Using Virtual Reality to Assess Reading Fluency in Children

Jonathan Mirault (1) , Jean-Patrice Albrand (2) , Julie Lassault (1) , Jonathan Grainger (1) , Johannes C Ziegler (3, 1)

1 LPC - Laboratoire de psychologie cognitive
2 AMU INSPÉ - Aix-Marseille Université - Institut national supérieur du professorat et de l'éducation
3 ILCB - Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain

Here we provide a proof-of-concept for the use of virtual reality (VR) goggles to assess reading behavior in beginning readers. Children performed a VR version of a lexical decision task that allowed us to record eye-movements. External validity was assessed by comparing the VR measures (lexical decision RT and accuracy, gaze durations and refixation probabilities) to a gold standard reading fluency test-the One-Minute Reading test. We found that the VR measures correlated strongly with the classic fluency measure. We argue that VR-based techniques provide a valid and childfriendly way to study reading behavior in a school environment. Importantly, they enable not only the collection of a richer dataset than standard behavioral assessments but also the possibility to tightly control the environment.

Keywords: reading fluency; virtual reality; lexical decision task; eye-tracking; beginning readers

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Education; Cognitive science; Psychology

Jonathan Mirault, Jean-Patrice Albrand, Julie Lassault, Jonathan Grainger, Johannes C Ziegler. Using Virtual Reality to Assess Reading Fluency in Children. Frontiers in Education , 2021, 6, ⟨10.3389/feduc.2021.693355⟩. ⟨hal-03257346⟩