Sixrevisions.com, which is a web developer's resource, explained how a study on eye tracking helps web traffic:
Now, my interest in this is in how this eye tracking patterning affects kids learning to read an actual written text.
My two oldest boys are 11 and 9. I taught them both to read using the same curriculum, which was before
"apps" or even computer games were targeted to 4 and 5 year olds.
"apps" or even computer games were targeted to 4 and 5 year olds.
In fact, my boys had no interest in the computer since they knew there was nothing on it for them! Snuggled up together, we read books aloud, made up stories using the pictures and all that other creative stuff. Neither of them had any issues with how to move across the page; this book is laid out well and teaches left to right tracking from the beginning:
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(check out mamaofletters.com review here) |
My youngest son who is 5, however, has "grown up" with apps and watching his older brothers play computer games online. He jumps all over this page when reading! His eyes scan the whole page and he then picks a sound or word to read based on his preferred visual familiarization.
We have a whole new generation of emerging readers who are visually biased and stimulated to page layout and random scanning. In order to correctly learn to read, then, these students are needing to be retrained in left to right eye tracking on a page. Unfortunately, studies have shown that reteaching a skill is far more difficult because you have to overcome bad habits and retrain the brain's neural pathways (read How The Brain Learns by David Sousa)
The method for teaching reading is still effective but the day to day interaction with information has greatly influenced how readers seek information. Sad to say that the impact of scanning written text will continue to cause reading difficulties. Eye tracking during reading is a complex and necessary process and the interruption, or competition, of scanning is not building the correct neural pathways for successful reading skills.