Abstract:

Today’s individuals face reading tasks in computerized environments both in personal and educational contexts. However, most studies show that readers achieve higher reading scores in reading from paper as compared to screen settings in variant ages (Dahan-Golan, Barzillai & Katzir, 2018; Chen, Cheng, Chang, Zheng & Huang, 2014; Mangen, Walgermo & Brønnick, 2013; Ackerman & Goldsmith, 2011). Reading from screens makes demands on readers’ ability to flexibly focus and shift attention and may promote a quick and superficial approach to text reading that affects comprehension. Digital media may be less suited for the slower and more time-consuming processes that characterize deep reading (Wolf & Barzillai, 2009). The current study examined whether there are differences in reading comprehension of second and third grade readers from screen compared to their peers who read from paper. In order to reduce the differences in presentation between the two mediums, we strived to approximate the display of the digital text to the printed text in various aspects: text format, location of information and navigation (Piasecka, 2019).

The study was performed during the covid-19 pandemic, in May 2021, after two years of distance and physical learning alternately. Hence, this study’s participants were exposed to computer screens in learning more than usual, from their beginning steps in elementary school and reading acquisition process. Participants were 429 second graders and 360 third graders from southern Israel. 76 teachers answered a questionnaire regarding children’s preferences of mediums and text presentation.

Preliminary results show that performance in the screen condition was similar to performance in the traditional paper settings. This finding was found in both second and third grade children. Preferences analysis revealed that both second and third graders preferred reading from a computer (56% of third graders and 47% of second graders) than from a paper (27% and 36%, respectively). 15-17% did not prefer any of the mediums. Interestingly, their teachers reported that they believe that the children would perform higher on the paper task. Future analysis will examine the roles of reading proficiency, Socio-economic status and gender in performance and preferences.

We will raise pedagogical implications of distant learning during the Covid-19 school closures that promoted children’s ability of reading comprehension from a screen. We will also discuss the need to further adjust the display of texts on a computer to promote reading comprehension from a screen.

Keywords:

Covid-19, reading comprehension, text medium, text display.