How Should I Read This Word?: The Influence of Vowelization in a Deep Language Orthography on Online Text Comprehension

  • Authors:

  • Karen Precel;Ronit Webman;Yoram Eshet;Batsheva Engelberg-Behr

  • Affiliations:

  • Chais Research Center for the Integration of Technology in Education, The Open University of Israel,;The Graduate Center, City University of New York,;Chais Research Center for the Integration of Technology in Education, The Open University of Israel,;Chais Research Center for the Integration of Technology in Education, The Open University of Israel,

  • Venue:
  • UAHCI '09 Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Part III: Applications and Services
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

This study examined whether online text vowelization of words in context facilitates reading in Hebrew, which is a deep orthography language. The study compared the effect of vowelization on reading among native and non-native Hebrew speakers. In Study 1 , 44 participants performed a self-paced reading - cumulative presentation task [9], that includes a 2 (voweled/non-voweled) X 2 (frequent/non-frequent) X 2 (homographs/unambiguous words) X 2 (location of words: beginning or middle/end of sentence) design. Study 2 was conducted in order to deal with some of the methodological problems in study 1. Eighty-six participants performed the same task. Results indicated that vowelization does not facilitate reaction times of homographs for both Hebrew and non-Hebrew speakers. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies and the participants' characteristics.