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Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study

Publication ,  Journal Article
Jincho, N; Feng, G; Mazuka, R
Published in: Reading and Writing
January 1, 2014

This study examined age-group differences in eye movements among third-grade, fifth-grade, and adult Japanese readers. In Experiment 1, Japanese children, but not adults, showed a longer fixation time on logographic kanji words than on phonologically transparent hiragana words. Further, an age-group difference was found in the first fixation duration on hiragana words but not on kanji words, suggesting character-type-dependent reading development in Japanese children. Examination of the distributions of saccade landing positions revealed that, like adults, both third and fifth graders fixated more on kanji than on hiragana characters, which suggests that even young children utilize the same oculomotor control strategy (the kanji targeting strategy) as Japanese adults. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the proportion of kanji characters in a text affected adult reading performance. Japanese adults made more refixations and regressions in texts with a high proportion of hiragana characters. The results of both experiments suggest that differences between kanji and kana affect the reading efficiency of school-age children and that maturation of reading skills allows adults to optimize their strategy in reading kanji and kana mixed texts. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

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Published In

Reading and Writing

DOI

ISSN

0922-4777

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

27

Issue

8

Start / End Page

1437 / 1465

Related Subject Headings

  • Education
  • 52 Psychology
  • 47 Language, communication and culture
  • 39 Education
  • 20 Language, Communication and Culture
  • 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  • 13 Education
 

Citation

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Jincho, N., Feng, G., & Mazuka, R. (2014). Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study. Reading and Writing, 27(8), 1437–1465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-014-9500-9
Jincho, N., G. Feng, and R. Mazuka. “Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study.” Reading and Writing 27, no. 8 (January 1, 2014): 1437–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-014-9500-9.
Jincho N, Feng G, Mazuka R. Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study. Reading and Writing. 2014 Jan 1;27(8):1437–65.
Jincho, N., et al. “Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study.” Reading and Writing, vol. 27, no. 8, Jan. 2014, pp. 1437–65. Scopus, doi:10.1007/s11145-014-9500-9.
Jincho N, Feng G, Mazuka R. Development of text reading in Japanese: An eye movement study. Reading and Writing. 2014 Jan 1;27(8):1437–1465.
Journal cover image

Published In

Reading and Writing

DOI

ISSN

0922-4777

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

27

Issue

8

Start / End Page

1437 / 1465

Related Subject Headings

  • Education
  • 52 Psychology
  • 47 Language, communication and culture
  • 39 Education
  • 20 Language, Communication and Culture
  • 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  • 13 Education