferences of Arabic readers.

Expertise in Non-Well-Defined Task Domains: The Case of Reading

ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss expertise by considering the activity of reading. Cognitive scientists have traditionally conceptualised reading as a single, well-defined task, namely the decoding of letter sequences into meaningful sequences of speech sounds. This definition captures a core feature of the reading activity at the computational level, but it is an overly narrow model of how reading behaviour occurs in the real world. We propose a more expansive model of expertise. In our view, expertise in general is best conceptualised as a distributed process that takes place within a cultural-cognitive ecosystem. Our model allows for a more inclusive view of expertise in reading. We argue that reading is better understood as a manifold task domain that admits multiple reasonable criteria for evaluating performance. We draw on ethnographic data to show how our model allows for a wider appreciation of what expertise in reading amounts to in educational contexts.

The Stickiness of Category Labels: Audience Perception and Evaluation of Producer Repositioning in Creative Markets

Market producers often seek to position themselves in different categories over time. Successful repositioning is difficult, however, as audiences often devalue offerings that depart from a producer’s past creations. Prior research suggests that this penalty arises as evaluators withhold opportunities for producers to reposition because of presumptions of a lack of competence in different categories. In this paper, we develop understanding of a novel evaluator-driven challenge to producers’ repositioning efforts: evaluators are prone to “categorical stickiness,” by which the categories they have come to associate with a producer through its prior offerings shape their perceptions of the producer’s subsequent offerings. The result is a systematic mismatch between what producers claim and what evaluators perceive when a producer repositions. We further propose that audience members who have the greatest prior experience with a producer are the least likely to recognize its repositioning efforts. We examine evidence for our theory using data from Goodreads.com on authors within the book publishing industry, 2007–2017. We first build a novel deep-learning framework to predict categorization of a given book based solely on an author’s description of its content. We then use data on how Goodreads users categorize and evaluate books as well as their past reading behavior to test for evidence of our proposed mechanism. Overall, our results extend understanding of the evaluative processes that generate categorical constraints and how these may differ among various types of audience members. This paper was accepted by Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, organizations. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02070 .

The Effect of Exposure to Reach Out and Read on Shared Reading Behaviors.

Caregiver-child shared reading improves literacy skills, school readiness, familial relationships, and social-emotional development. This multi-year study seeks to evaluate the effect of exposure to Reach Out and Read (ROR) on caregiver reading frequency and behaviors. Caregivers of children six months to five years in 427 primary care clinics in North and South Carolina were asked to complete the Reach Out and Read Parent Feedback Survey. Caregivers not previously exposed to ROR were categorized as "new" and those who had previously been exposed to ROR as "returning" to compare reading behaviors between groups. From 2014-2019, caregivers completed 100,656 surveys. Returning caregivers were more likely to report reading or looking at books every day. (AOR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.22-1.33). Returning caregivers were more likely to perform behaviors like letting the child turn pages (AOR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.62-1.79), making up stories about the pictures (AOR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.39-1.53), asking what is happening in the pictures (AOR=1.39, 95% CI: 1.32-1.47), helping identify things in the pictures (AOR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.50-1.65), reading to the child 30 minutes every day (AOR=1.39, 95% CI: 1.33-1.46), and taking the child to the library (AOR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.20-1.34). This study shows a significant association between caregivers' exposure to ROR, high frequency reading and positive reading behaviors, and is consistent for all six years studied. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the Reach Out and Read model in increasing frequency of positive reading behaviors when implemented in a non-controlled clinical environment. It also shows that this effect is consistent over multiple years of observation.

Pengaruh Media Busy Book Terhadap Kemampuan Bahasa pada Anak Usia Dini di TK ALIF MEDAN HELVETIA Tahun 2022

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, language development disorders worldwide had a fairly high incidence of 27.5%. In 2020, the Indonesian Ministry of Health reported that 0.4 million (16%) of Indonesian toddlers experienced developmental disorders. One of the problems in early childhood is language development disorders. Impaired speech and language development in children will result in impaired reading ability, verbal ability, behavior, psychosocial adjustment and poor academic ability. Efforts are needed to hone children's language skills by using interesting and fun methods and media to attract children's attention. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of busy books on the language skills of early childhood at Kindergarten Alif Medan Helvetia. The type of research used is pre-experimental design with a one group pretest-post test design. The sampling technique used the Slovin formula to obtain a sample size of 37 respondents in this research. The results of the study showed that the characteristics of the respondents were mostly female children (62.2%) and children aged 5 years (51.4%). Frequency distribution based on early childhood language abilities before being given busy book media (86.5%), while early childhood language abilities after being given busy book media (97.3%). There is a significant influence on the provision of busy book media on the language skills of early childhood at Kindergarten Alif Medan Helvetia in 2022 with p-value = 0.000 (p<0.05). It is hoped that schools and parents can use busy books as a learning tool to develop early childhood language skills.

