Reading Across Mediums

• In Event: 75.021 - Text Difficulty, Genre, and Medium Effects on Reading

Abstract

In this study, we investigated differences arising when students read texts online and offline, and explored the degree to which they accurately judge their comprehension across mediums and text types. Overall, the clear majority of students preferred to read digitally, with fewer indicating a preference for print or no preference at all. Further, most successfully identified the main idea of texts regardless of medium, but produced more supporting details and recalled more “other” information when they read offline rather than online. Moreover, a significant majority of students presumed they had comprehended better when reading online when the opposite was true. Results reinforce that students apparently have an overinflated sense of their capacity to comprehend when online.

Authors

• Lauren M Singer, University of Maryland - College Park

• Patricia A. Alexander, University of Maryland - College Park