Some subscribers to Phys-L and Physoc might be interested in a post
"More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention #3" [Hake
(2010)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: In response to my post "Re: More Difficult to Read Text
Leads to Better Retention" [which called attention to the article
"Fortune Favors the Bold (and the Italicized): Effects of Disfluency
on Educational Outcomes" by Oppenheimer et al. (2010)], EDDRA2's
Keith Baker made some points upon which I commented in "Re: More
Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention #2."
In response to the latter post, SCListserv's Owen White wrote
(paraphrasing): "Wikipedia has an article on the readability and
legibility of typography at <http://bit.ly/cgrVQe>. . . . I'd always
been taught that serif fonts (e.g., Times Roman -- fonts with little
'tails' at the ends of letters) is better for 'body text' since it
provides more clues to critical distinctions; lower case 'l', for
example, in contrast to upper case 'I' -- can you tell the difference
in this sans-serif font?"
Similarly, JourNet's Gerald Grow had questioned Oppenheimer et al.'s
designation of certain fonts as "easy" and "hard" to read in response
to "Re: More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better Retention." Grow
wrote (paraphrasing): "At the link
<http://longleaf.net/hardtype.pdf> I've posted some text set in type
similar to that used in the study -- passages set in 16-point Arial,
12-point Comic Sans at 75%, and 12-point Didot (I didn't have the
similar Bodoni on hand) at 75%. Print it out (an on-screen version
will not provide an accurate comparison) and take a look: Is 16-point
Arial really easy to read? That's debatable. . . . . . It's not clear
that the study convincingly compared an easy-to-read font with a
hard-to-read font. Perhaps examining the printed materials used in
the study will help clear up this question."
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REFERENCES [All URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on
03 November 2010.]
Hake, R.R. 2010. "More Difficult to Read Text Leads to Better
Retention #3," online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/a5Yi4S>. Post of 3 Nov 2010 11:14:54-0700 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. kThe abstract and link to the complete post are being
transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/b0qham>
Oppenheimer, D.M., C.D. Yauman, & E.B. Vaughn. 2010. "Fortune Favors
the Bold (and the Italicized): Effects of Disfluency on Educational
Outcomes," online at <http://bit.ly/cATcBK>.