Unit 13/14 Teaching Problem/Tech Solution

Using Technology as a Tool to Encourage Students to Read

Today’s world contains a vast number of tech-savvy children whom are greatly attracted

to the sights and sounds of a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. These children cannot help but be

drawn in by the technology’s please-touch temptations. They are eager and ready to engage with

any component of the technological equipment available to them. As these devices evolve, this

unfortunately puts many “old-fashioned," physical tools for engagement at a loss. This includes

traditional tools to help students learn and grow in many ways academically, that would also

prepare them greatly for life and the real world. The spark once there within children when faced

with physical books, for instance, has quickly turned in rising generations of children as

technology becomes a way of life for everyone. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to

encourage a love for reading within children. Children instead crave what technology

applications and websites have to offer on a whole other level, including visual appeal,

interaction, and speed.

Research suggests that students may fall behind later in life if they do not develop an

appreciation for reading. Therefore, it is vital for teachers to take the evolution of technology and

run with it. While physical books may be considered a dying breed to many, the act of reading

can remain alive and well with the progression of technology, as well as others’ willingness to

explore and utilize reading in new forms. In turn, reading itself will not go away; instead, it

becomes a transformative experience. Teachers can recreate the spark for reading by presenting

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upcoming generations of students with opportunities to explore this act through all that

technology has to offer.

One immediate solution to encourage students to read in a technological world is by

utilizing electronic books, or e-books. Simply put, e-books are print books transformed; they are

books that take on a digital form. The advantage of the digital form is e-books can be equipped

with a multitude of supporting resources and tools for young readers to further pique their

interest in the literature. Consider the traditional print book: Readers will typically find a title,

photos or illustrations, and text. The same can be found within an e-book, but with a bonus of

added interactive experiences that motivate readers to stay reading. Readers can touch difficult

words to hear their pronunciations. Photos or illustrations may be animated. Readers can use

included digital writing tools, like highlighters to mark unfamiliar words or unique quotes in a

passage. Digital sticky notes can be displayed and hidden to keep track of thoughts or questions

regarding the text. These are only just to name a few of the many actions a reader can take using

an e-book.

Is the new digital form enough to keep rising generations of students reading? When

comparing print and electronic books, one study showed that “Grade 2 students were more

inclined to use reading resources when digital text was the medium rather than conventional

print” (Brueck & Lenhart, 2015, p. 374). With all that e-books have to offer, students naturally

become active readers, exploring any potential opportunity available for interaction caused by

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the touch of their finger. Students are motivated further to engage in e-book exploration by the

many scaffolds that are also contained within the digital reading. “Scaffolds in e-books include

search capability, hyperlinks, audio and visual enhancements, and in some cases, hotspot pop-up

definitions for words” (Brueck & Lenhart, 2015, p. 374). These added supports encourage the

more independent students, regardless of any struggle they may have, to continue reading in the

digital form.

Further research continues to demonstrate the new era of reading can be promising for

today’s students. One study showed “. . . between 2010 and 2014, the portion of children ages

6-8 who reported having read an e-book more than doubled, from 28% to 64%; similarly, the

percentage escalated from 22% to 56% for children ages 9–11” (Larson, 2015, p. 169). As e-

book tools continue to become available to help readers navigate the reading experience, it is no

surprise how students of any reading ability become increasingly tempted to utilize e-books.

Teachers can encourage students “to customize the digital text by changing font size, page

orientation, and background color; access digital dictionaries or translation tools; take notes;

highlight portions of the text; and add bookmarks,” which “can support readers’ comprehension

by helping them navigate and gain access to the text.” In one sixth-grade classroom of 26

students, 88% of students specifically utilized the digital dictionary in a required e-book reading.

One of these students commented regarding the digital dictionary use with an e-book, “The

dictionary is part of my reading life! I love just clicking on a word, and I can’t imagine reading a

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regular book and having to use a regular dictionary” (Larson, 2015, p. 172). To put it briefly,

these e-book tools provide just another solution to encourage students in today’s technological

era to continue reading, which in turn allows students to obtain new benefits to improve their

literacy skills—while simplifying the process.

An additional solution to encourage students to read in a technological world is to

motivate students through various types of applications, or apps, related to literacy skills that can

be downloaded to devices such as tablets (i.e., the iPad). One specific type of app to encourage

reading is audio-recording apps. With audio-recording apps, students can enhance the reading

experience, making it more fun and interactive by adding their own unique voice. Students can

record themselves reading or retelling the e-books they read; however, students can also create

their own digital reading experience for others by transforming print versions of books into e-

books, creating audio recordings using their own voice. These experiences allow students to

develop concepts of print, phonics, and language development.

