Effects of Highlighting Text on the Reading Ability of Children with Developmental Dyslexia: A Pilot Study

Authors

  • Hanae Ikeshita Sagami Women’s University
  • Sho Yamaguchi Nagoya Gakuin University
  • Toyoshi Morioka 1-10drive Corporation
  • Takashi Yamazoe Chiba University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v13i09.8736

Keywords:

developmental dyslexia, visual information, accessibility, digital content, eye movement

Abstract


Digital texts can be made accessible to children with developmental dyslexia by presenting them in a simplified layout, using suitable fonts, or using text highlighting that is synchronized with audio. However, the impact of this last method on readability (as measured by eye movement) for children with developmental dyslexia remains unknown; it is unclear whether the color and length of text highlighting influences readability. We examined these issues in two experiments with seven children with developmental dyslexia (aged 7–14 years). In the first experiment, we clarified the relation between readability and text highlighting with synchronous audio by measuring the eye movements of children with developmental dyslexia. Readability was determined using the frequency of eye fixations. In the second experiment, we determined which styles of text highlighting best supported digital text reading among children with developmental dyslexia. Digital texts were created using different text highlighting colors and band lengths, and then were read using Apple iBooks on a 9.7-inch Apple iPad Air. We observed that children with developmental dyslexia found it easier to read along when audio was synchronized with text highlighting, particularly for the highlighting style that used a blue band for whole sentences. The second experiment showed that children with developmental dyslexia found it particularly easy to read digital texts that were highlighted with blue or yellow bands, both for single sentences and for single words. The method of presenting visual information for reading might help children with developmental dyslexia read more easily.

Author Biographies

Hanae Ikeshita, Sagami Women’s University

Department of Information and Media Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Associate professor

Sho Yamaguchi, Nagoya Gakuin University

Faculty of Commerce Associate professor

Toyoshi Morioka, 1-10drive Corporation

Chief Technical Officer

Takashi Yamazoe, Chiba University

Institute for Global Prominent Research Project researcher

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Published

2018-09-29

How to Cite

Ikeshita, H., Yamaguchi, S., Morioka, T., & Yamazoe, T. (2018). Effects of Highlighting Text on the Reading Ability of Children with Developmental Dyslexia: A Pilot Study. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 13(09), pp. 239–251. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v13i09.8736

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Papers