DIGITAL READING: CHANGING PRACTICES AND SKILLS

In FE tutors can be challenged in their attempts to motivate some students to read any form of lengthy text. In previous research (Barbour, 2005), this in particular was a point of frustration for

many tutors. In that earlier context it was hard copy texts, especially assignment briefs or handouts and in classrooms that were predominantly without computer access. This research investigates students’ engagement with digital text and with this in mind what follows is an examination of literature on the changes occurring in reading practices due to increased levels of engagement with digital information. Other studies have emerged in recent years, with an interest in the changes occurring through uses of communication technologies and the synergy between these and language and how language is changing (for example, Crystal, 2006; Baron, 2008; Gee and Hayes, 2011). However, there is a paucity of research on how digital text is actually engaged with, used and manipulated.

Hayles (2010) argues that due to an increase in reading digital content, reading skills have been declining and changing and argues for a ‘broader sense of reading strategies and their interrelation’ (ibid: 65) and then makes the connection between this and the characteristics of hyperreading. The concept of hyperreading was introduced by Sosnosk (1999: 162) who offered a typology that included: ‘skimming’, where less text is read and ‘pecking’, which denotes a less linear approach to reading. Hayles (2010: 66) adds to these two the notion of ‘juxtaposing’, which she defines, ‘as when several open windows [on a computer screen] allow one to read across several texts’ (ibid.). This was apparent during the classroom observations when students having more than one window open on their monitor was the norm, rather than the exception. Commonly, there would be an Internet browser open, at least one Word document, whichever Adobe software was being used and often something more entertainment orientated running, such as video or audio software. These were usually aligned alongside, and in front or behind others rather than just one fully open and all the others minimised; consequently there was often what appeared to be a lot of visual clutter on the screen (see Appendix 1).

One consideration is that media induced states of distraction are not a new phenomenon. Hayles (2010) draws on Benjamin (1969) and suggests that mass entertainment can render ‘distracted viewing into a habit (as opposed to the contemplative viewing of a single work of art)’ (Hayles, 2010: 67). Carr (2010) situates media distraction with how users engage with the Internet, where despite its efficacy as a pool of information there is a concern that hyperreading makes sustained concentration more demanding, as our neural circuits are now more ‘devoted to scanning,

skimming, and multitasking’ (ibid: 141). Doctorow (2009: no page), in an article entitled ‘Writing in the Age of Distraction’ refers to this as a ‘computer’s ecosystem of interruption technologies’ by referencing the gamut of communication tools that are accessible, such as email alerts and RSS

feeds2. The more resources such as these that are engaged with, the greater distraction they offer and the reading entails accessing snapshots of information, as long as they are attention grabbing in their immediacy. Rather than bemoaning this through a haze of nostalgia Doctorow adds that, ‘the Internet has been very good to me. It’s informed my creativity and aesthetics, it’s benefitted me professionally and personally, and for every moment it steals, it gives back a hundred delights’ (ibid.). These comments illustrate the excess of information the Internet offers, and therefore its value and significance as a resource for students. However, if students do not have the experience to find and then assess the robustness of information for their academic purposes the implication is that, as a resource it can be overwhelming in its choice and therefore restrictive. Alongside this is the risk of high levels of distraction that can then jeopardise there being a deep level engagement with the content and therefore result in less criticality.

Hayles (2010), referencing Carr (2010) adds that the way our brain functions is changing due to the ways in which engaging with digital technologies differs from ‘mindsets formed by print, nurtured by print, and enabled and constrained by print’ (Hayles, 2012: 1). This leaves ‘us in a constant state of distraction in which no problem can be explored for very long before our need for continuous stimulation kicks in and we check e-mail, scan blogs, message someone, or check our RSS feeds’ (Hayles, 2010: 67). This last quote is especially pertinent relative to the potential interruptions from digital distractions when students are working independently for long periods on a networked computer.

Notably, the literature discussed at this point is generalised in its context, rather than referencing education, and in some work environments the ability to rotate between several different tasks rapidly can be a virtue and even a necessity. It would perhaps be too idealistic to expect all FE students to be highly motivated and completely focused on their work all of the time. However, what this section illustrates is the potential distractions that students can encounter when searching online for information. Moreover, with students’ increased use of the Internet for accessing text based information there is a knowledge gap in how students actually engage with that digital text and the extent that the affordance of the depth of what the technologies can access can distract the user’s attention away from coursework, even within such a formal and focused context. This research therefore aims to partially address that gap by observing and discussing these classroom based processes of handling digital text with students. Part of these processes is making use of the

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information that has been sourced; an orthodox approach to this has usually been through the practice of making notes and an aspect of this research wanted to investigate how, or if this had changed when computers were used extensively in the classroom.