Abstract
Recent meta-analyses (Delgado et al., 2018; Kong et al., 2018; Clinton, 2019) show that reading comprehension on paper is better than on screen among (young) adults. Children's screen reading comprehension, however, is underexplored. This article presents an experiment measuring the effect of reading medium on younger (10-year old) readers' comprehension, carried out in Norway in 2015. In a within-subjects design, students (n = 1139) took two comparable versions of a reading comprehension test – one on paper, and another digitally, with test version and order of medium counterbalanced. Probabilistic test theory models (two-parameter logistic (2 PL) and partial credit models) were employed for both versions of the test, allowing direct comparisons of student achievement across media. Results showed that the students in average achieved lower scores on the digital test than on the paper version. Almost a third of the students performed better on the paper test than they did on the computer test, and the negative effect of screen reading was most pronounced among high-performing girls. Scrolling and/or misplaced digital reading habits may be salient factors behind this difference, which sheds further light on children's reading performance and how this may be affected by screen technologies. Implications of these findings for education and for reading assessment are discussed.
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundComputers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are ubiquitous in the lives of today’s children and youth in large parts of the world (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Hooper, 2017)
We present results from the double mode assessment of reading comprehension conducted in autumn 2015 in preparation of the first digital NRT among ten-year olds in Norway
Mode seems to matter for children’s reading comprehension: in average, they comprehend texts better when reading them from paper
Summary
Introduction and backgroundComputers, laptops, tablets and smartphones are ubiquitous in the lives of today’s children and youth in large parts of the world (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Hooper, 2017). Screen technologies have in many instances, replaced paper-based materials for reading, both in classrooms as well as in leisure contexts. Whether the current transition from paper-based reading to reading on screens affects cognitive learning outcomes, e.g. reading comprehension, has been the topic of an increasing number of empirical studies over the past couple of decades. Research findings on paper versus digital reading were inconsistent. Some studies (Aydemir, O€ ztürk, & Horzum, 2013) found better reading comprehension on screens than on paper, whereas others found no difference between the media (Hermena et al, 2017; Margolin, Driscoll, Toland, & Kegler, 2013; Porion, Aparicio, Megalakaki, Robert, & Baccino, 2016; Rockinson-Szapkiw, Courduff, Carter, & Bennett, 2013). Others found an advantage of paper reading (Golan, Barzillai, & Katzir, 2018; Halamish & Elbaz, 2019; Lenhard, Schroeders, & Lenhard, 2017; Mangen, Walgermo, & Brønnick, 2013; Singer & Alexander, 2017)
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