The Effect of Font Size on Reading Comprehension

Katzir, T., Hershko, S., & Halamish, V. (2013). The effect of font size on reading comprehension on second and fifth grade children: Bigger is not always better. PLoS One, 8(9), e74061. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074061

Background

A common belief among educators is that the physical properties of a text – clarity, font size and type, etc. – may affect the motivation to read that text but the student should still be able to make sense of it. There has been a lot of research on the cognitive load of a text used for reading comprehension but not many have looked at the developmental effects of manipulating the physical properties of a text.

Aims

This study aims to find out whether reading comprehension among second and fifth graders can be enhanced by just manipulating the physical properties of a reading text.

Sample

The samples used were two groups of students. One group was of 45 second graders who were reasonably proficient readers. The other group was 45 fifth graders who were also reasonably proficient readers based on standardised measures.

Method

Two experiments were conducted, Experiment 1 with the second graders and Experiment 2 with the fifth graders. For each experiment, four age-appropriate texts were adapted from previous national reading assessment materials. Each set of four texts were matched for level of difficulty and length to be appropriate for the intended level. For both sets of texts, three dimensions were manipulated between the texts: font size, line length and spacing between lines.

Findings

The study found that the effect of font size differed between the two sets of students. The second graders were impaired by this manipulation of font size and did not perform well when the font size was decreased. However, the fifth graders benefitted from the smaller font size. Second graders also found comprehending the text difficult when the line length was increased. The fifth graders were not affected by line length. Neither group was affected by the spacing between the lines.

Implications

The study makes it clear how reading proficiency can help students understand texts even when those texts are physically composed differently. It also reminds us of the importance of supporting emergent readers in becoming proficient in reading. These findings have implications for the setting of assessment papers too. It highlights the importance of the face validity of the assessment tool, especially for young learners. Changes in font size or line length, which are sometimes seen as typo errors, can significantly affect the performances of emergent readers on assessments.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.