Reading Chinese Text Research Articles

Accommodation response to Chinese and Latin characters in Chinese‐illiterate young adults

BackgroundDifferences in accommodation when reading Chinese, as compared to Latin, characters have been suggested to have a role in the higher prevalence of myopia in some Asian countries. Yeo and colleagues (Optom Vis Sci 2013; 90: 156‐163) found that, in Chinese‐literate children, accommodation was marginally more accurate (by less than 0.05 D), when reading Chinese text. This was attributed to the additional cognitive demand associated with interpreting the more complex Chinese symbols. The present study compared responses to single Chinese and Latin characters, while controlling for cognitive demand.MethodsThe monocular accommodative response was measured in Chinese‐illiterate adults (10 emmetropes, mean spherical equivalent: ‐0.07 ± 0.42 D, age: 29.9 ± 4.2 years; 11 myopes, mean spherical equivalent: ‐4.28 ± 2.84 D, age: 31.7 ± 4.6 years) with an open‐field autorefractor. Four Chinese and three Latin characters (approximately 1.15 degrees subtense) were individually presented on a display screen one metre away from the subject, while their vergence was varied over the range zero to 5.00 D using spectacle trial lenses. The slope and the accommodative error index (AEI) were calculated from the accommodative stimulus/response curves (ASRC).ResultsNo statistically significant differences were found between refractive groups or among characters within the same refractive group in ARSC slopes (Latin: 0.87 ± 0.14 for myopes versus 0.81 ± 0.12 for emmetropes; Chinese: 0.84 ± 0.12 for myopes versus 0.85 ± 0.12 for emmetropes). No significant differences were found between characters in accommodative error index either (Latin, 0.78 ± 0.42 D for myopes versus 1.15 ± 0.72 D for emmetropes; Chinese, 0.74 ± 0.37 D for myopes versus 1.17 ± 0.83 D for emmetropes). However, accommodative error indices and accommodative errors were significantly higher for emmetropes.ConclusionUnder controlled cognitive demand, Chinese and Latin characters elicited similar responses in both individual refractive groups. This study fails to support the hypothesis that development of myopia in some Asian populations is associated with larger lags of accommodation when reading or viewing Chinese characters.

Young driver distraction by text messaging: A comparison of the effects of reading and typing text messages in Chinese versus English

BackgroundReading and typing text messages while driving seriously impairs driving performance and are prohibited activities in many jurisdictions. Hong Kong is a bilingual society and many people write in both Chinese and English. As the input methods for text messaging in Chinese and English are considerably different, this study used a driving simulator approach to compare the effects of reading and typing Chinese and English text messages on driving performance. MethodThe driving performances of 26 participants were monitored under the following conditions: (1) no distraction, (2) reading and typing Chinese text messages, and (3) reading and typing English text messages. The following measures of driving performance were collected under all of the conditions: reaction time (RT), driving lane undulation (DLU), driving speed fluctuation (DSF), and car-following distance (CFD) between test and leading cars. ResultsRT, DLU, and DSF were significantly impaired by reading and typing both Chinese and English text messages. Moreover, typing text messages distracted drivers more than reading them. Although the Chinese text messaging input system is more complicated than the English system, the use of Chinese did not cause a significantly different degree of distraction. ConclusionBoth reading and typing text messages while driving should be prohibited regardless of whether Chinese or English is used.

Literature the People Love: Reading Chinese Texts from the Early Maoist Period (1949–1966). By Krista Van Fleit Hang. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. xi, 208 pp. $85.00 (cloth).

Literature the People Love: Reading Chinese Texts from the Early Maoist Period (1949–1966). By Krista Van Fleit Hang. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. xi, 208 pp. $85.00 (cloth).

