How Digital Reading Differs from Traditional Reading: An Action Research

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the insights of preservice teachers' new literacies throughout online research and comprehension. The study is grounded in an online research and comprehension perspective. In the study, the action research design of qualitative approaches was selected as the method. The participants in the research were nine teacher candidates studying in the first year of the Classroom Teacher Education Programme at Erciyes University. The teacher candidates took part in two online research and comprehension tasks about children’s literature and teaching materials lasting 28 hours in total. Following, the preservice teachers’ perspectives regarding this process were elicited through semi-structured individual interviews. The findings reveal that the internet has resulted in certain changes in the nature of information and learning. During the online research and comprehension process, the preservice teachers employed strategies for information location, determining reliability, reading, and online information synthesising and content creation. Moreover, during this process the preservice teachers developed certain digital skills as well as their online research and technology competencies and awareness of reliable information. All these findings have contributed to the exploration of teacher candidates’ new literacy skills, strategies, and dispositions.