Language of the gaze
Whether or not people realise it, the gaze or movement of the eye has a behaviour, a language and a meaning all its own. In other words, what people are thinking or feeling is often reflected in the movement of their eyes. The I-EYE project has taken this notion further in using it to assist in foreign language learning by providing data that measures eye movements whenever learners experience difficulty. The data that was gathered was used to assign norms and values for triggering eye movement behaviour that occur while reading, problem solving and searching. The two applications that were used were iTutor and iDict both of which are end-user prototypes. iTutor is a head-mounted device that operates through eye-gaze and speech interaction. It brings information space (such as a textbook) into the user's real space, allowing the user to use more than one source of information at a time. This can assist the user with problem solving as well as determining the best strategy to use. It can even note the difference between scanning reading material and in-depth reading. iDict on the other hand, is a gaze-assisted environment used for reading electronic texts that have been written in a foreign language as well as in the native language. When a reader encounters comprehension difficulties, their eye gaze behaviour changes. iDict picks up on this difficulty and accesses a dictionary to search for a translation of the word in question and provide a meaning either on screen or aloud. The data generated from these applications could have a multitude of uses for a wide range of language learners in the future. This could in turn make reading, problem solving and searching a more pleasurable experience for learners.
