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Reading training by means of disappearing text: effects on reading performance and eye movements

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Abstract

The Reading Acceleration Program (RAP), which uses adaptively increasing text erasure rates to enforce reading rate improvements, has been positively evaluated in various languages, reader and age groups. The current study compared the established incremental increase of text erasure rate with a training using fixed erasure rates in two groups of young, non-impaired German adults. Eye-tracking measures prior and post training examined training-related changes of eye-movement patterns. Equal gains in reading performance in both training groups led to the conclusion that not the adaptive increase but already text erasure at fixed rates provides an economically efficient tool for the enhancement of reading rates. Furthermore, eye-tracking results suggest that text erasure training affects word processing not only at one specific level, but simultaneously at pre-lexical, lexical, and post-lexical stages. Although these outcomes are promising, further research is necessary to determine the optimal individual erasure rates that preserve good comprehension at varying levels of text difficulty and in different orthographies.

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Notes

  1. Differences in subsample size arose from organizational constraints. This study was part of a larger project, which also utilized EEG recordings. Due to restrictions of lab accessibility these data had to be collected in narrow time slots, which also limited the availability of suitable participants (e.g., vacations, exam periods etc.). In addition, three participants were tested in pre-tests, but were excluded due to a lack of training compliance. However, training group allocation (AER and FER) was random in every respect.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Sebastian Peter Korinth

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 6, 60323, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA), Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Sebastian Peter Korinth

  2. Department of Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Olaf Dimigen & Werner Sommer

  3. Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Sebastian Peter Korinth & Zvia Breznitz

Authors
  1. Sebastian Peter Korinth
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  2. Olaf Dimigen
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  4. Zvia Breznitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sebastian Peter Korinth.

Additional information

Zvia Breznitz, who passed away on May 18th 2014, initiated and contributed to this research project tremendously. While she took part in writing earlier drafts of this manuscript, she could not work anymore on the final manuscript. However, most certainly she would have approved the statements made here as part of her scientific legacy.

Please note that the RAP evaluated in this article is in no way related to the commercial software, which is marketed under a similar name, that is, the Accelerated Reader (http://www.renlearn.com/ar/).

Appendices

Appendix A: Example sentences used in AER and FER trainings

Sentence: Im heutigen Deutschland gibt es Menschen, die es sich nicht leisten können, eine Wohnung zu mieten. Question: Was können sich manche Menschen in Deutschland nicht leisten? Answer: (a) eine Wohnung zu mieten. (b) eine Wohnung zu kaufen. (c) ein Haus zu kaufen. [In today’s Germany there are people who can’t afford to rent an apartment. Question: What can’t some people afford? Answer: (a) renting a flat (b) buying a flat (c) buying a house].

Sentence: Viele Gegenstände des täglichen Bedarfs werden inzwischen nicht mehr in Deutschland sondern im Ausland hergestellt. Question: Viele Produkte werden: Answer: (a) im Ausland hergestellt. (b) werden in Deutschland hergestellt. (c) werden ins Ausland verkauft.

[Many items for everydays use are not produced in Germany anymore but abroad. Question: Many products: Answer: (a) are produced abroad. (b) are produced in Germany. (c) are sold abroad].

Appendix B: Example sentences of the Potsdam Sentence Corpus

Sentence: Wolfgangs Töchter studieren Literatur und Maschinenbau. Question: Was studiert eine von Wolfgangs Töchtern? Answer (a) Literatur (b) Linguistik (c) Germanistik [Wolfgang’s daughters study literature and engineering. Question: What does one of Wolfgang’s daughters study? Answer: (a) literature (b) linguistics (c) German].

Sentence: Kevin und Marie spielen oft im Garten. Question: Was tun Kevin und Marie im Garten? Answer: (a) spielen (b) toben (c) raufen [Kevin and Marie play often in the garden. Question: What are Kevin and Marie doing in the garden? Answer: (a) play (b) frolic (c) tussle].

Sentence: Die streikenden Fahrer konnte man kilometerweit hupen hören. Question: Wer streikt? Answer: (a) Bauern (b) Fahrer (c) Spediteure [One could hear the honking of the drivers on strike from miles away. Question: Who is on strike? Answer: (a) farmers (b) drivers (c) movers].

Sentence: Die Großmutter wog die Zutaten beim Backen sehr genau. Question: Wer wog die Zutaten ab? (a) Oma (b) Großmutter (c) Tante [Grandmother weighted the backing ingredients precisely. Question: Who weighted the ingredients? Answer: (a) granny (b) grandmother (c) aunt].

Appendix C: Data quality

For the employed version of the SMI IView X Hi-Speed system, the manufacturer reports an instrument spatial resolution of less than 0.025° and an absolute gaze position accuracy of 0.2°. Since at least the first value is based on measurements with an artificial eye, these accuracies do not necessarily generalize to experimental data recorded under realistic conditions. However, similar to the procedure used in Dimigen, Sommer, Hohlfeld, Jacobs, & Kliegl (2011), calibration accuracy at the horizontal line on which the sentences were presented was checked before and after each trial with tolerance limits set to 0.5°.

In addition, differences between pre- and post-tests and/or training groups might be caused by unequal numbers of valid (i.e., artifact free) trials entering statistical analysis. A repeated measures ANOVA did not indicate pre- and post-tests differences in the number of valid trials, F < 1. Also, the factor pre-post-test did not show a significant interaction with the factor training group, F(1,29) = 3.5, ns, see Table 7 for details.

Table 7 Descriptive statistics: valid eye-tracking trials for each training group before and after training
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Korinth, S.P., Dimigen, O., Sommer, W. et al. Reading training by means of disappearing text: effects on reading performance and eye movements. Read Writ 29, 1245–1268 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9635-y

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