E-textbooks and digital reading: where do we stand?
Article Sidebar
Published
Apr 7, 2016
Main Article Content
Abstract
Issues related to digital reading and their implications for learning processes are currently the subject of intense debate. Although there is no scientific evidence to support the widespread implementation of digital textbooks, governments are investing substantial resources in textbook digitization. Increasingly, both in Italy and abroad, schools are abandoning printed textbooks for electronic textbooks. The aim of this paper is to take stock of the indications emerging from major studies and experiments on these issues, and to draw some provisional conclusions.
Article Details
Section
Articles - General topics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)
References
Ackerman, R., & Goldsmith, M. (2011). Metacognitive regulation of text learning: On screen versus on paper. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17(1), 1832. doi: 10.1037/a0022086
Baron, N. (2015). Words onscreen. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ben-Yehudah, G., & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2014). The influence of text annotation tools on print and digital reading comprehension. In Y. Eshet, A. Caspi, N. Geri, Y. Kalman, V. SilberVarod, & Y. Yair (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Chais Conference for Innovation in Learning Technologies (pp. 28-35). Raanana, IL: Open University Press.
Calvani, A. (2008). Educazione comunicazione e nuovi media: sfide pedagogiche e cyberspazio. Torino, IT: Utet.
Calvani, A. Vivanet, G. (2014). Evidence Based Education e modelli di valutazione formativa per le scuole. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 1(9), 127-146.
Carioli, S. (2014). Verso una pedagogia innovativa della lettura: codici testuali e codici digitali. Studi sulla Formazione, 17(2), 105-117.
Carr, N. (2010). The shallows. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Casati R. (2013). Contro il colonialismo digitale. Istruzioni per continuare a leggere. RomaBari, IT: Laterza.
Chen, D., & Catrambone, R. (2015). Paper vs. Screen: Effects on Reading Comprehension, Metacognition, and Reader Behavior. Proceedings Of The Human Factors And Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 59(1), 332-336. doi: 10.1177/1541931215591069
Chiong, C., Ree, J., Takeuchi, L., & Erickson, I. (2012). Print books vs. e-books: Comparing parent-child co-reading on print, basic, and enhanced e-book platforms. New York, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
Clark, R., & Lyons, C. (2011). Graphics for learning. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D., (Eds.). (2015). The Handbook of Research on New Literacies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Daniel, D., & Woody, W. (2013). E-textbooks at what cost? Performance and use of electronic v. print texts. Computers & Education, 62, 18-23. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.016
Dehaene, S. (2007). Les neurones de la lecture. Paris, FR: Odile Jacob.
DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers In Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616-1641. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.012
Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself. New York, NY: Viking.
Eden, S., & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2012). The effect of format on performance: Editing text in print versus digital formats. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(5), 846-856. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01332.x
Gardiner, E., & Musto, R.G. (2010). The Electronic Book. In S.M. Suarez & H.R. Woudhuysen (eds.), The Oxford Companion to the Book (p. 164-171). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gerlach, J., & Buxmann, P. (2011). Investigating the acceptance of electronic books: The impact of haptic dissonance on innovation adoption. European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).
Grimshaw, S., Dungworth, N., McKnight, C., & Morris, A. (2007). Electronic books: children’s reading and comprehension. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 583-599. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2006.00640.x
Gu, X., Wu, B., & Xu, X. (2014). Design, development, and learning in e-Textbooks: what we learned and where we are going. Journal of Computers in Education, 2(1), 25-41. doi: 10.1007/s40692-014-0023-9
Haas, C. (1996). Writing technology. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review Of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. doi: 10.3102/003465430298487
Jeong, H. (2012). A comparison of the influence of electronic books and paper books on reading comprehension, eye fatigue, and perception. The Electronic Library, 30(3), 390-408. doi: 10.1108 /02640471211241663
Kalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2003). The Expertise Reversal Effect. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 23-31. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep3801_4
Kay, A., & Goldberg, A. (1977). Personal Dynamic Media. Computer, 10(3), 31-41. doi: 10.1109/c-m.1977.217672 Kintsch, W., & van Dijk, T. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production. Psychological Review, 85(5), 363-394. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.85.5.363
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1
Korat, O. (2010). Reading electronic books as a support for vocabulary, story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade. Computers & Education, 55(1), 24-31. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2009.11.014
Li, L.Y., Chen, G.D., Fan, C.Y., & Huang, D.W.. (2013). Construction of cognitive maps to improve e-book reading and navigation. Computers & Education, 60(1), 32-39. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.07.010
Li, L., Chen, G.D., Fan, C.Y., Huang, D.W. (2014). The Effects of the E-Book System with the Reading Guidance and the Annotation Map on the Reading Performance of College Students. Educational Technology & Society, 17(1), 320-331.
