Eye‐Tracking Technology for Reading

Abstract

Technology for measuring eye movements is becoming more affordable, and applied linguistics and second language studies programs are beginning to purchase eye‐tracking equipment that they dedicate to second language acquisition and to language testing research. The two main types of eye‐tracking technology commonly used for L1 and L2 reading processing research appear to be SR Research's EyeLink 1000 and Tobii Technology's TX300. This chapter reviews what eye movement data are used for, overviews the technology for recording eye movements, outlines what the two systems can and can't do, and presents reasons why these two systems are preferred by reading researchers. The chapter concludes by suggesting ways in which second language testers may capitalize on eye movement research already conducted and ways in which future L2 testing research may be better informed by conducting studies on eye movements.

Cross-Lingual Transfer of Cognitive Processing Complexity

“…Human sentence processing is sensitive to structural complexity. Eye movement data recorded during reading provide insights into cognitive processing patterns with a temporal accuracy of milliseconds (Winke, 2013). Structural processing difficulty materializes as regressions towards the complex region and an increase of fixations on that region (Clifton and Staub, 2011).…”

Book review: Eye-tracking: A Guide for Applied Linguistics Research

“…Eye-tracking, a powerful research tool to probe into cognitive processes, has recently gained traction in research investigations in areas of applied linguistics, including language testing, as it becomes more accessible and affordable. A sparse number of review papers on eye-tracking applications in sub-disciplines of applied linguistics, such as reading, computer-mediated language learning, and second language acquisition (Conklin & Pellicer-Sánchez, 2016; Michel & Smith, 2017; Winke, 2013), have been authored, and research endeavors continue in the field of applied linguistics, in general, and language testing, in particular (e.g., Lee & Choi, 2019; Lee & Winke, 2018; McCray & Brunfaut, 2018; Ranalli, Feng, & Chukharev-Hudilainen, 2018; Yu, He, & Isaacs, 2017; Winke & Lim, 2015). Nonetheless, references that provide comprehensive guidelines for fledgling scholars who seek to conduct eye-tracking research are still in need.…”