One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers
Reading comprehension is an essential skill. It is unclear whether and to what degree typography and font personalization may impact reading comprehension in younger readers. With advancements in technology, it is now feasible to personalize digital reading formats in general technology tools, but t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/9/864 |
| _version_ | 1827726457798918144 |
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| author | Shannon M. Sheppard Susanne L. Nobles Anton Palma Sophie Kajfez Marjorie Jordan Kathy Crowley Sofie Beier |
| author_facet | Shannon M. Sheppard Susanne L. Nobles Anton Palma Sophie Kajfez Marjorie Jordan Kathy Crowley Sofie Beier |
| author_sort | Shannon M. Sheppard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reading comprehension is an essential skill. It is unclear whether and to what degree typography and font personalization may impact reading comprehension in younger readers. With advancements in technology, it is now feasible to personalize digital reading formats in general technology tools, but this feature is not yet available for many educational tools. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of character width and inter-letter spacing on reading speed and comprehension. We enrolled 94 children (kindergarten–8th grade) and compared performance with six font variations on a word-level semantic decision task (Experiment 1) and a passage-level comprehension task (Experiment 2). Reading speed and comprehension were analyzed using generalized linear mixed-effects regression models. Independent samples t-tests compared speed and comprehension accuracy on personal best vs. worst font variation. A stability analysis was conducted to determine if participants had a stable personal best font variation within Experiment 1. The Experiment 1 stability analysis was statistically significant, and 58% of participants had a stable personal best font variation. Personal best font variations yielded significantly higher comprehension accuracy in both Experiments 1 and 2 and faster reading in Experiment 2. Using digital technology to personalize font may have important implications for school-aged readers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:51:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7212b20063af4245a8870ce46acf9cd0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:51:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-7212b20063af4245a8870ce46acf9cd02023-11-19T10:18:42ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022023-08-0113986410.3390/educsci13090864One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent ReadersShannon M. Sheppard0Susanne L. Nobles1Anton Palma2Sophie Kajfez3Marjorie Jordan4Kathy Crowley5Sofie Beier6Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USAReadWorks, Brooklyn, NY 11202, USAInstitute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92617, USADepartment of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USAReadability Matters, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USAReadability Matters, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USASchool of Design, Royal Danish Academy, 1435 Copenhagen, DenmarkReading comprehension is an essential skill. It is unclear whether and to what degree typography and font personalization may impact reading comprehension in younger readers. With advancements in technology, it is now feasible to personalize digital reading formats in general technology tools, but this feature is not yet available for many educational tools. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of character width and inter-letter spacing on reading speed and comprehension. We enrolled 94 children (kindergarten–8th grade) and compared performance with six font variations on a word-level semantic decision task (Experiment 1) and a passage-level comprehension task (Experiment 2). Reading speed and comprehension were analyzed using generalized linear mixed-effects regression models. Independent samples t-tests compared speed and comprehension accuracy on personal best vs. worst font variation. A stability analysis was conducted to determine if participants had a stable personal best font variation within Experiment 1. The Experiment 1 stability analysis was statistically significant, and 58% of participants had a stable personal best font variation. Personal best font variations yielded significantly higher comprehension accuracy in both Experiments 1 and 2 and faster reading in Experiment 2. Using digital technology to personalize font may have important implications for school-aged readers.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/9/864reading comprehensionreadabilitytypography |
| spellingShingle | Shannon M. Sheppard Susanne L. Nobles Anton Palma Sophie Kajfez Marjorie Jordan Kathy Crowley Sofie Beier One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers Education Sciences reading comprehension readability typography |
| title | One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers |
| title_full | One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers |
| title_fullStr | One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers |
| title_full_unstemmed | One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers |
| title_short | One Font Doesn’t Fit All: The Influence of Digital Text Personalization on Comprehension in Child and Adolescent Readers |
| title_sort | one font doesn t fit all the influence of digital text personalization on comprehension in child and adolescent readers |
| topic | reading comprehension readability typography |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/9/864 |
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