Summary: | 碩士 === 亞洲大學 === 心理學系碩士班 === 98 === Reading is one of the most regarded issue presently. Recently, there have been many
studies to discuss the relationship between the font size and reading speed on video
display terminals. However, there is little study to discuss the relationship between the
font size and reading speed in printed Chinese. This study was aimed to evaluate the
effects of printed Chinese in three font size (8pt, 10pt, 12pt) on reading performance and
to understand the relationship among font size, types of reading comprehension test and
comprehension levels. Two experiments were included in this study. In experiment 1, the
complete within-participant design was used and twenty-four participants who were
learning Mind Mapping in China Medical University were recruited. Participants were
asked to read three articles in different font size and content. The reading speed was
measured by the time needed to finish reading. The reading accuracy and comprehension
were determined by multiple choices and drawing a concept map. Results showed that
reading speed was the highest in 10pt font size, but a significant difference was found in
concept mapping test, but no in multiple choice test. The difficulty of reading
comprehension test was suggested to be the modulator of font size effect. Therefore, three
reading comprehension tests (multiple-choice, matching, and concept mapping) with
different difficulty levels were used in experiment 2. Fifty-one Participants from Asia
University were asked to read three texts in different font size and different content,
followed by the comprehension tests. Results also showed that reading speed was the
highest in 10pt. Although reading comprehension scores was significant different from
each other, font size had no effect on them. Taken together, the results clearly showed that
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font size affect reading speed. These results also suggested that the effect of font size on
reading comprehension was modulated by the difficulty level of reading comprehension
test, but other variables, such as motivation, were not excluded.
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