Abstract:

The comparison between screen-based (digital texts) and paper texts (print texts) has attracted research interest for several decades due to the growing use of digital technologies in individuals’ daily living and learning. It has been recognised that individuals who are exposed to both digital and print texts have a choice of which text formats to use and how to use these. Studies of the effects of digital texts and print texts on reading performances and habits have enriched our understanding of the factors that influence preferences for formats, and the complex links between formats, reading purposes and tasks.

It has been argued that the comparison is not concerned simply with which medium will dominate. Although there are reports suggesting that currently digital books outsell physical ones, this in no sense means that print texts are going to disappear very soon. After all, the end of physical books has been predicted for well over 100 years, but they seem still to be surviving in an increasingly digital world. The debate, rather, is focused on the effects of text formats on readers’ reading behaviour and on how individuals respond to certain text formats to accomplish various reading tasks. Studies of the comparisons between texts on paper and texts on screens have focused on the nature of texts, reading behaviour, reading processes, reading comprehension and general reading habits.

This aim of the study reported here was to investigate the perceptions of two groups of adolescents, one in the UK and one in China, concerning their preferences for text formats in their daily living and their school work. The study focused on young people’s perspectives of their text format preferences and the factors affecting these in different social and cultural contexts. In this exploratory research, 798 questionnaires were analysed to indicate the basic patterns of the students’ text format preferences. Deeper insights into these patterns were gleaned from 23 in-depth individual interviews.

The outcomes of the study suggest that the text format preferences of these young people were complex and influenced by a range of factors such as reading purposes, the nature of the texts, and the impacts of the texts on reading performances, as well as by social and cultural contexts.

Keywords:

Digital texts, print texts, reading, preferences, UK, China.