Eye-tracking Analyses of Text-and-graphic Design Effects on E-book Reading Process and Performance: “Spanish Color Vocabulary ” as an Example

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how graphical design effects on learner's E-book control and visual behaviors by an eye-tracking experiment. The participants were twelve university students with novice experience of Spanish who were asked to read and learn basic Spanish vocabularies in E-book display on iPad. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups of reading materials with high-related graphics and low-related graphics. An ASL MobileEye eye tracker was used to track and record the gaze data of learners. Each participant's action of controls and visual attention during the experiment were observed and coded. Wilcoxon test, Mann–Whitney U tests and Pearson’s correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. The results of this study suggest that low-related graphical design may reduce the effectiveness of learning. Future study is suggested to explore the effects of E-book cue design on students' visual attention and learning performance.