Augmenting paper-based reading activity with direct access to digital materials and scaffolded questioning

Abstract

Comprehension is the goal of reading. However, students often encounter reading difficulties due to the lack of background knowledge and proper reading strategy. Unfortunately, print text provides very limited assistance to one’s reading comprehension through its static knowledge representations such as symbols, charts, and graphs. Integrating digital materials and reading strategy into paper-based reading activities may bring opportunities for learners to make meaning of the print material. In this study, QR codes were adopted in association with mobile technology to deliver supplementary materials and questions to support students’ reading. QR codes were printed on paper prints to provide direct access to digital materials and scaffolded questions. Smartphones were used to scan the printed QR codes to fetch pre-designed digital resources and scaffolded questions over the Internet. A quasi-experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of direct access to the digital materials prepared by the instructor using QR codes and that of scaffolded questioning in improving students’ reading comprehension. The results suggested that direct access to digital resources using QR codes does not significantly influence students’ reading comprehension; however, the reading strategy of scaffolded questioning significantly improves students’ understanding about the text. The survey showed that most students agreed that the integrated print-and-digital-material- based learning system benefits English reading comprehension but may not be as efficient as expected. The implications of the findings shed light on future improvement of the system.

Introduction

In the past few decades, the development of information and computer technology (ICT) has offered various alternatives supporting reading activities. However, a considerable number of learners still prefer reading from paper prints (Chao and Chen, 2009, Coiro, 2003, Longhurst, 2003, O’Hara and Sellen, 1997). Early in the late 90’s, O’Hara and Sellen (1997) investigated computer users’ preference of reading from paper prints and from online. Their findings suggested several salient characteristics of paper prints which made them prevail over online text reading, including (1) the support of free-text annotation and note-taking, which helped learners extract, highlight, or/and summarize the text from the whole content for later references; (2) the support of navigation, which provided learners spatial orientation with respect to the physical layout of the print (or book) when one was planning the reading process, searching for a specific segment of texts, or cross-referencing to different parts of the article; and (3) the flexibility of spatial arrangement, which facilitates learners to perceive the overall structure of the print (or book) for quick-referencing, non-linear reading, and the interwoven reading-writing activities. A decade later, Morris, Brush, and Meyers (2007) replicated O’Hara and Sellen’s (1997) study but provided subjects papers, the dual-screen desktop computer system, pen-based horizontal display surface, and multiple tablet computers. They reported similar results that, even equipped with the most updated computer technology, people still favor reading from paper prints.

Reading is the foundation of learning (Berninger and Richards, 2002, Cunningham and Stanovich, 2001, Ira and Ncte, 1996). It is an active, purposeful process of constructing meaning from texts to create new knowledge (Armbruster et al., 2001, Oakhill et al., 1998, Smagorinsky, 2001). Reading failure may give rise to long-term learning difficulties which further lead to low self-confidence and motivation to learn (Armbruster et al., 2001, Nation et al., 2002).

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. It is a process of “simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” (RAND Reading Study Group, 2002, p. 11). Reading comprehension is a process “when readers actively relate the ideas represented in print to their own knowledge and experiences and construct mental representations in memory” (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000, p. 14). Unfortunately, not all readers have the essential knowledge and experience to relate to the print text. Brown, Campione, and Day (1981) suggested that inadequate background knowledge and improper reading strategies are two general types of difficulties that hinder effective reading. To help readers comprehend the text efficiently, relevant background knowledge essential to understand the text and reading strategies for facilitating the reading process should be made available in real time for students.

Scaffolding is a conception of providing students necessary learning support to help them resolve what they cannot accomplish alone to achieve the goal (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). It has been a flexible yet effective strategy in assisting students doing higher-order cognitive activities, such as reading (Pearson & Fielding, 1991), inquiry (Li & Lim, 2008), and problem solving (Kim & Hannafin, 2011). Among others, questioning is a conventional scaffold for teachers to “facilitate explanation construction, planning, monitoring, and evaluating, and making justifications” (Ge & Land, 2003, p. 24). Proposing proper questions to students may benefit them in knowledge construction (King, 1994), reasoning (McDaniel & Donnelly, 1996), problem solving, and metacognition (Ge & Land, 2004). In this study, questions were used as scaffolds in students’ reading process to help them monitor and evaluate their own understanding of print texts.

The emergence of mobile technology provides people alternatives in not only interpersonal communication and Internet access, but also learning and instruction. A considerable number of studies have suggested the advantages of utilizing mobile devices in pedagogy (Chen et al., 2003, Denk et al., 2007, Hwang et al., 2009, Uzunboylu et al., 2009, Zurita and Nussbaum, 2004). A newer design of mobile phone, the smartphone, is a sophisticated integration of a media player, a personal data assistant (PDA) and a netbook computer. It is nowadays empowered with strong computing and networking capability for making communication, entertainment, and Internet access feasible.

With the aim to improve students’ reading comprehension, an innovative reading system has been developed to augment conventional paper-based reading activities using smartphone in association with QR codes. QR codes were printed in the paper print to provide direct access to additional digital materials and scaffolded questions. Students used the smartphones to scan QR codes to access and display the fetched digital materials on demand. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the design of using QR codes to provide students direct access to pre-designed digital materials and the use of scaffolded questioning in promoting students’ reading comprehension. In the following sections, the literature related to the theory of reading and comprehension as well as the reading strategy of scaffolded questioning is reviewed. The notion of integrating digital materials into paper prints is discussed next. The details of the experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the system in a college-level English class are then presented along with the results of the experiment. The findings are then discussed and implications of this study in enhancing student reading comprehension are finally enumerated.