Reading medium and interest: effects and interactions

Abstract

Both medium (paper or screens) and interest have been noted as important factors in learning from reading text, but connections between them have not been examined. The purposes of this study are to examine whether reading medium and interest, both individual and situational, interact to predict performance on a reading assessment and whether medium affects situational interest. College students (N = 206) reported their individual interest in the content of a textbook excerpt, were randomly assigned to read a textbook excerpt from paper or screen, and then reported their situational interest in the textbook excerpt. Based on the findings of this study, individual interest did not interact with medium to predict reading performance; however, situational interest was more predictive of performance when reading from screens than from paper. Medium did not influence situational interest.