Using an Eye-Tracker to Investigate the Potential Effects of Writing Systems on L1 and L2 Users
The interplay between language and thought has long been a subject of tense debate in the literature, particularly among linguists interested in investigating the impact of the first language on how speakers of different languages envision the world and react to it. This study sought to contribute to this debate by comparing between eye-movement data collected while participants in two linguistic groups (English monolinguals: n = 13; Chinese EFL speakers: n = 14) were reading texts. To achieve this aim, the sampled participants completed an eye-tracking experiment in which they were presented with English street signs containing texts that were written vertically and prompted to read these signs silently. The results of the study revealed several scenarios in terms of the direction of eye movement while reading the signs, the most frequent of which were middle-top-bottom, top-middle-bottom and middle-bottom. The results have also shown a predilection on the part the English monolinguals for middle-top-bottom eye movement, whereas the Chinese participants preferred the top-middle-bottom eye movement. This discrepancy provides little support for the relativity theory because the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.788). Implications for landscape designers and educational institutions are discussed at the end of the study.
The interplay between language and thought has long been a subject of tense debate in the literature, particularly among linguists interested in investigating the impact of the first language on…
This study examines evolving language use within Arabic-speaking communities, focusing on Standard Arabic (SA) and Colloquial Arabic (CA) in written texts. It explores how social media, especially…
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