Wendt, D. (1982). Improving the legibility of textbooks: Effects of wording and typographic design. Visible Language, 16(1), 88-94.

Wendt, D.

1982

Wendt, D. (1982). Improving the legibility of textbooks: Effects of wording and typographic design. Visible Language, 16(1), 88-94.

geen

A previous study (see LLBA 15/2, 8102370) is replicated to examine the role of text design & wording on reading speed & comprehension. Students (N = 346, grades 5 to 7) read standard, typographically redesigned, & reworded texts, & reading times & achievement were measured. It is concluded that the improvement found with the new typographic layout in the previous study was due to the text, which was necessary to fit it into the new format. Ss preferred the visualized version from among the available redesign types.

The results indicate that both experimental versions were read significantly faster, and resulted in significantly larger achievement gains than the original version, but the visualized version was only slightly faster than the version with the same text but in standard layout. The difference between the experimental versions both in reading time and in achievement gain is statically not significant, i.e., it may as well be random. In the new study, average reading times are shorter, but average achievement gains are smaller than in the previous one although still within the rage of variation between classes. As in the previous study, this was the main source of variation.

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