Liu, Z. (2005). Reading behavior in the digital environment. Journal Of TD Tecnologie Didattiche, 24(1) 19 BIBLIOGRAFIA Documentation, 61(6), 700-712. doi: 10.1108/00220410510632040
Lumbelli, L. (2009). La comprensione come problema, il punto di vista cognitivo. Bari, IT: Laterza. Mangen, A. (2008). Hypertext fiction reading: haptics and immersion. Journal Of Research In Reading, 31(4), 404-419. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.00380.x
Mangen, A., & Kuiken, D. (2014). Lost in an iPad: Narrative engagement on paper and tablet. Scientific Study Of Literature, 4(2), 150-177. doi: 10.1075/ssol.4.2.02man
Margolin, S., Driscoll, C., Toland, M., & Kegler, J. (2013). E-readers, Computer Screens, or Paper: Does Reading Comprehension Change Across Media Platforms?. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27(4), 512-519. doi: 10.1002/acp.2930
Maton, K., & Moore, R. (2000, Aprile), Historical amnesia: Victims of fashion and out-breaks of ‘breaks’ in the disciplinary map, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of York. Retrived from http://www. autodidactproject.org/other/matonha.html
Micheletta, S., & Emili, E.A. (2013). Dislessia e tecnologie: quali evidenze di efficacia?. Form@re - Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, 4(13), 15-29. doi: 10.13128/formare-14226
Nicholas, D., Huntington, P., Jamali, H., Rowlands, I., Dobrowolski, T., & Tenopir, C. (2008). Viewing and reading behaviour in a virtual environment. Aslib Proceedings, 60(3), 185-198. doi: 10.1108/00012530810879079
Nielsen, J. (2006, April 17). Pattern reading online “F shape pattern for reading web content”. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrived from http://www.nngroup.com/ articles/f-shaped- pattern-reading-webcontent/
Noyes, J., & Garland, K. (2003). VDT versus paper-based text: reply to Mayes, Sims and Koonce. International Journal Of Industrial Ergonomics, 31(6), 411-423. doi: 10.1016/s0169-8141(03)00027-1
OECD (2015). Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. doi: 10.1787/9789264239555-en
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 106(37), 15583-15587. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0903620106
Parish-Morris, J., Mahajan, N., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R., & Collins, M. (2013). Once Upon a Time: Parent-Child Dialogue and Storybook Reading in the Electronic Era. Mind, Brain, And Education, 7(3), 200-211. doi: 10.1111/mbe.12028
Picton, I. (2014). The Impact of ebooks on the Reading Motivation and Reading Skills of Children and Young People: A rapid literature review. London: National Literacy Trust.
Ranieri, M., (2010). La scuola digitale tra retorica e realtà, In: B. Bruschi, A. Iannaccone, R. Quaglia. Crescere digitali, pp. 45-66, Roma: Aracne.
Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., ... Tenopir, C. (2008). The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290-310.
Scharinger, C., Kammerer, Y., & Gerjets, P. (2015). Pupil Dilation and EEG Alpha Frequency Band Power Reveal Load on Executive Functions for Link-Selection Processes during Text Reading. PLOS ONE, 10(6), e0130608. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130608
Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Shamir, A., & Klein, P. (2009). Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: effects on emergent reading. Reading and Writing, 23(8), doi: 10.1007/s11145-009-9182-x
Shamir, A., & Korat, O. (2006). How to Select CD-ROM Storybooks for Young Children: The Teacher’s Role. The Reading Teacher, 59(6), 532-543. doi: 10.1598/rt.59.6.3
Small, G., Moody, T., Siddarth, P., & Bookheimer, S. (2009). Your Brain on Google: Patterns of Cerebral Activation during Internet Searching. The American Journal Of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(2), 116-126. doi: 10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181953a02
Small, G., & Vorgan, G. (2008). IBrain. New York, NY: Collins Living.
Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257-285.
