Using Eye Tracking to Investigate Malaysian ESL Students’ Reading Processes and Preferences

Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the effects of English as a Second Language (ESL) on students’ reading processes and preferences on their comprehension of two different types of passages. The participants were 17 students from the English Language Studies department and 16 from the Psychology department of a public university in Malaysia. The eye tracker device (EyeNTNU-120) developed by the National Taiwan Normal University was used to record students’ eye movements while reading the two different types of texts and their patterns analysed statistically. This was triangulated with interviews to find out students’ preference and a reading test. A descriptive text (inclined towards language learning) and a comparison text (inclined towards psychology) were used. The interviews were undertaken to find out students’ reading preferences and the reading test was to measure their reading comprehension performance. It was predicted that the ELS students would prefer Passage A and Psychology students would prefer Passage B because of familiarity of content materials. However, the results showed that both groups of students preferred Passage B and performed better for it too. The results further revealed that ge n e r a l l y both group of students exhibited similar patterns while reading and there was no relationship between reading patterns and reading comprehension scores. Finally, it was discovered that text-based reasons had a greater influence on passage preference than reader-based reasons.