Eye Movement Dynamics of Good and Poor Readers: Then and Now

Abstract

While reading text, the eye movements of good and poor reading fifth graders, third graders and adults were assessed. Subjects were tested in two sessions one year apart. Dependent variables included the duration and frequency of forward going fixations and regressions; an analysis of individual differences was also made. Results showed that poor reading fifth graders have relatively unsystematic eye movement behavior with many more fixations of longer duration than other fifth graders and adults. The eye movements of poor readers are quantitatively and qualitatively different than those of normal readers.