Cover not available
Part of
Learning to Read in a Digital World
Edited by Mirit Barzillai, Jenny Thomson, Sascha Schroeder and Paul van den Broek
[Studies in Written Language and Literacy 17] 2018
► pp. 1–30

Chapter 1
Reading and digital media

European perspectives

| University of Wroclaw
| University of Amsterdam

The on-going discussion between parents, educators, politicians and academics on the consequences of screen reading as compared to reading from paper is filled with controversy. This chapter aims at providing a factual context for these debates. We first focus on early studies concerning children’s use of media. We then summarise available data on children’s digital media use and media preferences based on national and cross-national surveys conducted in Europe since 2010, including reading in a family context. We also look at evidence related to digital reading in public and school libraries. We conclude by discussing limitations in the available methodologies and possible new approaches to be taken to enhance our understanding of the ways in which reading is changing.

Article outline
  • 1.Reading and digital media: Utopian and dystopian perspectives
  • 2.Reading in the lives of European children and young adults
    • 2.1Early theory and research on media use and reading
    • 2.2Research on new media and reading
    • 2.3The EU Kids Online project
    • 2.4Insights from national studies
  • 3.Home literacy: Reading and media socialisation in the family
    • 3.1Parental guidance
    • 3.2Parents’ views on reading in digital environments
  • 4.Libraries
  • 5.Outlook
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/swll.17.01des
References
Araújo, L., & Costa, P.
(2015) Home book reading and reading achievement in EU countries: The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 (PIRLS). Educational Research and Evaluation, 21(5–6), 422–438. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Author Earnings
(2016) October 2016 Author earnings report: A turning of the tide…? Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Barbovschi, M., Green, L., & Vandoninck, S.
(Eds) (2013) Innovative approaches for investigating how children understand risk in new media. Dealing with methodological and ethical challenges. London: EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science.Google Scholar
Batorski, D., & Jasiewicz, J.
(2013) Nowe media w polskiej szkole. Retrieved from [URL]Google Scholar
Baumrind, D.
(1991) The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56–95. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Börsenverein
(2016) Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen 2016. Zahlen, Fakten und Analysen zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung [Book and book trade statistics 2016: Statistics, facts and analyses of economic development.] Frankfurt am Main: Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels.Google Scholar
Boyd, D.
(2014) It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bus. A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. G., & Pellegrini, A. D.
(1995) Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65(1), 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cai, X.
(2005) An experimental examination of the computer’s time displacement effects. New Media & Society, 7(1), 8–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caro, D. H., & Lenkeit, J.
(2012) An analytical approach to study educational inequalities: 10 hypothesis tests in PIRLS 2006. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 35(1), 3–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carrington, V. M.
(2001) Emergent home literacies: A challenge for educators. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 24(2), 88–100.Google Scholar
Chaudron, S.
(2015) Young children (0–8) and digital technology: A qualitative exploratory study across seven countries. Retrieved from [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, C.
(2014) The reading lives of 8 to 11-year-olds 2005–2013: Evidence paper for the Read On. Get On coalition. London: National Literacy Trust. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED560666)Google Scholar
(2016) Children’s and young people’s reading in 2015. Findings from the National Literacy Trust’s annual survey 2015. London: National Literacy Trust.Google Scholar
Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F. M., Powell, S., & Safford, K.
(2014) Building communities of engaged readers for pleasure. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dicks, B., Soyinka, B., & Coffey, A.
(2006) Multimodal ethnography. Qualitative Research, 6(1), 77–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dürager, A., & Sonck, N.
(2014) Testing the reliability of scales on parental internet mediation. London: LSE/EU Kids Online.Google Scholar
European Commission (DG EAC)
(2016) Promoting reading in the digital environment. Retrieved from [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans Schmidt, M., & Anderson D. R.
(2007) The impact of television on cognitive development and educational achievement. In N. O. Pecora, J. P. Murray, & E. A. Wartella (Eds.), Children and television: Fifty years of research (pp. 65–84). Mahwah, NJ/London: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Felvégi, E., & Matthew, K. I.
(2012) eBooks and literacy in K-12 schools. Computers in the Schools, 29(1–2), 40–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Formby, S.
(2014) Parents’ perspectives: Children’s use of technology in the early years. London: National Literacy Trust. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Foucault, M., & Gordon, C.
(1980) Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Goleman, D.
(2013) Focus: The hidden driver of excellence. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Greenfield, S.
(2015) Mind change: How digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Haddon, L., & Vincent, J.
(2014) European children and their carers’ understanding of use, risks and safety issues relating to convergent mobile media. Milano: Educatt.Google Scholar
Hardt, M., & Negri, A.
(2004) Multitude: War and democracy in the age of Empire. New York: The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Hasebrink, U.
(2014) Children’s changing online experiences in a longitudinal perspective. London: EU Kids Online. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Hasebrink, U., Jensen, K. B., Van den Bulck, H., Hölig, S., & Maeseele, P.
(2015) Changing patterns of media use across cultures: A challenge for longitudinal research. International Journal of Communication, 9, 435–457.Google Scholar
