THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONLINE READING RATES AND

120TheReadingMatrixVol.3.No.3,November2003THERELATIONSHIPBETWEENONLINEREADINGRATESANDPERFORMANCEONPROFICIENCYTESTSNawalMohamedAbdulRahmanAl-OthmanEmail:[e-mail]________________Thisarticleexaminestherelationshipbetweenonlinereadingspeedratesandperformanceonproficiencytests,giventheproliferatinguseoftheInternet.Thestudyinvolvedtwenty-fivepost-graduatestudentsenrolledinanESLCourseatthePrivateCenterforTeachingEnglishasaForeignLanguageinKuwaitandwhoarealsoinvolvedinpostgraduatestudies.Twelvewerefamiliarwiththecomputerwhileotherswerenot.Toolsusedincludedabackgroundquestionnairetotapintoreaders’onlineaccessingofreadingmaterialsandtheircomputerfamiliarity,theOnlineSpeedReadingTest,andasimulatedTOEFLReadingSubtest.ThemainfindingofthisstudyisthathighratesofreadingspeedsarepositivelycorrelatedwithgoodperformanceontheCBTTOEFLsubtestofReadingComprehension.Acorrelationco-efficientassessedbetweenthestatisticsofhigh-speedreadersandhighperformanceratesofsubjectsofthestudyreached0.92.Theresultsofthisstudysuggestthatdesignersofonlineinformationshouldconsiderthatreadingonlineisslowerthanonpaper,whichmayaffectperformanceonproficiencyassessments.__________________I.IntroductionReadingisbecomingmoreandmoreimportantinthenewknowledgeeconomyandremainsthemosteffectivehumanactivityfortransforminginformationintoknowledge,beitreadingonpaperorfromthescreen.Thesignificanceofreadingasamajorskillandofitssub-skillsisattestedforsothatacademicgoalsneedtobepursuedrightfromthebeginninginsecond-andforeign-languageclassroomsettings,especiallyifthestudentsareexpectedtobeinvolvedinlateracademicpursuitsatadvancedlevelssuchasreadingabstractmaterials,gettingdowntokeyideasfromlectures,writingcritiques,andsummaries,andsoonandsoforth(Richard-Amato,1996).However,readingfromcomputerscreensisbecomingmoreandmorecommoninourdailylivesastheamountofreadingmaterialavailableonlineisrapidlyincreasing(Sawaki2001).Withthecomputerbeingmoreintegratedintodailylife,moreandmorepeopleneedtoreadonlineinformation.WiththeadventoftheInternetinthe1980’sandaproliferatingapplicationtodifferenteducationalpractices,theneedforonlinerendinghasbecomeurgent.Thereisanacutechangetowardsonlinejournalism,internet-basedliteraturereading,onlinenewscasting,ads,researchfindingsdissemination,andmoreimportantly,examinations,particularlyimportantly,examinations,particularlylanguageproficiencyexaminationswhichallpoignantlyindicatetheimportanceofscreenonlinereading.121Aswell,readingonlineespeciallyduringtesttakingisbecomingmoreandmorecommon(DysonandHaselgrove,2000).Notonlydoesthatholdtrueincasesoftesttaking,butalsoitisbecomingmoreandmorecommoninourdailylifeastheamountofreadingmaterialavailableonlineisrapidlyincreasing(SternandWoolfe,2000).Researchshowsthatreadingisaround25%slowerfromacomputerscreenthanfrompaper.Thisdifferencegenerallyincreaseswithincreasingreadingspeed(Sawaki,2001;Ziefle,1998).Unfortunately,thisisfarfromtherealsituation.Theaveragereaderisfivetimesslowerthanthegoodreader.Thingsareevenworseifweconsiderreadingefficiencyaswellasspeed,especiallyduringperformanceonCBTproficiencyexams.Efficientreadingisnotjustspeed-reading.Thegoalofanefficientreaderistounderstandwhattheyarereading,andtolearnfromit,whilenotwastingtime.Speedisapartofefficientreading,butcertainlynottheonlypart,andnoteventhemostimportantpart.NowthatthetrendismoreinlinewiththefieldofL2assessmenttransformingintoacomputer-basedmedium,theneedtoexaminethisissueoftherelationshipbetweenreadingspeedratesandtheonlinemediumhasbeenaddressedinthecontextofEnglishasafirstlanguage.AfewstudieshavedealtwiththerelationshipbetweenonlinereadingratesandperformanceinEnglishasasecondlanguage;nonehassofarbeendoneinthecaseofEnglishasL2forstudentswhosenativelanguageisArabic.Thisstudyseekstoinvestigatewhetherreadingspeedsfromthescreenduringonlineadministrationofproficiencytestsmayaffectperformanceoftestersonsuchtestsornot.Inthefollowingsection,areviewoftheliteratureofreadingcomprehensionfromonthescreenandfrompaperishighlighted.II.ReviewofRelatedLiteratureInthissection,theresearcherreviewsthemainissuesrelatedtoonlinereadingspeedratesversusthetraditionalmodeofpaperandpencilduringproficiencytesttakingprocesses.Thus,thesectionisdividedintosubsectionsasfollows:2.1TheimportanceofonlinereadingascomparedtoP&P:Becauseoftheimportanceofreadingonline,alargenumberofstudiesinvestigatingfactorsaffectingreadingofelectronictextwereconducted.MuterandMaurutto(1991)listedanumberofdifferencesbetweenreadingfrompaperandscreenthatmayaccountfromtheslowerreadingspeedsonscreen.Anotherstudyalsofoundthatreadingfrompapersis20-30%fasterthanreadingfrommonitors(Bailey,1999).However,Nielsen(1998)suggestedthatwithbetterscreenresolution(300dpi)thereadingspeedfromthemonitorwillequalthereadingspeedfrompaper.Ziefle(1998)investigatedtheeffectsonreadingperformanceusinghardcopyandtworesolutionsofmonitors:1664x1200pixels(120dpi)vs.832x600pixels(60dpi).Participantsreadfromthesame19-inchmonitorusingblackcharactersonlightbackground.Thesubjectsviewedthematerialfromadistanceof