Effect of graphic design on E-book reading: A pilot eye-tracking study

This study explored graphical design effects on learner's E-book control, visual behaviors and learning performance by a pilot eye-tracking experiment. Twelve university students with novice experience of Spanish language participated in an e-book reading task to learn basic Spanish vocabularies. All participants were randomly assigned into two groups of reading materials with high-related graphics and low-related graphics. During the experiment, an ASL MobileEye eye tracker was used to track and record the gaze data of learners into video files. After reading 10 sets of text-and-graphic vocabularies in the E-book though an iPad, each participant received an immediately posttest, a three-days and a one-week delayed posttest. Each participant's action controls and visual paths on the e-book were observed and coded. Mann-Whitney U tests, Wilcoxon tests and Pearson's correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Results showed that the high-related-graphic group had significant higher scores on immediately posttest. In addition, students gained learning retentions in both groups. Regarding e-book control behavior, the high-related-graphic group clicked on sound buttons more than the other group. The learners who had happier prior language learning experience also tended to click more on pronunciation buttons. Besides, the learners who believed that graphic is helpful for learning vocabularies spent less time reading the e-book. This pilot study successfully demonstrated the usability of eye-tracking techniques to investigate students' eye fixations while reading e-books. Future study is suggested explore the effects of e-book content design on students' reading behaviors or learning outcomes.