Reading is the gateway for learning, but one-third of elementary school students in the United States do not read at grade level. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are exploring how the design of reading materials affects literacy development. They find that an overly busy page with extraneous images can draw the reader’s attention away from the text, resulting in lower understanding of content.
"Learning to read is hard work for many kids," said Anna Fisher, associate professor of psychology and senior author on the paper.
The typical design of books for beginning readers often include engaging and colorful illustrations to help define the characters and setting of the story, offer context for the text and motivate young readers. Fisher and Cassondra Eng, a doctoral candidate in CMU’s Department of Psychology and first author on the paper, hypothesized that the extraneous images may draw the reader’s eyes away from the text and disrupt the focus necessary to understand the story.
Becoming Fluent Readers
The researchers sought to understand how to support young readers and optimize their experience as they become more fluent readers. In the study, 60 first- and second-grade students from the greater Pittsburgh area were asked to read from a commercially available book designed for reading practice in this age group. Half of the book consisted of the published design and the other half was streamlined, having removed the extraneous images. Each child read from the same book. The team used a portable eye-tracker to monitor the number of times the child’s gaze shifted away from the text to images on the page.
Relevant vs Nonessential Images
To develop the streamlined version of the book, the researchers had a group of adults identify relevant images to the text. To differentiate, extraneous images were defined as entertaining, but nonessential pictures to understand the story. For the streamlined version, the researchers kept the images that 90% of the adult participants agreed were relevant illustrations. All other illustrations were removed.
While the time each child spent on a page was similar, the researchers found that nearly all children reading the streamlined version had lower gaze shifts away from text and higher reading comprehension scores compared to the text in the commercially designed version of the book. In particular, children who are more prone to look away from text benefited the most from the streamlined version of the book.
Independent Reading
"During these primary school years, children are in a transition period in which they are increasingly expected to read independently, but even more so in the wake of stay-at-home orders as children are using technology with less in-person guidance from teachers," said Eng. "This is exciting because we can design materials grounded in learning theories that can be most helpful to children and enrich their experiences with technology."
According to Fisher, these findings highlight ways to improve the design of educational materials, especially for beginning readers. By simply limiting extraneous illustrations, children can have an easier time focusing and better reading comprehension as a result.
"This is not a silver bullet and will not solve all challenges in learning to read," said Fisher. "But if we can take steps to make practicing reading a little bit easier and reduce some of the barriers, we [can help children] engage with the printed material and derive enjoyment from this activity."
StepUp Note
Focused attention is a critical skill for independent learning. This research shows how we can help children practice focused attention by reducing distractions in the learning environment. Children in this study were distracted by too much visual detail in a picture supplementing the written story text. Distractions can always degrade focused attention. For example, think of a child who is writing a sentence. When handwriting is not fluent, they have to stop, think again, erase or write over what they have just written. They are self-distracted learners, distracted by lack of fluency in their handwriting skills. StepUp programs focus on fluency by having children practice fluent retrieval of basic skills (reading decoding, math facts, and handwriting). Try it free for 30 days!
Note by Nancy W Rowe, M.S., CCC/A
Article reposted from Carnegie Mellon University.