readingreading

A Better Way to Read is the headline of an intriguing new article in The Atlantic.

It’s about a new app/browser plugin called Beeline that supposedly makes text easier to read. You can see an example of what it does in the image at the top of this post, and see lots more at its site.

It seems like it has some potential. Some research shows that its more effective cognitively to read off paper than screens, but I wonder if this kind of “text-engineering” (that’s a term I learned during the process of writing my latest book on teaching English Language Learners) might change this equation.

Coincidentally, one of my Education Week columns appearing later this month is on this exact topic of which medium is best for reading comprehension.