Does font affect reading rate?

By: Jael EppleGrade 9

Bellwood-Antis HS

Have you ever had to give a memorized

speech and wanted to review it?

•This project idea came to me when I was in English class preparing for an

important speech I had to present that day.

•I wanted to read through the majority of my speech before I present it.

Problem:Does the font of text

affect the rate at which you read?

1) www.psycology.witchita.edu Times New Roman font was more legible and people read it more quickly than other leading fonts. 2) Ascender Fonts, “Times New Roman has crisp, clean neutrality that has recommended it to the general printing industry.”

Background

Hypothesis:12 point Times New Roman font is read at a faster rate than other 12 point fonts.

•gathered a group of 10 students •short stories of three paragraphs •timed how long it took the students to read the short stories.

Experimental Overview

Experimental Design:Experimental Variable

Different fonts

Experimental Groups:freestyle script Viner Hand ITC Curlz MT Arial Jokerman

Control Group:My control group

was printed 12 point Times New Roman font because it is the most commonly used font.

An example of the different fonts:

Ben Franklin was a man of vision. In the 1700's, - Curlz Mt

Ben Franklin was a man of vision - Arial

Ben Franklin was a man of vision. - Viner Hand ITC

Ben Franklin was a man of vision. - Freestyle Script

Ben Franklin was a man of vision. - Times New Roman

Ben Franklin was a man of vision. - Jokerman

Control Variables: Subjects

1. ages 14-18

2. same reading ability – PSSA Scores (all students scored advanced)

3. ate the same foods

4. not permitted to talk during the experiment.

Control Variables: Story

1. three paragraphs

2. between 265-270 words.

3. same reading difficulty – PSSA ranked

4. 12 point font.

Control Variables: Environment

1. Lighting

2. Temp

3. Time of day

4. Same stop watch

Experimental Procedure:

•Seated all the students•Told each student my experimental overview• Gave each student the same food.•Waited for all the students to finish eating• Gave each student a short story of 3 paragraphs in printed freestyle script font•Started stopwatch •Once the students finished reading they raised their hand•I recorded their times

•I waited 2 minutes until I distributed the next story •for the next test I handed the students a short story of a different font•I started the stopwatch•Students raised their hands to indicate when they finished•Recorded results•I repeated this process until all the fonts were used•I followed this procedure for my control group, the times New roman fonts

Fonts: Times New Roman

Jokerman Curlz MT Arial Viner Hand ITC

Freestyle Script

Time in Seconds:

60 seconds 73 seconds 66 seconds 70 seconds 73 seconds 79 seconds

Average Time of Fonts Being Read.

Times N

ew Roman

Jokerm

an

Curlz M

TAria

l

Viner Han

d ITC

Freesty

le Scrip

t0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Average Time

Average Time

T ime

in seconds Font Styles

freestyle arial viner curlz mt jokerman times0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Series1

Next, I factored in standard deviation, with standard deviation results were inconclusive.

Further AnalysisSo I ranked the amount of time it took each person to read a story in a

particular font 1-6 (1 being the least time to read and 6 being the most) I found that the standard deviation was much less.

freestyle arial viner curlz mt jokerman times0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

Series1

Conclusion:

My data supported my hypothesis. Therefore, I accept my hypothesis that Times New Roman font is read at a faster

rate than other fonts.

Improvements:

•Switch order of the stories. I handed the students the same short stories at the same time. I should have given the students the stories in a different order.

•Make all students get the same amount of sleepStudies by the National Sleep Foundation show lack of

sleep limits ability to: listen, learn, communicate, solve problems and focus

Further research

Different PSSA scores – I only used people who scored advanced – I would also use people who scored basic, average, and proficient

Thank you for your time and

attention. I will now be answering

any questions.