QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD AND SUBVOCALIZATION ON PROGRAM CODE DEBUGGING TASKS.

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Title: QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD AND SUBVOCALIZATION ON PROGRAM CODE DEBUGGING TASKS.
Authors: Tanaka, Tetsuo1, Ueda, Mari1
Source: Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition & Exploratory Learning in Digital Age. 2025, p267-274. 8p.
Subject Terms: *Oral reading, *Computer programming education, *Cognitive load, *Comparative studies, Debugging, C (Computer program language), Self-talk, Empirical research
Abstract: This paper reports on an exploratory study designed to quantitatively investigate the effects of three code reading methods. We conducted an experiment with 22 university students with programming experience, who were tasked with finding and fixing bugs in C language source code using three different reading methods: "reading aloud," "subvocalization," and "silent reading." The experiment was designed as a within-subjects study, where each participant experienced all three conditions. An analysis of the experimental data using paired t-tests and other methods yielded the following findings. Overall, subvocalization showed statistically significant higher debugging performance compared to reading aloud (p < 0.05). However, this effect was not uniform, varying with participants' programming proficiency and their conscious ability to distinguish between the reading methods. Notably, among the group of participants who could clearly differentiate between silent reading and subvocalization, subvocalization demonstrated a statistically significant higher performance than silent reading as well (p < 0.05). These preliminary findings suggest that consciously controlled subvocalization may be an effective strategy for managing cognitive load and directing attention to the details of the code during debugging tasks. This paper reports these findings in detail and discusses their potential applications in programming education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition & Exploratory Learning in Digital Age is the property of International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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DbLabel: Education Research Complete
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PubType: Conference
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  Data: QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD AND SUBVOCALIZATION ON PROGRAM CODE DEBUGGING TASKS.
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  Data: This paper reports on an exploratory study designed to quantitatively investigate the effects of three code reading methods. We conducted an experiment with 22 university students with programming experience, who were tasked with finding and fixing bugs in C language source code using three different reading methods: &quot;reading aloud,&quot; &quot;subvocalization,&quot; and &quot;silent reading.&quot; The experiment was designed as a within-subjects study, where each participant experienced all three conditions. An analysis of the experimental data using paired t-tests and other methods yielded the following findings. Overall, subvocalization showed statistically significant higher debugging performance compared to reading aloud (p &lt; 0.05). However, this effect was not uniform, varying with participants&#39; programming proficiency and their conscious ability to distinguish between the reading methods. Notably, among the group of participants who could clearly differentiate between silent reading and subvocalization, subvocalization demonstrated a statistically significant higher performance than silent reading as well (p &lt; 0.05). These preliminary findings suggest that consciously controlled subvocalization may be an effective strategy for managing cognitive load and directing attention to the details of the code during debugging tasks. This paper reports these findings in detail and discusses their potential applications in programming education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: &lt;i&gt;Copyright of Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition &amp; Exploratory Learning in Digital Age is the property of International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder&#39;s express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.&lt;/i&gt; (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 8
        StartPage: 267
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Oral reading
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Computer programming education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognitive load
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Comparative studies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Debugging
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: C (Computer program language)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self-talk
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Empirical research
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD AND SUBVOCALIZATION ON PROGRAM CODE DEBUGGING TASKS.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Tanaka, Tetsuo
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Ueda, Mari
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Text: 2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition & Exploratory Learning in Digital Age
              Type: main
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