Gaze into literacy : the potential of eye movement analysis for assessing children's word reading skills in ecological contexts

Children's reading proficiency is reflected in their eye movements during reading, a subject predominantly explored in experimental settings. This doctoral project investigates these dynamics within naturalistic environments. Word reading assessments and eye movement measures were collected from Swedish schoolchildren, revealing patterns consistent with prior research but with increased variability in eye movement data. Analyses showed age-related changes in eye movement characteristics correlating with word reading outcomes. The link between mean fixation duration and tests reliant on lexical processing was particularly strong. Eye movements explained variance in multiple word reading tasks and accounted for nearly half of the overall variance in word reading skill one year post-recording. Among second grade students with below-average performance, those persistently scoring below average in third grade exhibited significantly longer fixations than those who would improve, indicating early eye movements can be used to differentiate between children with persistent difficulties and eventual improvement. The findings of this thesis reinforces previous findings in the participants’ school environments, suggesting that it is feasible to analyze connections between children’s eye movements and reading development under ecologically valid circumstances. Results show that eye movement analysis could be useful to reading assessments, as it offers a means to index children’s word reading ability in concurrent and longitudinal perspectives and can be used to detect true skill deficits. However, the effects of limited experimental control should be considered upon reviewing results. With continued research and careful implementation, eye tracking holds promise for early education practices.

List of scientific papers

I. Andrea Strandberg, Gustaf Öqvist Seimyr, Mattias Nilsson, Per Östberg. Eye Movements during Reading and their Relationship to Reading Assessment Outcomes in Swedish Elementary School Children. Journal of Eye Movement Research. 2022.
https://doi.org/10.16910/jemr.15.4.3

II. Andrea Strandberg, Gustaf Öqvist Seimyr, Mattias Nilsson, Per Östberg. Eye Movements are Stable Predictors of Word Reading Ability in Young Readers. Frontiers in Education. 2023.
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1077882

III. Andrea Strandberg, Gustaf Öqvist Seimyr, Mattias Nilsson, Per Östberg. Early Eye Movement Characteristics of Children with Persistently Poor Word Reading Ability. [Submitted]