Changing Fonts in Education: How the Benefits Vary with Ability and Dyslexia

Previous research has shown that presenting educational materials in slightly harder to read fonts than is typical engenders deeper processing. This leads to better retention and subsequent recall of information. Before this extremely simple-to-implement and cost-effective adaptation can be made routinely to educational materials, it needs to be shown to benefit all students, or at the very least not to hinder any particular group. The authors found that students across the ability spectrum demonstrate a significant improvement in retention and recall when presented with information in a disfluent font. Significantly, those students with dyslexia are also found to greatly benefit.