Alternating-color words facilitate reading and eye movements among second-language learners of Chinese

The present study investigated whether word-boundary information, provided by alternating colors (consistent or inconsistent with word-boundary information) in a Chinese sentence would facilitate the reading of second-language (L2) learners. Thirty-three Korean students were recruited in the eye-movement experiment. Relative to a baseline (i.e., mono-colors) condition, incorrect word segmentation produced closer fixation location toward the beginning of words, longer fixation duration, higher refixation rate, and slower reading speed. In contrast, word segmentation with alternating colors produced further fixation location toward the center of words, shorter fixation duration, lower refixation rate, and faster reading speed. These results indicate that L2 readers are capable of making use of word-boundary knowledge for saccade generation, which can result in a facilitation of reading efficiency.