Motivational Principles for Text
The physical characteristics of text are not the only factors affecting its legibility and readability. When most people look at a page, they don’t see typefaces and they don’t see type. They see words. They’re not admiring the page –they’re reading it, and reading is all about rhythm. In order to make long passages of text more readable and to keep a reader’s momentum going, they must be able to (1) gain and maintain attention, (2) relate content to learner interests, goals, or past, and (3) build and maintain learner confidence in their ability to use the material.
The following are some helpful guidelines to keep readers motivated to read.
The following are some helpful guidelines to keep readers motivated to read.
Give a Positive Impression
- Give print courseware a comfortable image to gain and maintain learner attention and to build confidence.
- Make the initial perception of print courseware seem easy, rather than difficult to read in order to gain and maintain attention and to build confidence.
- Use relatively short books and text segments to convey a less formidable image than long books or segments in order to maintain attention and build confidence.
- Make the instructional text well-organized and explicit to maintain learner attention and to build confidence.
- Use a reasonably open text display rather than a constrained display in order to maintain learner attention.
- Use appropriate color, graphics, and high-quality typesetting and printing for print products to gain and maintain learner attention.
- Use a familiar typeface and size that follow standard typesetting conventions to maintain learner attention.
- Make each line around ten words and 10- to 12- point type to make text easier to read, maintain learner attention, and increase confidence.
Use a Readable Style
- Use readable language and a readable writing style to maintain learner attention and increase confidence.
- Use action verbs, words that are familiar, concrete, and specific, and avoid jargon.
- Use a natural word order to maintain learner attention.
- Use the active voice to maintain learner attention.
- Use sentences that are of moderate length to maintain learner attention and build confidence.
- Use macrosignals to make it easier for a reader to understand relationships in the text.
- Vary the vocabulary and the complexity of sentences to maintain learner attention.
Provide Helpful Formatting
Make the layout of print courseware easy to perceive in order to maintain learner attention and build confidence.
- Foreshadow the context of text elements by labelling them with prominent titles and headings.
- Use typographic cues (boldface type, italics, underlining, etc.) to tell a reader what is important in a text.
- The layout of a page should be designed to help the student see at a glance which elements are most important and which ones go together.