Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

We propose a computer-based testing environment, Reading Skill Test, to measure the effects of various types of systematic reading support systems. We prove its validity, reliability and one-dimensionality using 31,000 subjects. The effects of furigana system on the 5th to 8th grade students are analyzed using this environment. Furigana is a widely used Japanese reading support system that has been believed to be beneficial especially for pupils. Despite our expectation, we have to conclude that furigana failed to improve pupils’ reading significantly, and discuss why it did so.