The Effects of Interword Spacing in Chinese Text Reading: A Meta-analysis Based on Eye Movements Research

The Effects of Interword Spacing in Chinese Text Reading: A Meta-analysis Based on Eye Movements Research

A Study on Eye Movement of Reading Chinese Texts with Different Styles for Chinese University Students

A Study on Eye Movement of Reading Chinese Texts with Different Styles for Chinese University Students

A think‐aloud study of strategy use by EFL college readers reading Chinese and English texts

This study used a think‐aloud approach to compare reading strategy use in the first language (L1) and non‐native language (L2) among 36 English as a foreign language (EFL) college students at different reading levels. The participants took an English proficiency test and participated in two individual sessions in which a reading test and a think‐aloud task were administered separately in Chinese and English. Cross‐language transfer theory and the linguistic threshold hypothesis were used to conceptualise the similarities and differences in L1 and L2 reading strategies. This study found more frequent and diverse strategy use in English than in Chinese. Similar patterns of meta‐cognitive strategy use were evident in both languages. The applications of certain meta‐cognitive and support strategies served as indicators that differentiated more‐proficient from less‐proficient readers. The present study extended previous questionnaire studies and suggested that English reading instruction should be informed by this line of research to provide instruction on effective reading strategy use for EFL learners.

Effect of Text Type on Near Work–Induced Contrast Adaptation in Myopic and Emmetropic Young Adults

Contrast adaptation has been speculated to be an error signal for emmetropization. Myopic children exhibit higher contrast adaptation than emmetropic children. This study aimed to determine whether contrast adaptation varies with the type of text viewed by emmetropic and myopic young adults. Baseline contrast sensitivity was determined in 25 emmetropic and 25 spectacle-corrected myopic young adults for 0.5, 1.2, 2.7, 4.4, and 6.2 cycles per degree (cpd) horizontal sine wave gratings. The adults spent periods looking at a 6.2 cpd high-contrast horizontal grating and reading lines of English and Chinese text (these texts comprised 1.2 cpd row and 6 cpd stroke frequencies). The effects of these near tasks on contrast sensitivity were determined, with decreases in sensitivity indicating contrast adaptation. Contrast adaptation was affected by the near task (F2,672 = 43.0; P < 0.001). Adaptation was greater for the grating task (0.13 ± 0.17 log unit, averaged across all frequencies) than reading tasks, but there was no significant difference between the two reading tasks (English 0.05 ± 0.13 log unit versus Chinese 0.04 ± 0.13 log unit). The myopic group showed significantly greater adaptation (by 0.04, 0.04, and 0.05 log units for English, Chinese, and grating tasks, respectively) than the emmetropic group (F1,48 = 5.0; P = 0.03). In young adults, reading Chinese text induced similar contrast adaptation as reading English text. Myopes exhibited greater contrast adaptation than emmetropes. Contrast adaptation, independent of text type, might be associated with myopia development.

Literature the People Love: Reading Chinese Texts from the Early Maoist Period (1949–1966) by Krista Van Fleit Hang (review)

