Reading or Listening? Printed or Digital? Mode-effect Study on Young Readers
What is it about?
Digital reading has established its position, and thus research on how reading mode affects reading experience and enjoyment is needed. This study is based on a reading experiment with 89 14–15-year-olds who read or listened to an entire book in four different reading modes: paperbook, ebook, audiobook, and via a commercial subscription service. Using quantitative methods, we examine whether reading mode affects story world absorption as well as seek connections between gender, motivation, absorption and reading mode preferences. Based on the study, reading mode has no statistical impact on narrative absorption experience, measured by the Story World Absorption Scale. Instead, the experience correlates with reading motivation; an adolescent with higher motivation is more likely to feel absorbed while reading, regardless of reading mode. On average, girls experience higher reading motivation and absorption than boys. Less motivated seem to prefer audiobook whereas more motivated choose reading over listening.
Why is it important?
Interest towards reading has declined whereas interest towards digital media has constantly increased; forms of recreation have changed. There is a strong association between reading enjoyment and academic performance, which has caused worry about gender gaps in literacy and reading motivation. Compared to girls, boys are overrepresented in the groups of weak readers and those who are poorly motivated towards reading, and vice versa in the top groups. Primary reasons for the decline of recreational reading include mobile device use and especially other forms of amusement offered by mobile phones. According to previous research, new ways of receiving literature have potential to boost engagement, involvement, and motivation especially among young people. Based on the new results of the present study, it can be interpreted that especially young readers with low reading motivation or reading skills or those who do not value reading as an activity might be more likely to listen to an audiobook than read a text. The diminishing of adolescents’ reading motivation and recreational reading causes worry in societies almost everywhere in the world, so it is worth noticing especially that an audiobook as an option might be a positive boost and a gateway to the process of internalising a book for adolescents with lower motivation. Future studies could examine even closer the connection of mode preference to reader engagement, immersion and thus to reading motivation. In any case, it is worth noticing that in this study, the majority of pupils would choose an audiobook.