The Effect of Word-Unit Spacing upon the Reading Strategies of Non-Native Readers of Chinese: An Eye-Tracking Study.
Abstract
The effect upon selected eye movement parameters of manipulating the spacing between Chinese characters in a Chinese language reading passage was examined. Groups of native Chinese, beginning non-native (American) learners, and advanced non-native learners of Chinese read two versions of a beginning level Chinese language reading passage. One version was typeset normally, while the other was artificially typeset so as to reflect the grouping of individual characters or character combinations into word-units. The differential spacing of the two textual versions did not seem to disruptive to the native Chinese readers. The advanced non-native group, however, fixated more frequently when reading the artificially spaced version. It is hypothesized that this group may have reached a level of familiarity with reading normally spaced Chinese texts that is disrupted by spacial manipulation; beginning non-natives, on the other hand, may have not as yet acquired a consistent strategy for reading Chinese as witnessed by the fact that their fixation frequency did not change significantly between spacing conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA176719
Entities
People
- Michael E. Everson
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology