This study was conducted to explore the differences in the degree of attention given to Chinese print and pictures by children and adults when they read picture books with and without Chinese words. We used an eye tracker from SensoMotoric Instruments to record the visual fixations of the subjects. The results showed that the adults paid more attention to Chinese print and looked at the print sooner than the children did. The stronger the children’s receptive language abilities were, the less time it took them to view the pictures. All participants spent the same amount of time looking at the pictures whether Chinese words were present or absent.

This study examined the effects of two reading styles (i.e., reading with a narrator and reading independently), receptive vocabulary and literacy on children’s eye movement patterns. The sample included 46 Chinese children (aged 4–6 years) who were randomly assigned to two reading styles and read the same picture book on a screen. The results indicated that the higher the children’s receptive vocabulary was, the sooner they fixated on the text. Overall, the children’s fixation probability (i.e., the time spent viewing the text zones as a proportion of full-page viewing time during each period) decreased with time when reading independently but increased with time when reading with a narrator. For children in senior kindergarten, reading with a narrator is thought to help establish and consolidate the links between speech and text and thus promote reading acquisition.