Reviewed by: Literature the People Love: Reading Chinese Texts from the Early Maoist Period (1949–1966) by Krista Van Fleit Hang Bonnie S. McDougall (bio) Krista Van Fleit Hang. Literature the People Love: Reading Chinese Texts from the Early Maoist Period (1949–1966). Chinese Literature and Culture in the World Series, edited by Ban Wang. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. xi, 193 pp. Hardcover $85.00, isbn 978-1-137-30698-2. This short book begins with a brief account of revisions made to the first and second editions of Yang Mo’s famous novel Qingchun zhi ge [Song of youth; 1958, rev. ed. 1960] that “symbolize one path of literature from the beginning of the twentieth century into the Maoist period” (p. 1). Two pages later, she describes the revisions as a process that “mirrors the path of literature in the first half of the twentieth century” (p. 3). The discrepancy between “one path” and “the path” in these two statements introduces a note of uncertainty that may be due to the author’s mission: her wish to achieve a kind of balance she finds absent in academic scholarship on modern Chinese literature, as summarized in her concluding sentences: “Literature the People Love is part of the project of understanding China’s experience in the Maoist period outside of a Cold War lens that requires either an affirmation or negation of the communist project. Appreciating the utopian vision of authors of the early Maoist period … is one way to approach this question. Engaging with these stories reveals many ways in which the ideals they present fit neither the CCP’s rigid narrative of state-bestowed liberation, nor the Western narrative of insurmountable repression in the communist system, allowing for the discovery of a relevance in that surpasses either of these narratives” (p. 158). In characterizing the writers’ vision of literature as utopian in the 1950s and early 1960s, Van Fleit Hang demonstrates both a generous sympathy for these writers and a troubling failure to understand the constraints under which they were operating and the actual social and political history of the period. Following the introduction, chapter 2 gives an account of the first volume of the magazine Renmin wenxue (People’s literature) in 1949–1950, with background information on its contributors; summaries of its theoretical and ideological articles; discussions of controversial stories by Qin Zhaoyang, Fang Ji, and Xiao Yemu; and finally analyses of two stories by actual workers in the last issue of this volume. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on Li Zhun’s short story “Li Shuangshuang xiaozhuan” (The story of Li Shuangshuang, 1960), the novel Linhai xueyuan (Tracks in the snowy forest, 1957), and their transformations into other genres. Chapter 5 looks at two films made in 1959 and 1961 (although no mention of film is made in the book’s title). The final chapter uses the example of building the Ming Tombs Reservoir to symbolize the different paths of Maoist culture. There is much to be praised in the author’s statement in chapter 3: “I will not assume that a tightening of the political landscape leads to a less successful story. Using a relaxed political tone of the works as the sole standard of evaluation clouds our vision, preventing us from seeing different ways various artists negotiated policy and social change … My goal in this section is not to make a [End Page 206] value judgment, coming out in favor of the artistic merits of one version over the others, but rather to understand the complex factors that went into the production of literary works during the seventeen years” (pp. 62–63). It is true that many works on modern Chinese literature published during the 1970s took a narrow view of both politics and literature in China. A better understanding of the relationship between these two disciplines only began to flourish (mainly in studies published outside China) in the last thirty years. One of the issues, for example, that Van Fleit Hang brings to her analysis of Tracks in the Snowy Forest is changing attitudes toward gender roles. What is problematic about her approach, on the other hand, is its tendency to diminish the...

Expertise reversal effect in reading Chinese texts with added causal words

The study investigated the effectiveness of causal words embedded in Chinese texts to explicitly indicate causal links between the described events. Primary school students with different levels of reading expertise participated in the experiment that compared an embedded casual-words format with the original no-causal-words format. An interaction (expertise reversal) effect was obtained with the causal-words format benefiting novices but not more experienced readers. In contrast to previous studies of the expertise reversal effect that have related the effect to the variations in extraneous cognitive load caused by experts processing redundant for them information, this instance of the effect is likely to be due to differential levels of intrinsic cognitive load. The results of the reported experiment imply the use of different text formats for individuals with different levels of reading expertise.

Visual Fatigue and Performances for the 40-min Mixed Visual Work with a Projected Screen

Objective: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the visual angle and ambient illumination effects on visual fatigue and performances while viewing from a projected screen for 40 minutes. Methods: Visual angle (16, 24 and 48 min arc of Chinese character height) and ambient illumination (200 and 750 lux) were the independent variables in this study. Change in critical flicker frequency (c_CFF), subjective visual fatigue, proofreading accuracy, and film-watching performance in the experimental trials were obtained from 30 young adults. Each experimental trial took 40 minutes, including a 10-min proofreading test and a 30-min film watching task. Results: Visual angle had a significant effect on proofreading accuracy. An increased proofreading accuracy tendency was found with increasing visual angle. Higher ambient illumination (750 lux) had a positive effect on c_CFF. A significantly higher film-watching performance was also found at the higher ambient illumination (750 lux) compared to that of the lower one (200 lux). Conclusion: We suggest that (a) the ambient illumination should be controlled at about 750 lux for better audiences' attention and visual comfort; (b) a greater visual angle (24 ~ 48 min arc of character height) is more suitable for Chinese text-reading on a projected screen as compared with 16 min arc; and (c) if the visual tasks with a projected screen mostly contain video and voice, the visual angle of character height will have little effect on performance.

