Science reading and self-regulated learning: Evidence from eye movements of middle-school readers

This study investigated that whether and how the mechanisms of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy may underlie explicit behaviors of repeated studying and testing by an eye-tracking method. Sixty-three seventh-grade students read an illustrated science article and completed a reading test. Then they were asked to reread and retest. Our data indicated that skilled readers were more capable of using multiple representations during science reading: they allocated more attention to decoding diagrams and making references between the text and diagrams than less-skilled readers in the first study-test cycle. Further, skilled readers also demonstrate stronger self-regulatory attempts across study-test cycles, given a sharper decrease on eye-tracking indicators regarding diagrams. However, both groups had similar reading patterns regarding text across cycles. Seventh graders tend to apply self-regulatory processes aimed at memorizing more textual components but not for enhancing comprehension, and it suggests that seventh-grade readers’ SRL strategy might be still developing.