Marginalised behaviour: digital annotations, spatial encoding and the implications for reading comprehension

Abstract

Within large scale educational assessment agencies in the UK, there has been a shift towards assessors marking digitally scanned copies rather than the original paper scripts that were traditionally used. This project uses extended essay examination scripts to consider whether the mode in which an essay is read potentially influences the judgements made about it, employing qualitative and quantitative data‐gathering approaches to focus on the annotation practices of readers who are assessing extended essays, and to explore whether this might be affected by mode. The project also gathers evidence about the spatial encoding ability of these readers to suggest that mode‐related influences on annotation might influence the ability of readers to comprehend fully the material being read. Examiners had less spatial awareness about the location of script features on screen than on paper; however, annotating on screen might link to both the provision of appropriate annotations and the relative ease with which these are deployed whilst reading. There was also evidence that on‐screen annotation could contribute to the development of good mental representations of texts on screen.