The Relationship Between Eye Movements and Reading Skills in Elementary School Children: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: 34.036 - The Promise and Reality of Technological Tools in Support of Literacy and Language Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between different component reading skills and various types of eye tracking measures. Specifically, the present study investigated to what extent the component reading skills were predicted by a set of eye tracking measures. Thirty-seven elementary school students participated in this study and their eye movements were recorded during sentence reading tasks. Regression analyses revealed that children’s performances in fluency, phonics and comprehension were predicted by the eye tracking measures. However, variances in phonemic awareness and vocabulary were not uniquely explained by the measures. Further, temporal measures showed consistent and strong effects across the different domains of reading, whereas spatial measures were not predictive of the reading skills.

Authors

• Sungyoon Lee, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Christopher Prickett, Texas A&M University

• Qinxin Shi, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Huilin Sun, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Julie Thompson, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Steven Woltering, Texas A&M University - College Station