Tran, P., Carrillo, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2013). Effects of online multitasking on reading comprehension of expository text. CP, 7(3). doi: 10.5817/cp2013-3-2
Tveit, Å., & Mangen, A. (2014). A joker in the class: Teenage readers’ attitudes and preferences to reading on different devices. Library & Information Science Research, 36(3-4), 179-184. doi: 0.1016/j.lisr.2014.08.001
Vassiliou, M., & Rowley, J. (2008). Progressing the definition of “e-book”. Library Hi Tech, 26(3), 355-368. doi: 10.1108/07378830810903292
Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Yarkoni, T., Speer, N., Balota, D., McAvoy, M., & Zacks, J. (2008). Pictures of a thousand words: Investigating the neural mechanisms of reading with extremely rapid event-related fMRI. Neuroimage, 42(2), 973-987. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.258
Zucker, T., Moody, A., & McKenna, M. (2009). The Effects of Electronic Books on PreKindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students’ Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(1), 47-87. doi: 10.2190/ec.40.1.c
Baron, N. (2015). Words onscreen. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ben-Yehudah, G., & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2014). The influence of text annotation tools on print and digital reading comprehension. In Y. Eshet, A. Caspi, N. Geri, Y. Kalman, V. SilberVarod, & Y. Yair (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Chais Conference for Innovation in Learning Technologies (pp. 28-35). Raanana, IL: Open University Press.
Calvani, A. (2008). Educazione comunicazione e nuovi media: sfide pedagogiche e cyberspazio. Torino, IT: Utet.
Calvani, A. Vivanet, G. (2014). Evidence Based Education e modelli di valutazione formativa per le scuole. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, 1(9), 127-146.
Carioli, S. (2014). Verso una pedagogia innovativa della lettura: codici testuali e codici digitali. Studi sulla Formazione, 17(2), 105-117.
Carr, N. (2010). The shallows. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Casati R. (2013). Contro il colonialismo digitale. Istruzioni per continuare a leggere. RomaBari, IT: Laterza.
Chen, D., & Catrambone, R. (2015). Paper vs. Screen: Effects on Reading Comprehension, Metacognition, and Reader Behavior. Proceedings Of The Human Factors And Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 59(1), 332-336. doi: 10.1177/1541931215591069
Chiong, C., Ree, J., Takeuchi, L., & Erickson, I. (2012). Print books vs. e-books: Comparing parent-child co-reading on print, basic, and enhanced e-book platforms. New York, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
Clark, R., & Lyons, C. (2011). Graphics for learning. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D., (Eds.). (2015). The Handbook of Research on New Literacies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Daniel, D., & Woody, W. (2013). E-textbooks at what cost? Performance and use of electronic v. print texts. Computers & Education, 62, 18-23. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.10.016
Dehaene, S. (2007). Les neurones de la lecture. Paris, FR: Odile Jacob.
DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers In Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616-1641. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.012
Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself. New York, NY: Viking.
Eden, S., & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2012). The effect of format on performance: Editing text in print versus digital formats. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(5), 846-856. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01332.x
Gardiner, E., & Musto, R.G. (2010). The Electronic Book. In S.M. Suarez & H.R. Woudhuysen (eds.), The Oxford Companion to the Book (p. 164-171). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gerlach, J., & Buxmann, P. (2011). Investigating the acceptance of electronic books: The impact of haptic dissonance on innovation adoption. European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).
Grimshaw, S., Dungworth, N., McKnight, C., & Morris, A. (2007). Electronic books: children’s reading and comprehension. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 583-599. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2006.00640.x
Gu, X., Wu, B., & Xu, X. (2014). Design, development, and learning in e-Textbooks: what we learned and where we are going. Journal of Computers in Education, 2(1), 25-41. doi: 10.1007/s40692-014-0023-9
Haas, C. (1996). Writing technology. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review Of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. doi: 10.3102/003465430298487
Jeong, H. (2012). A comparison of the influence of electronic books and paper books on reading comprehension, eye fatigue, and perception. The Electronic Library, 30(3), 390-408. doi: 10.1108 /02640471211241663
Kalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2003). The Expertise Reversal Effect. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 23-31. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep3801_4
Kay, A., & Goldberg, A. (1977). Personal Dynamic Media. Computer, 10(3), 31-41. doi: 10.1109/c-m.1977.217672 Kintsch, W., & van Dijk, T. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production. Psychological Review, 85(5), 363-394. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.85.5.363
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1
Korat, O. (2010). Reading electronic books as a support for vocabulary, story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade. Computers & Education, 55(1), 24-31. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2009.11.014
Li, L.Y., Chen, G.D., Fan, C.Y., & Huang, D.W.. (2013). Construction of cognitive maps to improve e-book reading and navigation. Computers & Education, 60(1), 32-39. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.07.010
Li, L., Chen, G.D., Fan, C.Y., Huang, D.W. (2014). The Effects of the E-Book System with the Reading Guidance and the Annotation Map on the Reading Performance of College Students. Educational Technology & Society, 17(1), 320-331.
