TY - GEN
T1 - Making reading easier
T2 - 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCI International 2007
AU - Eshet, Yoram
AU - Precel, Karen
AU - Webman, Ronit
AU - Engelberg-Behr, Batsheva
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - The rapid growth in present-day communication technologies has led to an accelerating shift in reading habits,
from print to digital-online. Due to design and usability constraints that involve online reading, such as hyperlinks,
scrolling and line-length, it is of great importance to improve readability and accessibility of online information,
particularly (1) in deep orthography languages, which often lack correspondence between letters and sounds (Frost,
Katz & Bentin, 1987); (2) in countries where multiple languages are spoken; and (3) for people with reading
disabilities. The Hebrew language is an ancient deep-orthography language that uses a punctuation system (diacritical
marks) which provides vowel information to improve readability and comprehension, especially for low-frequency
words (Koriat, 1994; Frost, Bentin & Katz, 1987), borrowed words (Birnboim & Share, 1995), and words that are
ambiguous without vowels: the same sequence of letters produces two different pronunciations and meanings (Frost,
1995). Vowelization is most important for children at the early stages of learning Hebrew (Shimron, 1993), for nonnative Hebrew speakers, for individuals with reading difficulties (Gvion & Friedmann, 2001, Birnboim & Share, 1995),
and when reading under time constraints. To date, most studies have tested the readability of single words. The effect of
vowelization on the readability of words in context has not been tested or standardized.
The present study examines the effect of online text vowelization of Hebrew words in context on reading
among native Hebrew speakers and speakers of Hebrew as a second language. Results will facilitate the determination
of criteria for vowelization to improve online reading. In a country that unites individuals with various language
backgrounds (i.e. Arab-Israelis, immigrants from Russia and other countries) and that stands at the forefront of
technology, it is most important to create a readable, accessible and thus usable computerized environment. The
characteristics of the Hebrew language enable us to examine the conditions under which vowelization may contribute to
the minimization of on-line reading errors, which will allow creating such a computerized environment.
AB - The rapid growth in present-day communication technologies has led to an accelerating shift in reading habits,
from print to digital-online. Due to design and usability constraints that involve online reading, such as hyperlinks,
scrolling and line-length, it is of great importance to improve readability and accessibility of online information,
particularly (1) in deep orthography languages, which often lack correspondence between letters and sounds (Frost,
Katz & Bentin, 1987); (2) in countries where multiple languages are spoken; and (3) for people with reading
disabilities. The Hebrew language is an ancient deep-orthography language that uses a punctuation system (diacritical
marks) which provides vowel information to improve readability and comprehension, especially for low-frequency
words (Koriat, 1994; Frost, Bentin & Katz, 1987), borrowed words (Birnboim & Share, 1995), and words that are
ambiguous without vowels: the same sequence of letters produces two different pronunciations and meanings (Frost,
1995). Vowelization is most important for children at the early stages of learning Hebrew (Shimron, 1993), for nonnative Hebrew speakers, for individuals with reading difficulties (Gvion & Friedmann, 2001, Birnboim & Share, 1995),
and when reading under time constraints. To date, most studies have tested the readability of single words. The effect of
vowelization on the readability of words in context has not been tested or standardized.
The present study examines the effect of online text vowelization of Hebrew words in context on reading
among native Hebrew speakers and speakers of Hebrew as a second language. Results will facilitate the determination
of criteria for vowelization to improve online reading. In a country that unites individuals with various language
backgrounds (i.e. Arab-Israelis, immigrants from Russia and other countries) and that stands at the forefront of
technology, it is most important to create a readable, accessible and thus usable computerized environment. The
characteristics of the Hebrew language enable us to examine the conditions under which vowelization may contribute to
the minimization of on-line reading errors, which will allow creating such a computerized environment.
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SN - 9783540731092
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 969
EP - 974
BT - Human-Computer Interaction
PB - Springer Verlag
Y2 - 22 July 2007 through 27 July 2007
ER -