Moreover, students can be encouraged to read when they are motivated by teachers with

opportunities to create their own narrated texts. Students can pair their audio recordings with

apps that allow them to create illustrations, add photos, and edit and add effects to photos,

creating their own storybooks. In allowing students to engage in these interactive experiences for

their own enjoyment, teachers simultaneously achieve a multitude of literacy goals, including the

transformative goal of “engaging students in responding to a fictional story through the creation

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of multimodal texts.” This will allow teachers to “effectively add value to [their] instruction

through learning opportunities that both support traditional print-based literacies and realize the

transformative potential of apps to develop new literacies in learners” (Heins Israelson, 2015, p.

348). Therefore, students not only reap the benefits of digital reading experiences, but teachers

also achieve its great impact as a result—an extra bonus to finding solutions for reluctant readers

in the digital age.

Overall, students find the experience of using audio-recording apps with reading a way of

turning something old into something new all over again. Students find it challenging yet

exciting all at once. The most exciting component about the experience, that also satisfies

students, is to see a fully student-created e-book with audio, played out like a video (Vasinda &

McLeod, 2011, p. 494-496). It encourages students to be creative, but the audio-recording

experience also encourages students to want to read and become even stronger as readers.

Further types of apps that exist and could help to close the gap for reluctant readers in the

digital age include multiple-choice quiz apps and mind-mapping apps. With multiple-choice quiz

apps, students can challenge themselves to read texts and answer questions related to the content

of the readings. One example of such an app is iLEAP Reading Comprehension: A Trip to the

Zoo. Apps like these can help to build students’ reading comprehension skills, while also

fostering a motivation to read. These apps can likewise get students engaged in friendly

competition with their peers, which further helps to build these skills.

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With mind-mapping apps, students can organize their thoughts and ideas or story events

as they read. This becomes especially useful when writing is involved in response to texts. Mind-

mapping apps allow students to create graphic organizers and plan their writing before fully

taking on the actual response. Even when students are not faced with a writing task in response

to a text, mind-mapping apps continue to be useful for struggling readers especially. It serves as a

great aid for an easy sequencing of events and collecting ideas and thoughts regarding characters

the reader meets within a story. While many powerful, stand-alone mind-mapping apps exist,

such as MindMeister, some e-books may be equipped with tools that can include mind-mapping

capabilities to collect readers’ “talks with the text” and experiences with the story (Heins

Israelson, 2015, p. 345-346).

Despite some of the challenges the digital realm has presented teachers with when

encouraging students to read, the technology tools made available as a result continue to expand

and grow in ensuring students are reading and not left behind in literacy. Many possibilities now

exist in a digital format that readers never experienced, or at least never experienced as

seamlessly, before with traditional literature. By presenting and encouraging students with

opportunities to read using e-books, use e-book tools, and engage with apps related to audio-

recording, multiple-choice quizzing, and mind mapping, teachers can help to change the way

students view literature—especially in a world where students are now craving the speed and

engagement level of technology. Working with reading and technology together, hand in hand,

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allows teachers to help break down barriers, put in place by traditional print books, for their

students. Consequently, teachers can also see the same positive results that are surfacing with

ongoing research studies. Teachers will see that encouraging students to read using digital tools

will result in greater engagement. As Todd E. Wright, elementary literacy instructor expressed,

“Greater engagement equals higher achievement. End of story” (Barone & Wright, 2008, p. 302).


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Works Cited

Barone, D. & Wright, T. E. (2008), Literacy instruction with digital and media technologies.

The Reading Teacher, 62: 292–302. doi:10.1598/RT.62.4.2

Brueck, Jeremy S. & Lenhart, Lisa A. (2015). E-Books and TPACK: What teachers need to

know. The Reading Teacher, 68(5), 373–376. doi:10.1002/trtr.1323

Heins Israelson, M. (2015). The app map: A tool for systematic evaluation of apps for early

literacy learning. The Reading Teacher, 69(3), 339–349. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1414.

Larson, L. (2015). E-Books and audiobooks: Extending the digital reading experience. The

Reading Teacher, 69(2), 169–177. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1371

Vasinda, S. & McLeod, J. (2011), Extending readers theatre: A powerful and purposeful

match with podcasting. The Reading Teacher, 64: 486–497. doi:10.1598/RT.64.7.2

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