Foreword

Here is the first issue of the new journal, Acta Linguistica Asiatica, published by the Department of Asian and African Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. Its appearance is approximately timed to commemorate the 15 years since the establishment of the Department on October 1st, 1995. In step with the developments in media and new modes of dissemination of the results of scholarly research, it is introduced as an on-line electronic publication.In the past 15 years, Asian Studies which were initially represented by Chinese and Japanese Studies, seem to have established a firm foothold in Slovenia. In addition to the existing Chinese Studies and Japanese Studies, the University of Ljubljana introduced in December 2010 new academic areas of Turkish Studies, Iranian Studies, Indian Studies and Korean Studies, thus giving green light to the establishment of systematic research of Asian issues within a wider framework.In the meantime, the body of researchers specializing in Asian languages has also grown, including teachers, visiting professors, researchers and graduate students who cover a wide spectrum of research fields.Also, the recent reform of higher education along the Bologna guidelines, although criticized, has happily brought into existence the interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Humanities and Social Sciences and within its fold, the joint Doctoral program in Linguistics.The Journal Acta Linguistica Asiatica is thus emerging in a period of lively ferment, where unifying the field of discourse within language studies and at the same time opening it more widely to research in humanities and social sciences will undoubtedly have a long term impact on Asian language research at the University of Ljubljana.Serving as a focal point of research on Asian languages in Slovenia, Acta Linguistica Asiatica will at the same time strive to promote cooperation in the field of Asian language research internationally in Europe, Asia and beyond. Acta Linguistica Asiatica will, following Roman Jakobson’s saying, “Linguista sum, linguistici nihil a me alienum puto”, cover all the subject areas and theoretical approaches pertaining to theoretical and applied research on Asian languages. An international editorial board takes care of the research quality of the journal.The contents of the first issue reflect this orientation and openness. Three papers deal with various aspects of the role played by language in the process of modernization during and after Meiji Japan, i.e., The Relation Between the View on the Language and Educational Ideology in the Early Meiji Period in Japan Through the Discourse of Regionalism by Ichimiya Yufuko, Towards Theoretical Approach to the Understanding of Language Ideologies in Post-Meiji Japan by Luka Culiberg, and Images of Pre-WW II: National Language Policies as Reflected in the Field of “National Language Studies” Itself by Andrej Bekeš.Another focus of interest is philological, represented by two papers. One is Morphology and Syntax in Holes and Scratches: The Latest Stage of Kugyol Research, an interesting research on kugyol, a system devised to facilitate reading Chinese Buddhist texts in Korean, by Lee Yong. The other,The Typology of Āmreḍita Compounds in the Ṛgveda by Tamara Ditrich, investigates āmreḍita compounds in the Ṛgveda, a type of coordinative nominal constructions, closely related to dvandva compounds.Finally, this issue is concluded with the article Collocational Relations in Japanese Language Textbooks and Computer-assisted Language Learning Resources, by Irena Srdanović and deals with the teaching of collocations in modern Japanese, based on corpora. Andrej Bekeš University of Ljubljana and University of Tsukuba April 23, 2011

Effects of Verb’s Trait of Continuance and Adverb of Instantaneous Time about Representation of Events of Temporal Shifts in Chinese Text Readin