Helsper, E. J., Kalmus, V., Hasebrink, U., Sagvari, B., & de Haan, J.
(2013) Country classification: Opportunities, risks, harm and parental mediation. London: EU Kids Online, LSE. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Huysmans, F.
(2013) Van woordjes naar wereldliteratuur. De leeswereld van kinderen van 7–15 jaar [From words to world literature. The reading world of children aged 7–15 years]. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Huysmans, F., de Haan, J., & van den Broek, A.
(2004) Achter de schermen. Een kwart eeuw lezen, luisteren, kijken en internetten [Behind the scenes/screens. A quarter century of reading, listening, viewing and using the Internet]. The Hague: Netherlands Institute for Social research (SCP). Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Itō, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lange, P. G., Pascoe, C. G., & Robinson, L.
(2009) Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from the digital youth project. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, H.
(2006) Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Keen, A.
(2007) The cult of the amateur: How today’s internet is killing our culture. New York: Doubleday/Currency.Google Scholar
Kendeou, P., Bohn-Gettler, C., White, M. J., & van den Broek, P.
(2008) Children’s inference generation across different media. Journal of Research in Reading, 31(3), 259–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kleijnen, E.
(2016) Route to reading. Promoting reading through a school library: Effects for non-western migrant students (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Retrieved from [URL].
Kleijnen, E., Huysmans, F., & Elbers, E.
(2015) The role of school libraries in reducing learning disadvantages in migrant children: A literature review. SAGE Open, April–June 2015, 1–16.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koolstra, C. M., & van der Voort, T. W. A.
(1996) Longitudinal effects of television on children’s leisure-time reading: A test of three explanatory models. Human Communication Research, 23(1), 4–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kraaykamp, G.
(2003) Literary socialization and reading preferences. Effects of parents, the library, and the school. Poetics, 31, 235–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kucirkova, K., & Littleton, K.
(2016) The digital reading habits of children: A national survey of parents’ perceptions and practices in relation to children’s reading for pleasure with print and digital books. The Open University: BookTrust.Google Scholar
Lance, K. C., & Hofschire, L.
(2012) Change in school librarian staffing linked with change in CSAP reading performance, 2005 to 2011. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Lemish, D.
(2015) Children and media: A global perspective. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Lerer, S.
(2008) Children’s literature: A reader’s history, from Aesop to Harry Potter. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leseman P. P. M., & de Jong P. F.
(1998) Home literacy: Opportunity, instruction, cooperation and social emotional quality predicting early reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 33, 294–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Livingstone, S., & Bober, M.
(2005) UK Children Go Online: Final report of key project findings. London, UK: London School of Economics and Political Science.Google Scholar
Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L.
(2009) EU Kids Online: Final report. London: LSE/EU Kids Online.Google Scholar
Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Ólafsson, K.
(2011) Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children. Full findings. London: LSE/EU Kids Online.Google Scholar
Livingstone, S., Hasebrink, U., & Görzig, A.
(2012) Towards a general model of determinants of risks and safety. In S. Livingstone, L. Haddon, & A. Görzig (Eds.), Children, risk and safety on the internet (pp. 323–339). Bristol: Policy Press DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. J.
(2008) Parental mediation of children’s internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(4), 581–599. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., Dreier, M., Chaudron, S., & Lagae, K.
(2015) How parents of young children manage digital devices at home: The role of income, education and parental style. London: EU Kids Online, LSE.Google Scholar
Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., & Staksrud, E.
(2015) Developing a framework for researching children’s online risks and opportunities in Europe. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Livingstone, S. M., & Sefton-Green, J.
(2016) The class: Living and learning in the digital age. New York: New York University Press. Accessed on [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lonsdale, M.
(2003) Impact of school libraries on student achievement: A review of the research. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED482253)Google Scholar
Lull, J.
(1980) The social uses of television. Human Communication Research, 6(3), 197–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mackey, M., & Robinson, M.
(2003) Film and television. In N. Hall, J. Larson, & J. Marsh (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood literacy (pp. 126–142). London [et al.]: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mangen, A., & van der Weel, A.
(2016) The evolution of reading in the age of digitization: An integrative framework for reading research. Literacy, 50(3), 116–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S., & Wright, K.
(2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies. Sheffield: Literacy Research Center, University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Marsh, J., & Millard, E.
(2000) Literacy and popular culture: Using children’s culture in the classroom. London: Paul Chapman.Google Scholar
Mascheroni, G., & Ólafsson, K.
(2014) Net children go mobile: Risks and opportunities (2nd ed.). Milano: Educatt.Google Scholar
Maybin, J.
(2013) What counts as reading? PIRLS, EastEnders and The Man on the Flying Trapeze. Literacy, 47 (2), 59–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mokhtari, K., Reichard, C. A., & Gardner, A.
(2009) The impact of internet and television use on the reading habits and practices of college students. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(7), 609–619. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morley, D.
