Author:

Keywords:

children, news, online, reading ease, usability

Abstract:

In this study, we combine an analysis of the toolsets of children’s online news sites in three countries (the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands) with a usability study of two of these news sites for children aged nine to 12 years old. Results show that especially nine-year-olds find it difficult to navigate through the sites and are faced with reading and comprehension difficulties. Not only nine-year-olds but also 12-year-olds with a higher reading proficiency level run into a lot of difficulties during the usability test. According to the Flesch and Flesch-Douma reading ease calculations, the text material on the sites is too difficult for the age group.