Situation model is the deep representation of events described formed by readers in text reading. How the temporal shifts of story are represented is an important dimension and a controversial issue. Scenario model considered that the units of time representation were the separated chunk (Anderson, Garrod, Sanford, 1983); strong iconicity assumption reckoned that readers relied on sequence and continuity to process time information(Zwaan,1996) and in his experiments instantaneous temporal shifts and short temporal shifts were confused. Kelter, Kaup Claus (2004) argued that obvious temporal discontinuity produced temporal shifts. But compared Zwaan’s experiments with examples presented by Kelter et al, the trait of verb’s continuance for temporal shifts was not clear. Thus it seemed that representing temporal shifts was not only determined by temporal adverbs, but also determined by the verb’s trait of continuance of front event. Besides, in Chinese text reading, the adverb of instantaneous temporal shifts could function as a cue followed by different temporal intervals. Hence the present study is to explore the effect of verb’s trait of continuance and adverb of instantaneous time about representation of the events including temporal shifts in text reading. A total of 152 college students participated in present study. Using moving window and probe- judgment technique of on line reading, two experiments were carried out by using E - Prime software. Subjects tried to be self-paced for reading. When one sentence was read, they pressed the space bar, and the next sentence emerged with the former sentence’s disappearance. After several sentences were read, the emergence of "××××?" (×××× represented probe word) prompted subjects to press "J" or "F" to judge whether probe word ever emerged in text. After finishing one text, the emergence of "******" prompted subjects to answer a comprehensive question about the text. The reaction time of probe materials(the ninth sentences in experiment 1 and the probe words in the end of the eighth sentences in experiment 2) were recorded and analyzed with repeated measures of MANOVA. The results of experiment 1 indicated that when the verb’s trait of front event was continuity, reading time was not significant differences between the sentences of instantaneous temporal shifts and the sentences of short temporal shifts. When the verb’s trait of front event was temporariness, the sentences of short shifts were read more slowly than the sentence of instantaneous temporal shifts. In experiment 2, when there was no existence of the adverb of instantaneous time, the probe words in the condition of long temporal shifts were reacted more slowly than that in the condition of short temporal shifts. But when the adverbs of instantaneous time functioned as a cue followed by temporal shifts, the reaction time of probe words in the condition of short temporal shifts was not salient than that in the condition of long temporal shifts. The conclusions are derived from this study: (1) the verb’s trait of continuance together with the condition of temporal shifts determines the probe sentences’ reading time. It seems that, the verb’s trait of temporariness of the front event combined with the condition of short temporal shifts slows down the reading speed of sentences of short temporal shifts. The results show that, to differentiate instantaneous temporal shifts from short temporal shifts, and to differentiate the verb of continuity from the verb of temporariness are meaningful for representing the events of temporal shifts. (2) In Chinese text reading, the adverb of instantaneous time functions as a cue for representation of the events of long temporal shifts. In short, representation of events of temporal shifts is not only determined by the length of temporal interval, but also by the "time of mental temporal shifts". "Time of mental temporal shifts" is the subjective time interval formed by readers in the process of processing temporal shifts according to their understanding of relations of events before and after temporal shifts. The verb’s trait of continuance and the adverb of instantaneous time are the important factors in influencing the "time of mental temporal shifts".

Sentence integration processes: An ERP study of Chinese sentence comprehension with relative clauses

In an event-related potentials (ERPs) study, we examined the comprehension of different types of Chinese (Mandarin) relative clauses (object vs. subject-extracted) to test the universality and language specificity of sentence comprehension processes. Because Chinese lacks morphosyntactic cues to sentence constituent relations, it allows a test of the possibility that semantic-contextual processes dominate the extraction of clausal relations, in contrast to the structure-dependent processing in English and many other languages. ERP results at the RC embedded verbs showed a P600 effect for the subject-extraction type, reflecting a processing of phrasal reconfiguration, and an N400 effect for the object-extraction type, reflecting a processing of meaning reinterpretation. A central–frontal sustained negativity was produced by the RC head noun of object-extraction, suggesting a combined effect of meaning derivation and referents establishment. LORETA (Low Resolution Electrical Tomography) source localization showed activation of posterior dominance (e.g., BA 22/39/19/41/42) supporting the integration of structure mapping (P600) and meaning derivation (N400) in a developing sentential representation, consistent with the memory unification and control model (Hagoort, 2005). More left-lateralized anterior regions of a frontal–temporal network (e.g., BA 47/38) became active later in the sentence (a sustained central–frontal negativity), when the thematic-role specification for multiple referents may have required additional cognitive and memory resources. Our findings suggest that Chinese sentence reading recruits a neural network that is sensitive to the sequential/hierarchical organization of linguistic inputs in a manner that resembles to the structure-dependent cognitive processes in other languages, reflecting a universal property of language processing. The ERP data shows that early lexical processes are important in the integration process, but also challenges the view that Chinese text reading depends primarily on semantic-contextual processing in the derivation of meaning representation.

