Print Reading: A Gold Standard?

Chapter 3 looks at how much reading adolescents and young adults are now doing. Their amount of leisure reading is startlingly low. The picture is equally worrisome for completing school reading assignments. After reviewing previous studies of college reading compliance, the chapter presents a study conducted by the author and a Norwegian colleague exploring faculty perspectives on student reading: how much faculty are assigning, how much reading they believe students are doing, and perceived effects of digital technology on both. It’s common to assume print as a “gold standard” against which to measure digital reading. But in reality, most readers most of the time don’t measure up when using print. The chapter concludes by considering a range of traditional strategies for reading print in learning contexts and asks which strategies might apply to digital or audio reading, and which are actually effective for print.

The Road Ahead

Chapter 10 asks us to think about two paradoxes. The first is that while print usage in the trade world has largely stabilized, the education market is aggressively adopting digital textbooks. Moreover, many students now judge print reading to be boring. The second paradox is that as screens potentially become the default mode for reading in schools, one of the much-touted goals of education, critical thinking, is ill suited to digital reading. While the notion of critical thinking remains ill defined, it surely includes reasoned analysis and reflection, for which the evidence indicates print is better suited. Digital tools, which are effective for information-seeking and fact-checking, also appear to be undermining our motivation for using our memory capacity. But readers are not defenseless. The chapter closes with concrete suggestions for mapping a way forward.

Strategizing Reading in a Digital World

Chapter 9 considers how reading practices are embedded in broader societal trends, especially those involving digital technology. One important development is a move from the durable to the ephemeral. This transformation is reflected in progressively choosing experiences over possessions. It also surfaces in acquiring digital over physical versions of possessions, even though users judge the physical as more valuable. Growing use of digital technologies may be leading readers using print to adopt the mindset typically associated with reading digitally. We have seen from the research that digital reading is often shallow and done quickly, frequently while multitasking. Is this the fate of print reading as well? Already some readers report print reading is boring, compared with the potential entertainment opportunities with digital. The chapter closes with suggestions for both print and digital reading in a digital world, including Maryanne Wolf’s model of biliteracy.

Stranger Publics

This chapter discusses the Arabic literary circulation and how the exclusive distribution of prints disconnected people. Qiṣṣat Rūbinṣun Kurūzī and the other Church Missionary Society publications were printed annually in small quantities and distributed by agents of the church by hand. The forms of Arabic literary circulation that existed when al-Shidyāq began his career in print were mainly restricted to religious and government publications, which were focused on liturgical and scientific texts, and only occasionally produced editions of poetry or narrative fiction. Literary societies served smaller and more selective audiences still. The chapter mentions the Syrian Society for Arts and Sciences, the Oriental Society of Beirut, and the Syrian Scientific Society. Those “disconnected” peoples that al-Shidyāq imagined connecting via the printing press would have been limited to a small group of readers. Al-Bustānī's “Khuṭba,” proposed a comprehensive plan for the renovation of the Arabic letters and sciences that hinged on the creation of a reading public. He called for reforming Arabic lexicography through the elimination of “dead words” “weighing down” Arab authors, increasing literacy through the founding and funding of schools, and above all investing in print. Reading print required too much translation, as al-Khūrī put it: writing for the public was not only like translation but entailed translation. It was, for him, not a sphere but an “abyss.” The modern reader, and that institution of literary modernity the public sphere, emerged as a problem of translation.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Bilingual Singaporean Children’s Leisure Reading

Long-term school absences during pandemic lockdowns may result in learning gains and losses much like the summer reading loss, but little is known about the actual effects of such lockdowns. This mixed-methods study examined changes in reading enjoyment, amount and resources in three groups of bilingual children—English-Chinese, English-Malay, and English-Tamil speaking children—during the COVID-19 lockdown in Singapore. Results reveal a lockdown reading gap between children’s stronger language (English) and weaker language (Chinese/Malay/Tamil). Within each language, results show differential reading gains and losses for children who enjoyed and did not enjoy reading in print and digital formats. Children’s reading enjoyment before the lockdown, changes in reading enjoyment and print reading amount during the lockdown in English and Chinese/Malay were significantly correlated. Children preferred print reading over reading digitally both before and during the lockdown, and devices were underutilized for reading purposes.

Publishing and Innovation: Disruption in the Chinese E-book Industry

Is digital publishing leading to a paradigm shift or only replicating the print publishing systems in digital garb? This appears to be a key concern of the Chinese publishing industry in the internet age. While digital publishing has tremendous disruptive potential, there is still uncertainty about the transformation and evolution of publishing in China, as it is deeply influenced by the special Chinese contexts. Just some of the characteristics include strong government control, the monopoly of state-owned publishers, the prevalence of print reading habits, and a traditional book culture as opposed to the open, connected, and distributed internet culture. In this chapter, I will review disruptive innovation in the e-book industry and the cultural impact of the e-book in both the production and consumption sides of publishing in China. I will explore the complex interplay between disruptive innovation and contextual factors through examining three case studies in the e-book field: Qidian (Qidian Zhongwen wang 起点中文网), the literary self-publishing site; China Mobile Reading Base (Zhongguo yidong yuedu jidi 中国移动阅读基地), the e-book distributor for mobile phone reading; and Duokan (Duokan yuedu 多看阅读), an e-book start-up powered by user-oriented and user-driven innovation.

The Effects of Gender and Reading Mediums on Reading Comprehension

The present study examined the effects of gender and different types of reading mediums on reading comprehension among students. Forty undergraduates were asked to read four psychopathology texts (two digital texts and two print texts). Results showed that there was no significant difference in reading comprehension between gender. However, the mean scores obtained by females were slightly higher than males. Results also showed that reading comprehension between the two groups (print versus digital) was not significantly different. Nevertheless, the mean scores revealed that participants’ performance in print reading was slightly better than digital reading, suggesting that participants may have benefited a bit more from print reading. The present findings shed further light on the effects of digital reading and print reading on reading comprehension. Keywords: Digital reading; Gender differences; Print reading; Reading comprehension

Assessing the Effects of Digital Technologies on Learning Behavior and Reading Motivation Among Moroccan EFL University Students

The introduction of digital technologies and the emergence of electronic reading devices have expanded the concept of literacy and shaped how readers consume information from texts, as well as how they perceive and interact with digital materials vs. print materials in academic settings. Several years ago, reading was merely a characteristic of print. However, with today's advances in technology, the vast majority of people are reading blogs, journals, newspapers, and other materials on digital screens. This study reports the findings of a survey on the effects of digital technologies on learning behavior and reading motivation among Moroccan EFL university students. Results showed that the majority of students reported using digital materials for studying, research, and recreational purposes. The majority of students also reported using desktop/laptop computers or smartphones to access digital materials and claimed that they frequently consult PDF documents and Google books for coursework materials. Additional findings suggest that print reading is favored when the reading task includes lengthy texts and demands more learning engagement activities such as highlighting and notetaking; and that digital reading is preferred when the reading task demands less effortful engagement activities, and includes short texts and accessible materials via the Internet at a preferential cost. Students reported that their motivation to read online is driven by the need to keep up with recent information as well as the need to use usability features embedded with e-texts such as the ‘Find' function and built-in annotation tools. A great number of students rated their overall online reading experience as satisfactory or enjoyable. In contrast, students reported that eyestrain, discomfort with online reading, as well as the credibility and quality of texts encountered online are major challenges and barriers to digital reading. Results revealed that students' satisfaction with online reading is positively correlated with the frequency of using digital texts. Additional implications and directions for future research are considered.