“Differences in Print and Screen Reading in Graduate Students”
by Lauren J. Short | Xchanges 14.1, Spring 2019
Results
Perhaps my most significant finding is that respondents described their print and reading practices as different. Generally speaking, respondents said they did not employ similar reading strategies on screen as opposed to print because they found the digital interfaces too difficult to interact with or because they had never been explicitly trained on how to read on screen. Included below is a code chart indicating student response to my interview questions.
| Concept (Preliminary Code) | Description | Raw Data Samples |
|---|---|---|
| Readers Cite Ease in Reading on Screen | Instances where students expressed ease towards reading on screen | “the convenience factor . . . tends to outweigh those hard copy advantages . . .” “it’s nice having digital texts of articles . . . because I can have a bunch of them on me at once” |
| Readers Cite Ease in Print Reading | Instances where students expressed ease towards reading in print | “I can make notes more easily [in print]” “It’s so much easier for me to write notes…when it’s in paper” |
| Lack of Training/Confidence | Instances where students indicated a lack of training or confidence in reading strategies | “we haven’t been trained on e-readers . . .” “I always feel nervous about technology” |
| Difficulty Interacting | Instances where students indicated difficulty interacting with screen reading interfaces | “It’s difficult for me to um, highlight, to make notes . . . when I do it on screen” “The reading on my Kindle is really . . . hard to access the things that I highlight . . . it’s just not a very good interface” |
Table 1: Code chart indicating student responses to the interview questions
Readers Cite Ease as Motivator of Preference
A majority of respondents cite ease (in reading, absorbing information, annotating, and on the eyes), as well as a penchant for the tactile experience for their preference of reading in print versus reading on a screen. Claudia reveals that she spends more of her time reading on a screen and says, “I think . . . [reading preference is] more about convenience and money . . . and portability than anything else.” Amanda cites “eco-guilt” as a motivator for her tendency to read more on screen, which isn’t entirely surprising since she is part of the Natural Resources department. Though the reasons these respondents cite for preference are different, they mostly come back to what one considers to be the easiest mode to read.
Readers Cite Difficulty Interacting with Digital Texts
The majority of my respondents admitted that interacting with texts on screen is much more difficult than in print. Claudia revealed that both reading PDFs on her computer and highlighting on Kindle were “terrible options” because the interfaces were difficult to interact with. Gertrude also expressed the difficulties she faces in highlighting digital texts and taking notes, so much so that she would prefer to take handwritten notes rather than deal with the hassle of highlighting or taking notes on screen. David responded in saying that he found the process of taking notes digitally “clunky,” as he will often write questions in the margins that he will have to go back and “cross out” once he has the answer. For these respondents, note taking and highlighting, two common print reading strategies, are difficult to transfer over digitally.
Readers Cite Lack of Training/Confidence in Using Digital Texts
As Phil says, readers may be more responsive to physical texts because “we haven’t been trained on e-readers.” Furthermore, Gertrude considers that even though she prefers print reading, she can read academic articles online much easier than other formats because “they were introduced to [her] on screen. I learned about them first on screen, so I can read those easier on screen.” When asked how effective she believed her reading strategies to be, Courtney responded: “I am honestly unsure how effective highlighting is in my interpretation of a text. I think my apprehension derives from the fact that I am often unsure if I am highlighting too little information or too much.” As proven by Ben-Yehudah and Eshet-Alkalai (2018), highlighting is one of the more effective reading comprehension strategies, but as they also write, “studies found that highlighting can be harmful for comprehension . . . possibly, because the lack of experience with highlighting strategies increases extrinsic cognitive load” (158). If training for how to go about effective highlighting were provided, students may feel more confident in the strategies they utilize in reading.