TRACKING THE READING PROCESS
Reading is a complex process, which can be broken down into a variety of activities:
fixating words with our eyes;
processing words in accordance with syntax and semantics;
representing meaning; and
understanding the significance of what is read.
Until now, we have focused on the last three activities – how we come to understand language. Now we will take a look at the first point in the process.
Some of the oldest studies of the reading process were concerned with the pattern of eye movements that occurs when we read text. Even today, many of our insights come from studies of eye-tracking.
Using modern eye-tracking equipment, it is possible to establish where the most sensitive part of the eye (the fovea) is fixating within a piece of text. Although we have the impression of a smooth process when we read, in fact the eye moves in jumps, called saccades, and then fixates, or remains stationary, upon successive pieces of text.
The dots are fixation points, and the lines are saccades. When the line moves back towards an earlier part of the sentence, this is a regression. Word information is only encoded when the eye is stationary, and then only about 15 letters can be encoded within a single fixation. From the perspective of understanding, it is interesting to note that small words are not always fixated. So a word such as ‘he’ may only be fixated 30 per cent of the time. Content words, on the other hand, are nearly always fixated. At one time it was thought that where the eyes fixated was simply a mechanical process, but now it is clear that eye movements are under the control of some of the complex processes underlying language understanding (Rayner & Polletsek, 1989). For instance, when someone has difficulty comprehending a piece of text, regressive eye movements take place – in other words, their eyes move back to earlier parts of the text. These movements are quite common, even in reading straightforward text, as a means of ch cking earlier information to aid interpretation.
Reading is a complex process, which can be broken down into a variety of activities:
fixating words with our eyes;
processing words in accordance with syntax and semantics;
representing meaning; and
understanding the significance of what is read.
Until now, we have focused on the last three activities – how we come to understand language. Now we will take a look at the first point in the process.
Some of the oldest studies of the reading process were concerned with the pattern of eye movements that occurs when we read text. Even today, many of our insights come from studies of eye-tracking.
Using modern eye-tracking equipment, it is possible to establish where the most sensitive part of the eye (the fovea) is fixating within a piece of text. Although we have the impression of a smooth process when we read, in fact the eye moves in jumps, called saccades, and then fixates, or remains stationary, upon successive pieces of text.
The dots are fixation points, and the lines are saccades. When the line moves back towards an earlier part of the sentence, this is a regression. Word information is only encoded when the eye is stationary, and then only about 15 letters can be encoded within a single fixation. From the perspective of understanding, it is interesting to note that small words are not always fixated. So a word such as ‘he’ may only be fixated 30 per cent of the time. Content words, on the other hand, are nearly always fixated. At one time it was thought that where the eyes fixated was simply a mechanical process, but now it is clear that eye movements are under the control of some of the complex processes underlying language understanding (Rayner & Polletsek, 1989). For instance, when someone has difficulty comprehending a piece of text, regressive eye movements take place – in other words, their eyes move back to earlier parts of the text. These movements are quite common, even in reading straightforward text, as a means of ch cking earlier information to aid interpretation.
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