The Promotion of Inter-Word Space in Chinese Sentence Reading of Uyghur College Students with Different Text Presentation Directions

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2025.01.006

Abstract

Abstract:

To explore the role of inter-word spacing in Chinese reading of Uyghur college students under different text presentation directions, this study used an eye tracker to record eye movements of participants during their reading. In specific, we manipulated the text presentation direction (left-to-right vs right-to-left), word segmentation cues (inter-word spacing vs no spacing), and the word frequency of target words (high frequency vs low frequency). The results showed that inter-word spacing promoted the sentence reading of Uyghur college students under both text presentation directions. Moreover, such promoting effect of inter-word spacing was greater in the reading of right-to-left presented text on total number of fixations. The fixation time on target words under the inter-word spacing condition was significantly shorter than that under the no spacing condition, though no significant interaction between word segmentation cues and word frequency was found. These findings indicate that inter-word spacing, as a word segmentation cue, enhances the efficiency of Chinese reading and lexical processing among Uyghur college students.

Key words: word segmentation, Uyghur college students, Chinese reading, eye movement

摘要：

为探讨词间空格在维吾尔族大学生不同文本呈现方向汉语阅读中的作用，本研究使用眼动仪记录读者的阅读过程，操纵了文本呈现方向(从左向右和从右向左)、词切分线索(无空格和词间空格)和目标词的词频(高频和低频)。结果发现：维吾尔族大学生阅读词间空格句子的效率显著高于阅读无空格的句子，从右向左阅读时词间空格条件下的总注视次数显著少于无空格条件；词间空格条件下目标词的注视时间显著短于无空格条件，但词切分线索与词频没有显著的交互作用。结果表明，词间空格作为词切分线索可以提升维吾尔族大学生的汉语阅读效率与词汇加工效率。

关键词: 词切分, 维吾尔族大学生, 汉语阅读, 眼动

Yongsheng WANG, Yang HAN, Xin LI, Liyuan HE. The Promotion of Inter-Word Space in Chinese Sentence Reading of Uyghur College Students with Different Text Presentation Directions[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(1): 41-48.

王永胜, 韩洋, 李馨, 何立媛. 词间空格在维吾尔族大学生不同文本呈现方向的汉语句子阅读中的促进作用[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2025, 23(1): 41-48.

Figures/Tables 5

References 0

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分析指标	从左向右呈现		从右向左呈现
分析指标	无空格	词间空格	无空格	词间空格
阅读速度(字/秒)	4.27(2.01)	4.32(1.95)	2.59(1.10)	2.68(1.14)
平均注视时间(ms)	238(36)	228(35)	259(33)	250(34)
总注视次数	12.14(4.47)	12.12(4.33)	18.48(6.29)	17.79(6.00)
总阅读时间(ms)	4376(2121)	4318(2129)	6859(2976)	6677(2949)

分析指标	从左向右呈现		从右向左呈现
分析指标	无空格	词间空格	无空格	词间空格
阅读速度(字/秒)	4.27(2.01)	4.32(1.95)	2.59(1.10)	2.68(1.14)
平均注视时间(ms)	238(36)	228(35)	259(33)	250(34)
总注视次数	12.14(4.47)	12.12(4.33)	18.48(6.29)	17.79(6.00)
总阅读时间(ms)	4376(2121)	4318(2129)	6859(2976)	6677(2949)

分析指标	变量	b	SE	t	p	95%CI
阅读速度	截距	1.12	0.04	25.48	<0.001	[1.02, 1.21]
	文本呈现方向	0.48	0.01	62.59	<0.001	[0.46, 0.49]
	词切分线索	0.03	0.01	3.32	<0.001	[0.01, 0.04]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	−0.02	0.02	−1.50	0.134	[−0.05, 0.01]
平均注视时间	截距	5.48	0.01	383.22	<0.001	[5.46, 5.51]
	文本呈现方向	−0.09	0.00	−27.49	<0.001	[−0.10, −0.08]
	词切分线索	−0.04	0.00	−11.53	<0.001	[−0.04, −0.03]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	−0.00	0.01	−0.42	0.670	[−0.02, 0.01]
总注视次数	截距	2.64	0.03	76.44	<0.001	[2.57, 2.71]
	文本呈现方向	−0.41	0.01	−53.18	<0.001	[−0.43, −0.40]
	词切分线索	−0.02	0.01	−2.43	0.015	[−0.03, −0.00]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	0.05	0.02	2.96	0.003	[0.02, 0.08]
总阅读时间	截距	8.50	0.04	189.18	<0.001	[8.41, 8.59]
	文本呈现方向	−0.47	0.01	−59.40	<0.001	[−0.49, −0.46]
	词切分线索	−0.03	0.01	−3.24	0.001	[−0.04, −0.01]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	0.03	0.02	1.68	0.092	[−0.00, 0.06]

分析指标	变量	b	SE	t	p	95%CI
阅读速度	截距	1.12	0.04	25.48	<0.001	[1.02, 1.21]
	文本呈现方向	0.48	0.01	62.59	<0.001	[0.46, 0.49]
	词切分线索	0.03	0.01	3.32	<0.001	[0.01, 0.04]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	−0.02	0.02	−1.50	0.134	[−0.05, 0.01]
平均注视时间	截距	5.48	0.01	383.22	<0.001	[5.46, 5.51]
	文本呈现方向	−0.09	0.00	−27.49	<0.001	[−0.10, −0.08]
	词切分线索	−0.04	0.00	−11.53	<0.001	[−0.04, −0.03]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	−0.00	0.01	−0.42	0.670	[−0.02, 0.01]
总注视次数	截距	2.64	0.03	76.44	<0.001	[2.57, 2.71]
	文本呈现方向	−0.41	0.01	−53.18	<0.001	[−0.43, −0.40]
	词切分线索	−0.02	0.01	−2.43	0.015	[−0.03, −0.00]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	0.05	0.02	2.96	0.003	[0.02, 0.08]
总阅读时间	截距	8.50	0.04	189.18	<0.001	[8.41, 8.59]
	文本呈现方向	−0.47	0.01	−59.40	<0.001	[−0.49, −0.46]
	词切分线索	−0.03	0.01	−3.24	0.001	[−0.04, −0.01]
	文本呈现方向×词切分线索	0.03	0.02	1.68	0.092	[−0.00, 0.06]

分析指标	从左向右呈现				从右向左呈现
	无空格		词间空格		无空格		词间空格
	高频词	低频词	高频词	低频词	高频词	低频词	高频词	低频词
跳读率	0.09(0.29)	0.06(0.23)	0.14(0.35)	0.09(0.29)	0.10(0.30)	0.11(0.32)	0.09(0.29)	0.06(0.24)
首次注视时间(ms)	245(75)	265(83)	242(82)	255(79)	277(91)	281(94)	281(101)	294(108)
凝视时间(ms)	306(137)	357(186)	282(129)	318(148)	474(244)	529(257)	441(216)	488(238)
总注视时间(ms)	390(210)	493(281)	354(219)	412(240)	652(340)	772(373)	565(283)	669(333)