(1986) Family television: Cultural power and domestic leisure. London: Comedia Pub. Group.Google Scholar
Morley, D., & Silverstone, R.
(1990) Domestic communication – technologies and meanings. Media, Culture and Society, 12, 31–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Murthy, D.
(2008) Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research. Sociology, 42 (5), 837–855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neuman, S. B.
(1991) Literacy in the television age. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
(1988) The Displacement Effect: Assessing the Relation between Television Viewing and Reading Performance. Reading Research Quarterly, 23 (4), 414–440. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nielen, T. M. J., & Bus, A. G.
(2015) Enriched school libraries: A boost to academic achievement. AERA Open 17 December 2015 Retrieved from [URL].DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Notten, N., & Kraaykamp, G.
(2009a) Home media and science performance: A cross-national study. Educational Research and Evaluation, 15(4), 367–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009b) Parents and the media: A study of social differentiation in parental media socialization. Poetics, 37, 185–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Parental media socialization and educational attainment: Resource or disadvantage? Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28, 453–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Notten, N., Kraaykamp, G., & Konig, R.
(2012) Family media matters: Unraveling the intergenerational transmission of reading and television tastes. Sociological Perspectives, 55(4), 683–706. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Picton, I., & Clark, C.
(2015) The impact of ebooks on the reading motivation and reading skills of children and young people: A study of schools using RM Books. London: National Literacy Trust.Google Scholar
Postman, N.
(1982) The disappearance of childhood. New York: Delacorte Press.Google Scholar
Renckstorf, K., McQuail, D., & Jankowski, N. W.
(Eds.) (1996) Media use as social action: A European approach to audience studies. London: John Libbey.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. P., & Kestnbaum, M.
(1999) The personal computer, culture, and other uses of free time. Social Science Computer Review, 17(2), 209–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roe, K.
(2007) Impact of TV on reading. In J. J. Arnett (Ed.), Encyclopedia of children, adolescents, and the media: 2 (pp. 695–697). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.Google Scholar
Rosén, M., & Gustafsson, J.-E.
(2014) Has the increased access to computers at home caused reading achievement to decrease in Sweden? InR. Strietholt, W. Bos, J.-E. Gustafsson, & M. Rosén (Eds.), Educational policy evaluation through international comparative assessments (pp. 207–222). Muenster, New York: Waxmann Verlag.Google Scholar
Rosén, M., & Gustafsson, J.-E.
(2016) Is computer availability at home causally related to reading achievement in grade 4? A longitudinal difference in differences approach to IEA data from 1991 to 2006. Large-scale Assessments in Education: An Iea-Ets Research Institute Journal, 4(1), 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schoon, I., Parsons, S., Rush, R., & Law, J.
(2010) Childhood language skills and adult literacy: A 29-year follow-up study. Pediatrics, 125(3), e459–e466. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schramm, W., Lyle, J., & Parker, E. B.
(1961) Television in the lives of our children. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Smeets, D., & Bus, A. G.
(2012) Interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112(1), 36–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorbring, E.
(2014) Parents’ concerns about their teenage children’s internet use. Journal of Family Issues, 35(1), 75–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stiftung Lesen
(2012) Vorlesestudie 2012: Digitale Angebote – neue Anreize für das Vorlesen? Repräsentative Befragung von Eltern mit Kindern im Alter von 2 bis 8 Jahren [Reading Aloud Study 2012: Digital offerings – New triggers for reading aloud? Representative survey of parents with children aged 2–8 years]. Mainz: Stiftung Lesen.Google Scholar
Subrahmanyam, K., Greenfield, P., Kraut, R., & Gross, E.
(2001) The impact of computer use on children’s and adolescents’ development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22(1), 7–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swirski, P.
(2005) From lowbrow to nobrow. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
Thiel, S.
(2007) Media use in bedrooms. In J. J. Arnett (Ed.), Encyclopedia of children, adolescents, and the media: 2 (pp. 113–115). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Tivnan, T.
(2016) E-books sales abate for big five. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Todd, R. J.
(2014) School library advocacy, evidence and actions in the USA: Principles for planning and implementing advocacy initiatives. Paper presented at the 80th IFLA World Library and Information Congress , Lyon, 16–22 August 2014. Retrieved from [URL].
Tersteeg, H., & Rammelo, J.
(2016) De markt [The book market]. Retrieved from [URL].Google Scholar
Valkenburg, P.
(2014) Schermgaande jeugd. Over jeugd en media [Screen-directed youth. On youth and media]. Amsterdam: Prometheus.Google Scholar
van der Voort, T. H. A., Beentjes, J. W. J., Bovill, M., Gaskell, G., Koolstra, C. M., Livingstone, S., & Marseille, N.
(1998) Young people’s ownership and uses of old and new media in Britain and the Netherlands. European Journal of Communication, 13(4), 457–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Peer, W.
(1991) Literary socialization in the family: A state of the art. Poetics, 20, 539–558. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verhallen, M. J., & Bus, A. G.
(2010) Low-income immigrant pupils learning vocabulary through digital picture storybooks. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 54–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zasacka, Z.
(2015) Praktyki czytelnicze na ekranie – wyniki badania czytelnictwa dzieci i młodzieży. Edukacja, 2(133), 68–84.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Woiwod, Uta
2021. Adaptations of Print Narratives Into Literary Apps. In Connecting Disciplinary Literacy and Digital Storytelling in K-12 Education [Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education, ], ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.