<p>The thesis presents findings from five readability studies performed on mobile devices. The dynamic Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) format has been enhanced with regard to linguistic adaptation and segmentation as well as eye movement modeling. The novel formats have been evaluated against other common presentation formats including Paging, Scrolling, and Leading in latin-square balanced repeated-measurement studies with 12-16 subjects. Apart from monitoring Reading speed, Comprehension, and Task load (NASA-TLX), Eye movement tracking has been used to learn more about how the text presentation affects reading.</p><p>The Page format generally offered best readability. Reading on a mobile phone decreased reading speed by 10% compared to reading on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an interesting finding given that the display area of the mobile phone was 50% smaller. Scrolling, the most commonly used presentation format on mobile devices today, proved inferior to both Paging and RSVP. Leading, the most widely known dynamic format, caused very unnatural eye movements for reading. This seems to have increased task load, but not affected reading speed to a similar extent. The RSVP format displaying one word at time was found to reduce eye movements significantly, but contrary to common claims, this resulted in decreased reading speed and increased task load. In the last study, Predictive Text Presentation (PTP) was introduced. The format is based on RSVP and combines linguistic chunking and adaptation with eye movement modeling to achieve a reading experience that can rival traditional text presentation.</p><p>It is explained why readability on mobile devices is important, how it may be evaluated in an efficient and yet reliable manner, and PTP is pinpointed as the format with greatest potential for improvement. The methodology used in the evaluations and the shortcomings of the studies are discussed. Finally, a hyper-graeco-latin-square experimental design is proposed for future evaluations.</p>

The thesis presents findings from five readability studies performed on mobile devices. The dynamic Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) format has been enhanced with regard to linguistic adaptation and segmentation as well as eye movement modeling. The novel formats have been evaluated against other common presentation formats including Paging, Scrolling, and Leading in latin-square balanced repeated-measurement studies with 12-16 subjects. Apart from monitoring Reading speed, Comprehension, and Task load (NASA-TLX), Eye movement tracking has been used to learn more about how the text presentation affects reading. The Page format generally offered best readability. Reading on a mobile phone decreased reading speed by 10% compared to reading on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an interesting finding given that the display area of the mobile phone was 50% smaller. Scrolling, the most commonly used presentation format on mobile devices today, proved inferior to both Paging and RSVP. Leading, the most widely known dynamic format, caused very unnatural eye movements for reading. This seems to have increased task load, but not affected reading speed to a similar extent. The RSVP format displaying one word at time was found to reduce eye movements significantly, but contrary to common claims, this resulted in decreased reading speed and increased task load. In the last study, Predictive Text Presentation (PTP) was introduced. The format is based on RSVP and combines linguistic chunking and adaptation with eye movement modeling to achieve a reading experience that can rival traditional text presentation. It is explained why readability on mobile devices is important, how it may be evaluated in an efficient and yet reliable manner, and PTP is pinpointed as the format with greatest potential for improvement. The methodology used in the evaluations and the shortcomings of the studies are discussed. Finally, a hyper-graeco-latin-square experimental design is proposed for future evaluations.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka läsförmåga hos yngre elever med eller utan autismspektrumtillstånd. Sammanlagt deltog 72 elever i studien; 30 i årskurs 3, 31 i årskurs 5 samt 11 i årskurs 5 med Aspergers syndrom/högfungerande autism. Tre texter med tillhörande fakta- och inferensfrågor (Bishop &amp; Adams, 1992) presenterades på tre olika sätt; uppläst, tyst läsning och tyst läsning med textstöd vid efterföljande frågor. I föreliggande studie beaktades även andra variabler i relation till läsförståelse; ordavkodningsförmåga, verbalt arbetsminne, Theory of Mind samt ordförråd. Utgångspunkten för metoden var en tidigare magisteruppsats i logopedi vid Linköpings Universitet av Nyström och Söderqvist (2013). Resultatet visade ett högre resultat för lässättet tyst läsning med textstöd och för frågetypen faktafrågor. Gällande lässätt i förhållande till frågetyp fick faktafrågor högre resultat då texten fanns tillgänglig vid efterföljande frågor, medan resultatet på inferensfrågorna inte påverkades av olika lässätt. Eleverna i årskurs 5 presterade bättre på tyst läsning samt på inferensfrågor än de i årskurs 3. Ett samband mellan textförståelse och andra variabler återfanns för årskurs 3 och årskurs 5, främst gällande ordförråd. Inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader återfanns mellan eleverna med Aspergers syndrom/högfungerande autism och de andra undersökningsgrupperna, vilket kan bero på att gruppen hade få deltagare och stor spridning. Slutsatser utifrån föreliggande studie är att årskurs 5 har en mer utvecklad läsförmåga än årskurs 3. Elever med Aspergers syndrom/högfungerande autism i årskurs 5 ligger resultatmässigt mellan årskurs 3 och 5, men skillnaderna är inte statistiskt signifikanta. / The aim of the present study was to examine reading ability in younger students with or without autism spectrum disorder. In total, 72 students participated; 30 in grade 3 (9-10 years old), 31 in grade 5 (11-12 years old) and 11 in grade 5 with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism (11-12 years old). Three texts with related literal and inference questions (Bishop &amp; Adams, 1992) were presented through listening, silent reading or silent reading with text support during questions. The study also examined other variables in relation to the texts; word reading ability, verbal working memory, Theory of Mind and vocabulary. The methodological foundation was a study by Nyström and Söderqvist (2013). When including all participants, analysis showed that the text presentation silent reading with text support and the question type literal questions lead to higher results. Regarding text presentation in relation to question type the results on the literal questions improved with text support whilst text presentation did not affect results on the inference questions. Regarding silent reading and inference questions grade 5 performed better than grade 3. Correlations between text comprehension and other variables, mainly vocabulary, were found for grade 3 and 5. No statistically significant differences were found for students in grade 5 with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism compared to the other groups. This may be due to the group’s wide distribution and small size. Conclusions are that grade 5 has a more developed reading ability than grade 3. The results of the students with Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism in grade 5 do not statistically significant differ from students in grade 3 or grade 5.