Syntactic boundaries and comma placement during silent reading of Chinese text: evidence from eye movements

In an eye-tracking experiment, we investigated whether and how a comma influences the reading of Chinese sentences comprised of different types of syntactic constituent such as word, phrase and clause. Participants read Chinese sentences that did or did not insert a comma at the end of a syntactic constituent. The results showed that the fixation times were shorter for the target word followed by a comma than for that followed by no comma, which suggests that a comma facilitated word identification during the reading of Chinese sentences. Furthermore, the insertion of commas shortened the total fixation times in the post-target region only for the clause condition. The data are consistent with previous findings concerning the role of segmentation cues in reading, and compatible with the implicit prosody hypothesis.

Acquisition of linguistic information to the left of fixation during the reading of Chinese text

The linguistic properties of the first (critical) character of a two-character Chinese word were manipulated when the eyes moved to the right of the critical character during reading to determine whether character processing is strictly unidirectional. In Experiment 1, the critical character was replaced with a congruent or incongruent character or left unchanged. Critical character changes did not influence the fixation duration, but incongruent changes led to more regressions than congruent changes. In Experiment 2, the critical character was replaced with either a homophonic or a non-homophonic character when it was to the left of fixation. The fixation following the change was now longer when the replaced character and the critical character were homophones than when they were phonologically dissimilar. These results indicate that readers obtain phonological and semantic information to the left of a fixated character and that the recognition of consecutive Chinese characters is not strictly unidirectional.

The Boundary Effect and Its Elimination in Chinese Text Reading: The Event Duration Effect

The boundary effect refers to the phenomenon of the reading time for the first sentence of a new discourse unit being longer than the reading time for any other sentence.This phenomenon was first discovered by Haberland and his colleagues (Haberland K F,Berian C Sandson J,1980).Other studies have also found evidences for this effect(Lorch R F,Lorch E P Matthews,1985;Bestgen Y Vonk W, 2000).When reading,readers first try to integrate the new information with preceding information that has just been read and that still remains in the working memory.When a reader experiences difficulty in integrating new information with the preceding information,he/she will conclude that the topic has been changed and that a new mental representation needs to be constructed to lay an integral foundation for the incoming information.To maintain continuity,readers have to reinstate the preceding concept or make coherent inferences and each of these processes increases their cognitive load;at the same time,construction of a new mental representation also needs extra cognitive resources.Therefore,reading speed slows down,and reading time increases.Bestgen and his colleagues explored whether segmentation markers could eliminate this effect.Their results showed that a segmentation marker,for example,"around two o'clock," could successfully eliminate the boundary effect.However,the segmentation marker in their study did not show the temporal relationship between the markers and the event preceding.In our opinion,when the markers are within the duration time of the event preceding them,boundary effect will be observed;however,when they are not within the duration time of the event preceding them,the boundary effect will be eliminated.This phenomenon is referred to as the event duration effect.In the present study,three experiments were conducted to examine whether the boundary and event duration effects could be observed in Chinese text reading. A moving window technique was used in the study.Experiment 1 examined whether the boundary effect could be observed in Chinese text reading.A 2(topic continuous/topic shift)×2(event duration long/short) design was used.Forty-four participants were asked to read 16 topic continuous or topic shift passages,and the reading times for the target sentences were recorded.Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to test whether segmentation markers could eliminate boundary effect. The segmentation marker "half an hour" was located before the target sentences. A 2(topic continuous/topic shift)×2(event duration long/short)×2(with/without segmentation marker) design was used.In Experiment 2,48 subjects were asked to read the passages with or without the segmentation marker.The reading times for the target sentences in the topic continuous condition and topic shift condition were compared.In Experiment 3,the temporal relationship between the segmentation marker and the event preceding was controlled to further test the event duration effect. Experiment 1 showed that the reading time for the topic shift condition was significantly longer than that for the topic continuous condition irrespective of the duration of the event.Experiment 2 demonstrated that the reading time for the topic continuous condition did not differ reliably from that for the topic shift condition if there was a segmentation marker before the target sentence.However,the reading time for the topic shift condition was significantly longer than that for the topic continuous condition if there was no segmentation marker.Experiment 3 further replicated the results of Experiment 2 under strict control. The results implied that the impact of temporal segmentation markers on the boundary effect depended on the temporal relationship between the markers and the event preceding,a phenomenon referred to as the event duration effect.In other words,when the markers are within the duration time of the event preceding,the boundary effect can still be observed,however,when they are not within the duration time of the event preceding them,the boundary effect is not observed. This shows that segmentation markers reduce the amount of processing required for the part of the sentence that is topic discontinuous.

Effects of dynamic display, presentation method, speed, and task type on reading comprehension of wristwatch screens

We examined the effects of two dynamic displays (leading and rapid serial visual presentation), two presentation methods (character-by-character and word-by-word), and three display speeds (150, 250, and 350 characters per minute, i.e., cpm) on users’ reading comprehension under two different task types (single and dual tasks) for reading Chinese text on the screen of a wristwatch. Forty native speakers of Chinese from Taiwan were recruited. Scores for reading comprehension showed that dynamic display did not significantly affect reading comprehension. Presentation method, speed, and task type, however, were significant factors in reading comprehension. In addition, the interaction between presentation method and speed significantly affected reading comprehension. When the presentation method was in a word-by-word format, there was no significant difference in reading comprehension under different speed levels. However, when the presentation method was in a character-by-character format, reading comprehension was significantly higher for the lower speeds of 150 and 250cpm than for 350cpm.

Eye movements and the identification of spatially ambiguous words during Chinese sentence reading

Readers of Chinese must generally determine word units in the absence of visually distinct inter-word spaces. In the present study, we examined how a sequence of Chinese characters is parsed into words under these conditions. Eye movements were monitored while participants read sentences with a critical four-character (C1234) sequence. Three partially overlapping character groupings formed legal words in the ambiguous condition (C12, C23, and C34), two of which corresponded to context-consistent words (C12 and C34). Two nonoverlapping groupings corresponded to legal words in the control conditions (C12 and C34). In two experiments, readers spent more time viewing the critical character sequence and its two center characters (C23) in the ambiguous condition. These results argue against the strictly serial assignment of characters to words during the reading of Chinese text.

Effect of Dynamic Display and Speed of Display Movement on Reading Chinese Text Presented on a Small Screen

Automatic dynamic displays, e.g., scrolling displays, are frequently used to present text information on small screens. This study examined the effects of three dynamic displays [leading, scrolling, and rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)] and three presentations speeds [171, 250, and 305 wpm (words per minute)] on subjects' reading comprehension for different types of small screens for laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. 12 college students who were native speakers of Chinese (4 men and 8 women between the ages of 19 and 36 years) participated. Scores for reading comprehension indicated (1) for laptops, both leading displays and RSVP, at speeds of about 250 wpm, comprehension was highest; (2) for PDAs and mobile phones, scrolling displays and RSVP, speeds of about 305 wpm were more suitable for presenting information in Chinese text; (3) consequently, RSVP appeared to be the most viable dynamic display on small screens and led to the highest reading comprehension for these Chinese readers.

Reading Chinese text on a small screen with RSVP

This study examines the effects of Chinese typography (true type and standard Kai type), speed (171, 260, and 350 wpm), font size (12- and 28-point), and presentation method (serial one word, phrase-oriented, and sentence-by-sentence method) on users' reading comprehension for reading Chinese text on a small screen using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). Scores for reading comprehension indicated that typography style and font size did not significantly affect reading comprehension. Speed and presentation method, however, were significant factors in terms of the reading comprehension. In addition, the interaction between the speed and the presentation method also significantly affected the reading comprehension. When the presentation methods were serial one word and sentence-by-sentence formats, reading comprehension revealed no significant difference under different speed levels. Nonetheless, when the presentation method was in the phrase-oriented format, reading comprehension with a lower speed of 171 wpm was significantly higher than that with the speeds of 350 and 260 wpm.