Students in higher reading rate quartiles were significantly more efficient than slower readers across key reading efficiency measures, including fixations (eye stops), fixation duration, and regressions (backwards eye stops).
Research Summary
| Grades: | 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 |
| Participants: | n = 2,009 |
| Measure: | Visagraph Eye Movement Recording System |
| Publication: | Journal of Eye Movement Research (2017) |
| Authors: | Alexandra Spichtig, Jeffrey Pascoe, John Ferrara, Christian Vorstius |
This study was a secondary analysis using data originally collected to establish comprehension-based silent reading efficiency norms for elementary, middle, and high school students. It is based on a nationally representative sample of general education students enrolled in U.S. public schools in grades 2-12. During the original study, students read four standardized grade-level passages while an eye movement recording system measured reading rate, fixations (eye stops), fixation duration, and regressions (backward eye movements). These are key indicators of difficulty navigating text during silent reading. A reading eye movement recording was included in the study only if adequate comprehension was demonstrated (at least 70% of questions answered correctly).
This study profiled and compared differences in reading efficiency measures between students in different reading rate quartiles, categorized by words per minute(WPM). These comparisons revealed both within-grade and across-grade developmental patterns. Within each grade, students who read more rapidly with adequate comprehension also, on average, read more efficiently, exhibiting fewer fixations, shorter fixation durations, and fewer regressions. Across grades, students generally become more efficient, but there were notable exceptions. Between grades 6 and 8, fixations and regressions increased while reading rates stagnated. In addition, beyond grade 6, students in the lowest two reading rate quartiles had little improvement in reducing fixations and regressions per word.
These results suggest that consistent declines in fixation duration across grades may partly reflect broader maturational processes, while more fixations and regressions indicate that students may need to fully develop their reading efficiency, and possibly advanced decoding skills, using appropriately leveled practice texts before advancing to more challenging material.
Link to PubMed Article