Enhancing Screen Reading Strategies

Sara Kol
Miriam Schcolnik
Tel Aviv University
Abstract:
In an earlier pilot study, we found that advanced English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students who were not experienced computer readers could neither scan nor skim texts effectively on screen. In the present study, we hypothesized that if students were taught to use facilitating strategies, they would scan better from screen than from paper and also skim and close-read as well as they do on paper. Throughout the semester, students in the experimental group were taught to use available on-line tools, and at the end of the semester a reading comprehension test was administered to the students in the experimental and the control groups. The results showed that in all question types, students reading from screen performed as well as those reading from paper, confirming two of the three hypotheses.
KEYWORDS
Foreign Language Reading, Reading Strategies, Strategy Training, Scanning, Skimming
INTRODUCTION
Many people today require immediate access to information at any time and any place. Since information on demand is becoming a common concept, digital reading is a natural development. Moreover, the profession is witnessing increased availability of academic and professional texts (both books and articles) on the Internet. Digital libraries are becoming increasingly accessible, and publishers are offering loan facilities for their books through the Internet which allow registered users to "take out" digital books and access them on their own "personal bookshelf." As a result of these developments, reading from screens is becoming commonplace for students and professionals. Bronner (1998) reports that at Virginia Commonwealth University sociology students use a textbook that exists only on line and that at Kent State University students learn from portable electronic books containing course texts.
The vision of a small portable electronic book to replace paper books dates back to Kay's vision of a dynabook (Kay & Goldberg, 1977 cited in Nielsen, 1995). Several attempts to make electronic books were made in the past but were unsuccessful because the character quality was inferior to that on paper. In addition, research showed that people reading from larger screens read faster than those reading from smaller screens (Shneiderman, 1987; Reisel & Shneiderman, 1987). However, as screen resolution improved, reading from small screens became easier and better. Character quality improved as well, and today small electronic books are a reality. Three such books are now commercially available. These books range in size from 4 x 7 inches to 10 x 12, weigh from 1.25 pounds to 3.5 pounds, and come equipped with reader annotation features (Silberman, 1998). In addition, readers can highlight, underline, search, and cross-reference text. Many volumes can be downloaded directly into these digital devices, which is an important advantage because a single electronic book containing multiple volumes is much lighter than the same number of volumes on paper.
Although more and more reading is taking place on screen, certain problems are still associated with reading in this mode. Electronic books can be taken on the bus or to the beach, but digital texts lack the "unique tactile qualities of paper" (Dillon, 1992). When comparing paper books and electronic books, Stephen Manes (1999) mentions other disadvantages of electronic books: they require batteries, can break if dropped, are costly, and probably difficult to lend or sell. On the other hand, he also points to some of their advantages: they are readable in the dark, easily searchable, have a bookmark facility, and can read the text aloud. Noam (1999) points to an additional advantage of digital texts, the ability of the reader to adjust the font size.
Interquest and a team of University of Virginia researchers (1997) conducted an extensive study on the influence of the new digital technologies on reading. One of their conclusions was that teaching and learning will move in the direction of digital modes. They also predict that books will not disappear but that they will cease to hold "the center of the cultural stage." According to Noam (1998) "books are yesterday's technology—bulky, environmentally suspect, impermanent, expensive, hard to find, forever out of print, slow to produce, slow to write and slow to read, and a strain on the eye." Noam foresees that paper books will become a secondary resource in academia and that the main academic resources will be available through the electronic media because of ease of access, storage, and cross-referencing. He adds that books were merely the "receptacle" or medium for transmitting knowledge. Now, a new and creative medium is available.
The process of text comprehension involves the reader in a complex, dynamic, ongoing interaction with the text (Goodman, 1967; Rumelhart, 1977). This interaction often involves some kind of text manipulation such as highlighting or annotating. Reading on the screen offers powerful means of manipulating information. Text manipulation, whether on screen or on paper, "externalizes the otherwise invisible reader interaction" (Cobb & Stevens, 1996). Text manipulation amounts to a graphic, recorded expression of readers' interaction with the text, an interaction that aids their construction of meaning by capturing their fleeting thoughts and ideas. Brown, Palincsar, and Armbruster (1984) list several comprehension-fostering activities, one of which is the allocation of readers' attention in order to maintain concentration on main points rather than minor details. Text manipulation may well help readers concentrate on main points and overcome the limitations of human working memory.
Most research comparing reading in the two media has focused on the time variable and has shown that subjects take longer reading a text from the screen than reading the same text from paper (Askwall, 1985; Muter, Lautremouille, Treurniet, & Beam, 1982; Smith & Savory, 1989; Gould, Alfaro, Barnes, Finn, Grischkowsky, & Minuto, 1987; Dillon, 1992). Some studies have looked at reading comprehension as well as speed and found no significant differences between reading from the screen and reading from paper (McKnight, Dillon, & Richardson, 1990; Muter & Maurutto, 1991). On the other hand, O'Hara and Sellen (1997) compared reading and writing in both media and concluded that whereas writing on line offered clear advantages, reading on paper was far easier.
Since university students are increasingly reading from the screen, the aim of our project was to train them to read more effectively in this mode. The new technologies (high-resolution screens, digital libraries, electronic books, etc.) are available, but readers need to learn to overcome old habits while, at the same time, exploiting the new possibilities offered in innovative ways. In a pilot study conducted to determine the applicability of students' reading skills and strategies when reading from the screen, we found that inexperienced computer users could neither scan nor skim texts effectively on the screen. They were, however, able to read for details as well as students reading from paper (Kol & Schcolnik, 1997). Based on the results of the pilot study, we decided to teach students strategies designed to facilitate their screen reading: using the Find feature, the highlighter, and a hyperlinked outline of the text. We hypothesized that after learning to use the new strategies, students reading from the screen would:
1) scan better than those reading from paper;
2) skim as well as those reading from paper; and
3) close-read as well as those reading from paper.