The Effect of Genres and Reading Orders on Interest, Reading Comprehension, and Process: Evidence from Eye Movement of Multiple-text Reading

With the rise of online learning, multiple-text reading has become a prevailing trend and involves complex cognitive processes. Previous research often employed controversial socio-scientific issues in the form of expository texts to examine reading processes and comprehension. However, the story is relatively accessible, which can enhance learners’ interest in reading. Moreover, the reading order could affect how learners integrate multiple texts. Therefore, in this study, we employed eye-tracking technology to investigate how different genres and reading orders of conflicting texts influence readers' change of interest, learning performance, and eye movement patterns. The study included 21 participants who were divided into two groups: expository text first and story first. Each participant was provided with two stories and two expository texts to read. Their interests were recorded before and after reading, alongside their eye movements were recorded during the reading. After completing the reading, participants were required to write an essay and take a multiple-choice test to assess their comprehension. The findings revealed that, regardless of reading order, participants’ interest heightened after reading. however, the expository-text-first group had higher writing scores than the story-first group. As for the eye movement measures, this study showed that although the first-pass reading time was not affected by reading order and genre, the rereading time was. Specifically, the expository-text-first group spent more rereading time on the expository text compared to the story-first group, indicating that these readers devote more rereading time to the expository text, focusing on taking its basic concepts and theories, resulting in greater integrated comprehension. Therefore, they exhibit superior performance in deep-level reading comprehension. This study demonstrates that reading order influences readers' reading comprehension, providing useful insights for future scientific topic education and discussions.