A Case Study of English-Major Students’ Preferences for English Reading from a Printed Text versus Electronic Text

• Authors: Cheng-Chang Tsai

Abstracts

EN

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the preferences of English-major students to determine their reading activities when they have the choice of reading a printed text or an electronic text. The participants chosen for the study were 105 students from English reading classes at an English department. For the purpose of finding out students’ preferences for English reading from printed or electronic texts, a questionnaire for online reading comprehension was employed. The result of an independent-samples t test showed that there was no significant difference between the genders (male and female) regarding preference for printed or electronic texts. The results of a one-way ANOVA showed that there were significant differences between the different proficiency levels (high, intermediate, and low) regarding their preferences for printed text or electronic text in male and female groups. Interestingly, both the males and females in the high proficiency group preferred the printed text over the electronic text, and the students at the low proficiency level preferred to use the electronic text over the printed text to read. In conclusion, these results can provide educators and instructors with text preferences for their students when they designate the reading medium which could improve readers’ reading comprehension performance in the long run.

Keywords

EN

students’ preferences; printed text; electronic text

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: The New Educational Review
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 46
• Pages: 142-151

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

Cheng-Chang Tsai

References

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• 1. It is easier to answer reading comprehension questions on paper.
• 2. It is easier to answer reading comprehension questions on computer screens.
• 3. If I had a choice, I would prefer to read articles on computer screens.
• 4. If I had a choice, I would prefer to read articles printed on paper.
• 5. To me, there is no difference between reading on computer screens and reading on paper.
• 6. I think hyperlinks are helpful when I read on computer screens.
• 7. I think the scroll bar is helpful when I read on computer screens.
• 8. I think the cursors are helpful when I read on computer screens.
• 9. I like reading articles on computer screens.
• 10. I like reading articles on paper.
• 1. 用紙本的方式較容易回答閱讀測驗的問題。
• 2. 用電腦的方式較容易回答閱讀測驗的問題。
• 3. 假如我可以選擇，我寧可使用電腦的方式閱讀文章。
• 4. 假如我可以選擇，我寧可使用紙本的方式閱讀文章。
• 5. 對我而言，用電腦的方式或用紙本的方式閱讀文章，我覺得沒有差別。
• 6. 當我用電腦的方式閱讀時，我認為超連結是很有用的。
• 7. 當我用電腦的方式閱讀時，我認為捲動條欄是很有用的。
• 8. 當我用電腦的方式閱讀時，我認為游標是很有用的。
• 9. 我喜歡用電腦的方式閱讀文章。
• 10. 我喜歡用紙本的方式閱讀文章。

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/tner.2016.46.4.12

Biblioteka Nauki

2004879