Increasingly students are accessing teaching material digitally. Previous research has found individual differences in comprehension for a range of reasons: e.g. Decoding skills (e.g. Gentaz Sprenger-Charolles & Theurel 2015) Listening comprehension skills (e.g. Hoganet al. 2014) and Working memory inference making comprehension monitoring & story structure knowledge (Cain Oakhill & Bryant 2004). The current research is looking at two external factors: Font type and medium of presentation.
Comprehension was significantly reduced when using a tablet in conjunction with a serif font. Tablets are often given to students preloaded with core texts but it is clear that the font they are presented in needs to be factored in when choosing texts. Some texts allow digital media to alter fonts whilst others do not. Further research is needed into individual differences and different fonts especially for those with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
