Font legibility in first year primary students / Legibilidad de distintos tipos de letra en alumnos de primero de primaria

Abstract

The typeface used when students learn to read is largely ignored in educational practice and research. In this study, the reading of 115 Spanish first graders was assessed using texts written with six different typefaces, including a cursive script font. Significant differences were found in the number of decoding errors across the different typefaces, but not in fluency problems or number of words correctly read per minute. Our main conclusion is that the use of typefaces similar to handwriting in school texts for primary students who have already started to read is not justified.