Media Representation of Ideal Woman: Sociological Research

In modern society, the media play a significant role in promoting beauty trends and the perfect woman. Women's magazines are one of the many structures involved in the production of representations of women. The goal of this research was to examine the ways in which women are portrayed in the media, i.e. on the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine. The method used in this research is content analysis, which was carried out in 2022. Analysis included period from 2010 to 2020. The covers were photographed and afterwards analyzed. Odd numbers of magazines (i.e. their covers) were chosen for the sample. Also, among such covers only those showing one woman were chosen. The total number of analyzed covers is 64. The analysis process included the analysis of visual and textual elements. The analysis shows that the most represented topic on the covers is sex, followed by fashion and love. The covers of the magazine mostly show young white women with make-up, brown hair of medium length and wavy loose hair. More than half of the women on the covers have a smiling face. Also, most women bodies are presented from the knees/thighs up and most of them are women with slim bodies. By profession, the most common are actresses and singers, then models, mostly of foreign origin. As for the analyzed text by the image, in most cases it is advice, expression of personal experiences or recommendations of the people who are shown on the covers, written in the first or third person singular, which tries to influence the reader's behavior. Finally, the women on the covers are flawless, perfect women, therefore almost unreal. Although the aim of the magazine is to advise and inform women about various everyday topics, it certainly has a hidden message, which is to promote the perfect ideal of beauty that influences young women all over the world.

Altered Eye Movements During Reading With Simulated Central and Peripheral Visual Field Defects.

Although foveal vision provides fine spatial information, parafoveal and peripheral vision are also known to be important for efficient reading behaviors. Here we systematically investigate how different types and sizes of visual field defects affect the way visual information is acquired via eye movements during reading. Using gaze-contingent displays, simulated scotomas were induced in 24 adults with normal or corrected-to-normal vision during a reading task. The study design included peripheral and central scotomas of varying sizes (aperture or scotoma size of 2°, 4°, 6°, 8°, and 10°) and no-scotoma conditions. Eye movements (e.g., forward/backward saccades, fixations, microsaccades) were plotted as a function of either the aperture or scotoma size, and their relationships were characterized by the best fitting model. When the aperture size of the peripheral scotoma decreased below 6° (11 visible letters), there were significant decreases in saccade amplitude and velocity, as well as substantial increases in fixation duration and the number of fixations. Its dependency on the aperture size is best characterized by an exponential decay or growth function in log-linear coordinates. However, saccade amplitude and velocity, fixation duration, and forward/regressive saccades increased more or less linearly with increasing central scotoma size in log-linear coordinates. Our results showed differential impacts of central and peripheral vision loss on reading behaviors while lending further support for the importance of foveal and parafoveal vision in reading. These apparently deviated oculomotor behaviors may in part reflect optimal reading strategies to compensate for the loss of visual information.

Towards a Typology of Narrative Frustration

AbstractThrough imaginative engagement readers of fiction become, to an extraordinary extent, the narrator’s ‘children’: they often submit themselves to the narrator’s authority without reserve. But precisely because of that, readers are deeply at a loss when their trust is betrayed. This underscores a core function of fiction, namely to evoke emotional response in the reader. In this paper, we hypothesize how a reader’s imaginative engagement can be subjected to narrative frustration due to processing or moral complexity. The types of narrative frustration we consider differ in terms of their sources, and their emotional and behavioral impacts on the reader. Here, we break down these frustrations into their component parts, in an effort to better characterize the different classes of frustrations. We propose that frustrations arise from different combinations of local uncertainty, moral clash and global uncertainty. These sources of frustration in turn explain the reader’s emotional response and their consequent reading behavior as they imaginatively engage with fiction.

