“Differences in Print and Screen Reading in Graduate Students”
by Lauren J. Short | Xchanges 14.1, Spring 2019
Theory
For the purposes of providing background on the research that has taken place on this subject, I will more deeply examine the scholarly work of Eszter Hargittai (2010) in the field of sociology as well as Tim Vandenhoek (2013) and Gal Ben-Yehudah and Yoram Eshet-Alkalai (2018), whose work can be found in journals discussing education using information and communication technologies.
Eszter Hargittai takes a nuanced approach to understanding the differences between the digital native/immigrant divide. In her 2010 study, Hargittai calls attention to the lack of evidence supporting the understanding that just because someone has “grown up with digital media” they are “assumed to be universally savvy with information and communication technologies.” In a paper-pencil survey administered to 1,060 first-year students at an urban university, Hargittai was able to surmise that one’s familiarity with the digital realm is more complex than one factor. In fact, this study proves that socioeconomic status has more to do with one’s familiarity with digital media and communication than any other factor. Higher levels of parental education, being a male, and being white or Asian American are the most likely markers of one’s digital savviness.
Tim Vandenhoek (2013) corroborates research that claims one of the largest pitfalls to digital reading is the lack of ability to annotate. Vandenhoek cites a study illustrating that even when students were made aware of annotation features of digital interfaces, they were uninterested in utilizing them. This reluctance may suggest a general unfamiliarity and thus, suspicion towards digital annotation that hasn’t come into the mainstream. Students do however report a willingness to engage with digital texts more frequently when explicitly instructed in reading strategies.
At the University of Limerick, Vandenhoek conducted a survey of 630 students on their reading habits, specifically referring to digital texts in the format of academic article PDFs. Results showed that nearly 3/4 of the respondents preferred print to digital reading, though more than half said they did not print out articles either to save money or for environmental purposes. Nearly 90% of students said they annotate print texts while only 16% take notes on the computer. Interestingly, many of these same students noted that they were unaware of or didn’t know how to use various annotation methods on digital interfaces.
In a recent study by Gal Ben-Yehudah and Yoram Eshet-Alkalai (2018), the researchers examined the effects of highlighting as a reading comprehension method when applied to both print and on-screen versions of text. According to the study, “when participants were instructed to use text-highlighting, performance improved only in the printed condition. Specifically, text-highlighting improved accuracy on questions that required inferential processing, but it did not affect performance on literal questions” (p. 153). Understanding this difference could lead to insight into how educators might teach their students how to read assigned texts.