An Exploration into the Effect of Teaching Digital Reading Skills on Primary Students' Reading Comprehension and Digital Literacy
Abstract
Reading is considered as one of the most essential and important skills in both native and non-native contexts. Specifically, according to Grabe (1991), reading is highly essential for students. To begin with, as Stauffer (1969) explained, reading is a way of getting information from the printed page. However, the end of the definition, i. e., print-based knowledge getting, was probably true in the 20th century; it needs modifications for the new challenges of the 21st century, known as the Information Age. In the information age, the meaning of literacy is always changing as new technologies emerge and new social practices appear. To be literate today means being able to use the combination of texting, search engines, social networking services, or any of thousands of mobile apps. To be literate tomorrow will probably be defined by even newer technologies that have yet to emerge and newer social practices that will be created to meet unexpected needs (Leu, 2000).
Literacy is changing and the important source of this change is the Internet. According to
Lankshear and Knobel (2006), the Internet is the most effective system to deliver new technologies to read, write, and communicate. A lot of people today need to access information immediately at any time and place. As information upon request is becoming a common notion, digital reading is quite natural. Moreover, there is an increasing availability of various academic and professional texts on the Internet, which lead to ever-growing access to digital libraries.
Because of these developments, on-screen reading is becoming widespread for both students and professionals. Goodfellow (2011) described the term digital as the latest descriptive term used in education to show the connection with new information and communications media.
There is a general and growing tendency to use the term literacy synonymously with competence or ability, but despite this discussion in everyday contexts, it is still taken to mean the ability to read and write in a print environment (Goodfellow, 2011). The most significant shift in literacy research is what could be called 'digital turn' that is a result of globalization and the increasing range of technologies for communication (Mills, 2010).