Liu, Z. (2005). Reading behavior in the digital environment. Journal Of TD Tecnologie Didattiche, 24(1) 19 BIBLIOGRAFIA Documentation, 61(6), 700-712. doi: 10.1108/00220410510632040
Lumbelli, L. (2009). La comprensione come problema, il punto di vista cognitivo. Bari, IT: Laterza. Mangen, A. (2008). Hypertext fiction reading: haptics and immersion. Journal Of Research In Reading, 31(4), 404-419. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.00380.x
Mangen, A., & Kuiken, D. (2014). Lost in an iPad: Narrative engagement on paper and tablet. Scientific Study Of Literature, 4(2), 150-177. doi: 10.1075/ssol.4.2.02man
Margolin, S., Driscoll, C., Toland, M., & Kegler, J. (2013). E-readers, Computer Screens, or Paper: Does Reading Comprehension Change Across Media Platforms?. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27(4), 512-519. doi: 10.1002/acp.2930
Maton, K., & Moore, R. (2000, Aprile), Historical amnesia: Victims of fashion and out-breaks of ‘breaks’ in the disciplinary map, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of York. Retrived from http://www. autodidactproject.org/other/matonha.html
Micheletta, S., & Emili, E.A. (2013). Dislessia e tecnologie: quali evidenze di efficacia?. Form@re - Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, 4(13), 15-29. doi: 10.13128/formare-14226
Nicholas, D., Huntington, P., Jamali, H., Rowlands, I., Dobrowolski, T., & Tenopir, C. (2008). Viewing and reading behaviour in a virtual environment. Aslib Proceedings, 60(3), 185-198. doi: 10.1108/00012530810879079
Nielsen, J. (2006, April 17). Pattern reading online “F shape pattern for reading web content”. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrived from http://www.nngroup.com/ articles/f-shaped- pattern-reading-webcontent/
Noyes, J., & Garland, K. (2003). VDT versus paper-based text: reply to Mayes, Sims and Koonce. International Journal Of Industrial Ergonomics, 31(6), 411-423. doi: 10.1016/s0169-8141(03)00027-1
OECD (2015). Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. doi: 10.1787/9789264239555-en
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 106(37), 15583-15587. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0903620106
Parish-Morris, J., Mahajan, N., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R., & Collins, M. (2013). Once Upon a Time: Parent-Child Dialogue and Storybook Reading in the Electronic Era. Mind, Brain, And Education, 7(3), 200-211. doi: 10.1111/mbe.12028
Picton, I. (2014). The Impact of ebooks on the Reading Motivation and Reading Skills of Children and Young People: A rapid literature review. London: National Literacy Trust.
Ranieri, M., (2010). La scuola digitale tra retorica e realtà, In: B. Bruschi, A. Iannaccone, R. Quaglia. Crescere digitali, pp. 45-66, Roma: Aracne.
Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., ... Tenopir, C. (2008). The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290-310.
Scharinger, C., Kammerer, Y., & Gerjets, P. (2015). Pupil Dilation and EEG Alpha Frequency Band Power Reveal Load on Executive Functions for Link-Selection Processes during Text Reading. PLOS ONE, 10(6), e0130608. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130608
Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Shamir, A., & Klein, P. (2009). Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: effects on emergent reading. Reading and Writing, 23(8), doi: 10.1007/s11145-009-9182-x
Shamir, A., & Korat, O. (2006). How to Select CD-ROM Storybooks for Young Children: The Teacher’s Role. The Reading Teacher, 59(6), 532-543. doi: 10.1598/rt.59.6.3
Small, G., Moody, T., Siddarth, P., & Bookheimer, S. (2009). Your Brain on Google: Patterns of Cerebral Activation during Internet Searching. The American Journal Of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(2), 116-126. doi: 10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181953a02
Small, G., & Vorgan, G. (2008). IBrain. New York, NY: Collins Living.
Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257-285.
Tran, P., Carrillo, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2013). Effects of online multitasking on reading comprehension of expository text. CP, 7(3). doi: 10.5817/cp2013-3-2
Tveit, Å., & Mangen, A. (2014). A joker in the class: Teenage readers’ attitudes and preferences to reading on different devices. Library & Information Science Research, 36(3-4), 179-184. doi: 0.1016/j.lisr.2014.08.001
Vassiliou, M., & Rowley, J. (2008). Progressing the definition of “e-book”. Library Hi Tech, 26(3), 355-368. doi: 10.1108/07378830810903292
Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Yarkoni, T., Speer, N., Balota, D., McAvoy, M., & Zacks, J. (2008). Pictures of a thousand words: Investigating the neural mechanisms of reading with extremely rapid event-related fMRI. Neuroimage, 42(2), 973-987. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.258
Zucker, T., Moody, A., & McKenna, M. (2009). The Effects of Electronic Books on PreKindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students’ Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(1), 47-87. doi: 10.2190/ec.40.1.c