Study Focus There is substantial existing research about reluctant and dyslexic readers showing that presenting reading material with increased spacing between each letter (expanding the tracking) compared to the default, facilitates more accessible reading. Also specialised fonts have been designed to facilitate reading by dyslexics. Much of this research, however, has been undertaken with adolescents and adults, or in other languages which may bear more phonetic correspondence than English. Additionally, there is existing neurological-based evidence that interventions to facilitate reading are more effective in younger children. This has informed the purpose of this research to focus on whether young, struggling learners of English may benefit from the same. Research Design and Findings A feasibility study was conducted to determine whether there was sufficient merit to undertake a fully generalizable research project post MA. Twelve volunteers, aged 7-9, participated in a standardised reading task in the default style, an expanded tracking style and a specialised font style. Three-quarters of them were exceptionally good readers for their age, which is to be expected from volunteers undertaking a reading task. On the whole, the reluctant readers preferred not to complete the task, but results from one these participants showed an 8½ month increase in reading age from one of the alternatives. Nearly all the children, who did not reach the ceiling of the test, showed greater reading accuracy and understanding with one of the alternative styles. Overall there was enough indication that expanded tracking does achieve more fluent reading and comprehension than default letter-spacing, sufficient to warrant further study on a larger scale.
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Smith, Catherine
Rights Holders: Smith, Catherine Supervisors: Frodsham, Sarah
School of EducationFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
MA Education
2022
© Smith, Catherine Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved