Effects of Disfluent Kanji Fonts on Reading Retention with E-Book

Abstract

Recently, reading disfluency has been used as an instructional strategy. Contradictory to conventional belief, it assumes fonts that are difficult to read may enhance the recall of text messages. Positive outcomes have been reported with a manipulation of disfluency with English fonts. This study focused on the effect of disfluency by varying Japanese kanji fonts for students who are learning Japanese as a second language. Various Kanji fonts were presented interactively in an e-book in which learning texts were embedded. The results suggested that the disfluent font of the learning texts could produce significant improvements in reading retention.