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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1901/438

Title: DAIRSACC - Do Acronyms Influence Reading Speed and Content Comprehension?
Authors: Tibor Beres
Keyword: Acronyms; Acronym disambiguation; Reading performance; Content comprehension
Issue Date: 12-Nov-2007
Publisher: School of Information and Library Science
Abstract: Acronyms, initialisms and other types of abbreviations are frequently used in scientific, academic, governmental and administrative setting to shorten lengthy terminology and nomenclature. While they can make a text easier to read for people familiar with the abbreviations, they can add to the text’s inherent difficulty and impede comprehension for those who are not familiar with their meaning. The phenomenon of acronym polynymy (multiple definitions associated with the same acronym) can create confusion and add to the cognitive load associated with understanding the text. The current practice of defining acronyms only once, when introduced can result in readers scrolling back and forth in the text looking for acronym definitions, increasing the cognitive load and negatively affect reading speed and content comprehension. The purpose of this research was to study if the presence of a large number of acronyms in a text impedes reading performance. The current study also investigated if ...
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1901/438
Appears in Collections:SILS Master's Papers

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