Precursors of reading text comprehension from paper and screen in first graders: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Research on text comprehension in relation to the reading medium (paper or screen) has mainly involved undergraduate or high school students. To advance current knowledge on the effects of reading medium, this longitudinal study focused on beginner readers, specifically, the role of precursors in first graders’ comprehension of narrative and expository linear texts from reading on paper and computer screen. Working memory and inference skills as cognitive precursors and basic digital skills were measured at the end of preschool (T1); reading text comprehension and word reading, as a control variable, were measured at the end of the first grade (T2). Sixty-three children participated in total. The first graders read four texts, one narrative and one expository, on both paper and computer screen, in a counterbalanced order. Results showed no main effects of the reading medium or text genre, but the interactive effect of these variables was significant. At T2, the children had higher comprehension scores after reading narrative than descriptive texts from paper. In addition, reading from the screen was preferred at post-test, after all texts were presented. As precursors, working memory and inference skills predicted both printed and digital text comprehension. In contrast, basic digital skills predicted only digital text comprehension after controlling for medium, text genre, and word reading.

Relationships between Digital Reading Motivation, Turkish Lesson Attitude, Reading Anxiety and Reading Comprehension of Fourth Grade Primary School Students

“…There is no significant relationship between other sub-dimensions and general scores. In the literature, there are studies that have obtained results that digital reading affects reading comprehension (Al Khazaleh, 2021;Florit, et al,2022;) as well as studies that do not support reading comprehension (Goodwin, et al, 2020;Støle et al, 2020). Factors such as readers' familiarity with reading in digital environment, the type of device and environment in which digital reading is performed may affect the direction of the relationship between digital reading motivation and comprehension.…”

Key language, cognitive and higher-order skills for L2 reading comprehension of expository texts in English as foreign language students: a systematic review

“…Furthermore, only three of the 27 studies have measured reading comprehension using digital devices (Brevik & Hellekjaer, 2018;Brevik et al, 2016;Yeom & Jun, 2020). Several meta-analyses have shown the superiority of paper over digital media in terms of reading comprehension, especially when the texts are expository (Clinton, 2019;Delgado et al, 2018;Florit et al, 2022). However, there is an under-representation of studies specifically looking at the impact of the medium on the reading comprehension of learners of English as a second language.…”

“…Moreover, many of these reading tasks in the academic context involve the use of digital devices. There is evidence about the interactive effect of reading medium and text genre on reading comprehension (Florit et al, 2022). Recent metaanalyses have found that reading comprehension can be affected by the medium of presentation of texts.…”

Esercizi di ricerca

“…Confrontando infatti bambini con bassi e bambini con alti livelli di comprensione, emergono due differenti pattern: i primi beneficiano del digitale ed i secondi ottengono punteggi più alti nella modalità cartacea. Questo risultato potrebbe essere in parte legato a fattori motivazionali: bambini con difficoltà di comprensione potrebbero ottenere performance maggiori al computer rispetto che su carta grazie all'alta motivazione che caratterizzata il digitale rispetto al cartaceo (Golan, Barzillai, e Katzir 2018;Florit et al 2022). Dall'altro lato, il vantaggio del digitale sul cartaceo nei bambini con difficoltà di comprensione potrebbe essere legato all'elaborazione superficiale, tipica del digitale (Annisette e Lafreniere 2017), che favorisce prestazioni migliori in domande semplici di natura testuale che caratterizzano i brani di comprensione del testo in età precoce.…”