Effect of Dravidian vernacular, English and Hindi during onscreen reading text: A physiological, subjective and objective evaluation study

Abstract

Multilingualism has become an integral part of our present lifestyle. India has twenty two registered official languages with English and Hindi being most widely used for all official activities across the nation. As both these languages are introduced later in life, it was hypothesised that comprehensive reading will be better and faster if the native medium was used. Therefore present study aimed to evaluate the differences in performance while using one of the four Indian Dravidian vernaculars (Tamil, Telugu Kannada and Malayalam) and two non-vernacular (English and Hindi) languages for onscreen reading task. A multi-dimensional approach including physiological (Eye movement recording), subjective (Language Experience And Proficiency Questionnaire, LEAP-Q, Legibility rating) and Objective (Reading time and Word processing rate) measurements were used to quantify the effects. Forty-four Indian infantry soldiers from each of the Dravidian language groups participated in the study. Volunteers read aloud two simple story passages onscreen in their respective vernacular and non-vernacular languages using both time bound and self-paced reading mode. Reading time was lower and word processing rate was higher respectively in case of vernacular than non-vernacular. Consideration of fixation count in both the modes of reading indicated better performance with vernaculars. Legibility score was better in Dravidian languages than others. Results indicated that reading text was faster in vernacular media followed by English and Hindi. Use of vernaculars in onscreen text display of high density workstation may therefore be recommended for easier and faster comprehension