Improving reading rate prediction with word length information: Evidence from Dutch

Previous research in English has suggested that reading rate predictions can be improved considerably by taking average word length into account. In the present study, we investigated whether the same regularity holds for Dutch. The Dutch language is very similar to English, but words are on average half a letter longer: 5.1 letters per word (in non-fiction) instead of 4.6. We collected reading rates of 62 participants reading 12 texts with varying word lengths, and examined which change in the English equation accounts for the Dutch findings. We observed that predictions were close to the bes... Mehr ...