Digital Social Reading

Abstract This study examines the interplay between the motivational needs of adolescents when engaged in digital social reading (DSR) in school settings and also their digital social reading behaviour, measured by the amount of the primary text read and the intensity of written communication. The study shows that in a digital social reading situation the basic human needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are represented proportionally, without any one need gaining a greater prominence. Although students working under different motivational conditions read similar amounts of the primary text, the intensity of written communication varied significantly depending on the text. We attribute this difference to story world absorption. Stories with a higher story world absorption rating elicited twice as much written communication than less absorbing stories. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Brain computed tomography reading of stroke patients by resident doctors from different medical specialities: An eye-tracking study

BackgroundUsing the eye-tracking technique, our work aimed to examine whether difference in clinical background may affect the training outcome of resident doctors’ interpretation skills and reading behaviour related to brain computed tomography (CT). MethodsTwelve resident doctors in the neurology, radiology, and emergency departments were recruited. Each participant had to read CT images of the brain for two cases. We evaluated each participant’s accuracy of lesion identification. We also used the eye-tracking technique to assess reading behaviour. We recorded dwell times, fixation counts, run counts, and first-run dwell times of target lesions to evaluate visual attention. Transition entropy was applied to assess the temporal relations and spatial dynamics of systematic image reading. ResultsThe eye-tracking results showed that the image reading sequence examined by transition entropy was comparable among resident doctors from different medical specialties (p = 0.82). However, the dwell time of the target lesions was shorter for the resident doctors from the neurology department (4828.63 ms, p = 0.01) than for those from the resident doctors from the radiology (6275.88 ms) and emergency (5305.00 ms) departments. The eye-tracking results in individual areas of interest only showed differences in the eye-tracking performance of the first-run dwell time (p = 0.05) in the anterior cerebral falx. DiscussionOur findings demonstrate that resident doctors from different medical specialties may achieve similar imaging reading patterns for brain CT. This may mitigate queries regarding the influence of different backgrounds on training outcomes.

Effects of individual differences in text exposure on sentence comprehension

Linguistic experience plays a clear role in accounting for variability in sentence comprehension behavior across individuals and across sentence types. We aimed to understand how individual differences in reading experience predict reading behavior. Corpus analyses revealed the frequencies with which our experimental items appeared in written and spoken language. We hypothesized that reading experience should affect sentence comprehension most substantially for sentence types that individuals primarily encounter through written language. Readers with more text exposure were faster and more accurate readers overall, but they read sentence types biased to written language particularly faster than did readers with less text exposure. We see clear effects of text exposure on sentence comprehension in ways that allow explicit links between written and spoken corpus statistics and behavior. We discuss theoretical implications of effects of text exposure for experience-based approaches to sentence processing.

Fostering comfort and inclusivity in library environments: Exploring factors influencing the avoidance of reading within the library

The cross-sectional study explores the reasons behind students’ avoidance of library reading. Of the 164 participants, the research uncovers a complex interplay between personal preferences, environmental influences, and social dynamics that shape reading behaviors. Contrary to expectations, students express a preference for classrooms settings and challenge the assumed importance of quiet library environments. The influence of strict regulations on library engagement also emerges as a noteworthy finding, suggesting the need for adaptable and welcoming spaces. The acceptance of digital resources among library avoiders reflects the growing role of online platforms in education. Design recommendations emphasize creating diverse reading spaces, balancing noise zones, and integrating nature-inspired environments.

Newly subscribed! Effects of e-mail newsletters on news-reading habit and subscriber retention during onboarding: evidence from clickstream and subscription data

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing popularity of e-mail newsletters, there have been few studies that examine the effects of signing up for e-mail newsletters among news subscribers, especially its role in enhancing news reading behaviors and subscriber retention for new subscribers. This study investigates how e-mail newsletter sign-ups influence news-reading habits and subscriber retention during onboarding. Using single-source data that combine clickstream data from news sites, e-mail newsletter sign-up records, and payment histories of 16,284 new digital news subscribers across four major markets in the U.S. this study finds that signing up for e-mail newsletters improves news reading habits and digital news subscription duration, with an additive effect of the number of e-mail newsletters signed up for. Regarding the retention mechanism, signing up for e-mail newsletters contributes to retention by helping new subscribers read more frequently and intensely (measures of reading habit), which in turn positively affects subscriber retention.

Flipping Vs. Scrolling in Digital Narratives: Reader Engagement and Reading Patterns in Comic Layouts

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the impact of digital reading patterns on comics, specifically examining page‐by‐page and scrolling formats. We compare the unique layout characteristics of each format and scrutinize the level of reader engagement elicited by these two distinct types of comics. In this study, we conducted a between‐subject, eye‐tracking experiment and the following semi‐structured interviews with 20 reader participants. Results highlighted that readers of page‐by‐page comics scan quickly, while scrolling comics require navigating through each panel. The research concludes that page‐by‐page comics enhance reading efficiency but increase cognitive burden, while scrolling comics provide more breathing room but may seem redundant. These findings contribute to understanding reader perspectives on comics reading behaviors, providing insights for the digital transformation of the comic industry.