Abstract
We examined how different color coding of a Japanese text impacts the reading performance. Forty participants were asked to read the text aloud 5 times, each with a different color coding, and their voice was recorded. The readability was measured by a readability scale each time when the participant finished reading. Every reader answered 10 questions about the content of the text only after the first time of reading. Results showed that color coding did not influence the understanding, but reading speed was found to enhance when the text was coded by Japanese phrases or by word and slowed down when the color changed within a word. Despite the effectiveness of phrase or word coding, the participants scaled monotone coding as the easiest to read. The result implies that color coding by phrase or by word may be used to improve readability of Japanese reading materials.
