Print vs Digital Reading

Mrs Tamasin Lowe, Assistant Head of Junior School at Arndell Anglican College, recently shared with the College Community how our Junior School team are balancing reading digital print on a screen and reading print on a page.

Whilst we recognise the opportunities and benefits of digital resources, we continue to provide a balanced learning approach. Key learning objectives are considered when selecting digital print versus print on a page to support learning.         

As we live in this digitally-saturated world, we find ourselves considering healthy and helpful ways to integrate technology into our lives. Digital print provides additional access to information; however, how much are we taking in? There is a difference in the way we learn when reading digital print on a screen as opposed to print on a page.

Research indicates many learning benefits when reading text on paper. Print is easier to understand and comprehend than digital text. We are better able to successfully complete tasks that require mental abstraction, such as drawing inferences. Memorisation and recall of information are also enhanced when reading print on a page.?

Joahann Hari’s book ‘Stolen Focus’ (2022) addresses the collapse of sustained reading. Hari connects with Anne Mangen, a professor of literacy at Stavanger University in Norway who has engaged in extensive research in this area. Mangen explains her findings ‘Reading books trains us to read in a particular way – in a linear fashion, focused on one thing for a sustained period.’ (Hari, 2022, p.77). When reading digital print, we tend to skim and scan for the information we require.

Our digital reading behaviour then begins to influence how we read on paper. ‘This creates a different relationship with reading. It stops being a form of pleasurable immersion in another world and becomes more like dashing around a busy supermarket to grab what you need and then get out again.’ (Hari, 2022, p.77).

Planning for the new curriculum has led to a review of reading opportunities across Key Learning Areas. The College's Junior School staff have been focussing on the difference between reading onscreen and reading in print, exploring the implications from current research and will consider how we increase sustained reading of print experiences in the classroom.

Whilst we recognise the opportunities and benefits of digital resources, we continue to provide a balanced learning approach. Key learning objectives are considered when selecting digital print versus print on a page to support learning.

The Renaissance Australia Accelerated Reader program, currently implemented in Years 3-6, provides students with daily opportunities to read personal interest books at an assessed level of individual student ability. Class novel studies also provide students with sustained reading experiences in primary classrooms.

Prep-Year 2 students engage in daily modelled reading of rich literature texts. Reading experiences have been enhanced through access to a wide range of guided reading books in the early years of learning.

Additional opportunities for children to engage in sustained reading of print can only benefit our students and their learning. We look forward to thinking and learning together.