Effects of E-Books and Printed Books on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension and Grammatical Knowledge

Korea Association of Teachers of English. 6105 English Education Department, Chinju National University of Education, 369beon-gil 3, Jinyangho-ro, Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, 52673, Republic of Korea. Tel: +82-42-629-7381; Fax: +82-42-629-7320; e-mail: katejournal29@gmail.com; Web site: http://journal.kate.or.kr/

Y

27

Electronic Publishing; Books; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Reading Comprehension; Grammar; Knowledge Level; Handheld Devices; Elementary School Students; Foreign Countries; Instructional Effectiveness

1017-7108

In today's digital era, tablets are gaining popularity as reading devices. However, few studies have compared reading e-books on tablets with reading printed books and regular classroom instruction for language learning. To evaluate the role of tablets in reading and analyze the possibilities, the current study examined 97 elementary school students learning English as a foreign language in South Korea. These students were taught English once or twice a week for 11 weeks based on extensive reading using tablets (n = 42), printed books (n = 32), or regular textbook-based instruction as control (n = 23). The results indicate that literal level reading comprehension was improved the largest in the tablet group compared with the other groups. By contrast, improvements in inferential reading comprehension and grammatical knowledge were greater in those reading printed books than in the tablet group. The findings suggest that the print medium was superior for deep reading and digital texts were better for quick and shallow learning.

As Provided

2021

EJ1318666