The impact of text format on the quality of students' reading performance

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Introduction. The rapid proliferation of digital technologies and the widespread adoption of electronic texts in the educational process have raised the question of the impact of text presentation mode on the quality of students' reading. This issue is especially important during the period of development of reading skills in primary school. This article describes the results of an experimental study conducted to investigate the influence of text presentation mode on the reading performance of primary and secondary school students. Materials and methods. To achieve the research goals and objectives, an experimental design with repeated measures and control of additional variables using counterbalancing was developed. Participants were asked to read simplified and complicated texts in electronic and print formats sequentially. The experiment was conducted in two stages to assess the reading quality of simplified narrative texts and texts with a complex rhetorical structure. The experiment involved 107 primary school students aged 7 to 10 years (mean age = 9.33, 53.33% girls) and 30 secondary school students aged 11 to 15 years (mean age = 12.33, 53.33% girls). Results. The study found no significant differences in younger students' reading speed, memorization performance, and comprehension of simple narrative texts presented in electronic and print formats (163≤T≤648; 0,24≤p≤0,97). As students matured, they showed higher memorization performance for simple electronic texts compared to printed texts (χ 2 =5,98; p=0,047 – text «MA»; χ 2 =8,79; p=0,012 – text «AA»). However, the text format did not affect reading speed. The significance of the text presentation mode was amplified when perceiving complex texts. Girls showed a slower reading speed for complex electronic texts (T=89,5; p=0,0097), boys – lower remembering (T=12; p=0,019) and comprehension (T=56; p=0,039). All the groups showed lower memorization quality of electronic texts compared to printed texts (T=292; p=0,024). Conclusion. The study results demonstrated that the text presentation format (electronic/print) influences the reading performance of primary and secondary school students. However, this influence is not uniform and depends on several factors, such as the content of the text, its complexity, age, gender, and individual psychological characteristics of the readers. The results highlight the importance of a selective approach to the use of electronic texts in school education.