Online Reading Activities and ICT Use as Mediating Variables in Explaining the Gender Difference in Digital Reading Literacy: Comparing Hong Kong and Korea

Abstract

Using data drawn from the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted in 2009, the present study sought to examine the mediating effects of three kinds of variables in order to account for the relationships between gender and the digital reading performance of students. The three kinds of variables are (1) online reading activities, (2) information and communication technology (ICT) use at school, and (3) ICT use at home, for schoolwork and for leisure. Economic, social, and cultural status and the student’s print reading literacy performance served as control variables in the mediation analyses. Because Korea and Hong Kong were both high-performing economies in PISA 2009, the underlying ICT-related mechanisms unveiled in the mediation analyses can show educational practitioners why, from a comparative education perspective, the digital reading gender gap that favors females is substantially smaller than that seen in print reading. The two key findings are as follows. First, the observed gender difference in digital reading performance favoring females in Hong Kong can be attributed to gender differences in the students’ engagement in online reading activities and their ICT use at home for leisure. Second, the observed gender difference in digital reading literacy performance favoring females in Korea can be attributed to gender difference in the ICT use of students at home for leisure, but not students’ engagement in online reading activities. The present study highlights the importance of guidance and counseling regarding the ICT use of students at home for leisure.