Personalized Reading Formats Studied in K-8 Students
Updated: August 30, 2022
Cross-disciplinary research teams delivered posters summarizing their readability research at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) annual meeting. The prestigious reading conference reports on all aspects of reading and its related areas, including issues related to word recognition, comprehension, writing, intervention, assessment involving young children and adults, comparisons of orthographies, and more.
Readability Researchers Dr. Stephanie Day, Dr. Susanne Nobles and Dr. Shannon Sheppard
The principal investigators were Dr. Stephanie Day, University of Central Florida, and Dr. Shannon Sheppard, Chapman University. Dr. Susanne Nobles of ReadWorks joined Dr. Sheppard in the presentation of their findings.
These research projects provide evidence that personalizing text formats can improve reading outcomes for school-aged children. The research is a critical step in the work to make each student the best reader they can be, increasing access and equity in learning.
Both teams plan to publish their findings in academic journals.
Influences of Font Format on Reading Comprehension: Implications of Font Personalization in K-8 Students
Shannon M. Sheppard, Susanne Nobles, Sophie Kajfez, Anton Palma, Kathy Crowley, Marjorie Jordan, & Sofie Beier
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Aims
- Investigate the influence of typography on word (Experiment 1) and passage-level (Experiment 2) reading speed and reading comprehension.
- Evaluate typographic effects at the group level and at the individual reader level (font personalization)
Typographic features (inter-letter spacing and character width) were carefully controlled to isolate effects. This was possible by using the variable font Roboto Flex.
Results
- Subtle changes to font format can impact reading speed and comprehension accuracy.
- Personalizing font format can significantly improve comprehension in developing readers across multiple reading tasks.
Citation: Sheppard, S. M., Nobles, S., Kajfez, S., Palma, A., Crowley, K., Jordan, M., & Beier, S. (2022, July 16). Influences of Font Format on Reading Comprehension: Implications of Font Personalization in K-8 Students. The Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Newport Beach, California, USA.
The Effect of Individualized Font Formats on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Students in Grades 3-5
Aims
- Do format readability gains seen in adults generalize to children?
- Are methods used with adult populations appropriate for use with children?
Results
This study assessed if the methods used to assess format readability gains in adults are appropriate for use with children and investigated if the format readability gains seen in adults generalize to children. The study results indicate that format readability gains seen in children mirror those observed in adults.
About the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR): SSSR promotes the scientific study of reading and disseminates information about reading and related areas such as language and literacy. The society sponsors conferences and a scientific journal.
The SSSR journal publishes original empirical investigations dealing with all aspects of reading and its related areas, and occasionally, scholarly reviews of the literature and papers focused on theory development. Papers range from very basic studies to those whose main thrust is toward educational practice. The broad remit of the journal is to include work on “all aspects of reading and its related areas,” including issues related to word recognition, comprehension, writing, intervention, and assessment involving very young children and/or adults, comparisons of orthographies, and more.
