Determinants of high school students’ digital reading flow experience: an experimental study

• Published in: Electronic library Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 45 - 62
• Main Authors: Chen, Jingjun, Tang, Xiwen, Xia, Yuan, Bao, Shangfei, Shen, Jianting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Emerald Publishing Limited 02.02.2023; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Adolescents; Computers; E-books; Electronic book readers; High School Students; Learning; Narratives; Novels; Page layout; Pictures; Reading comprehension; Reading promotion; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Skills; Smartphones; Students; Smartphones; High school students; Digital reading; Advance organizer strategy; Page layouts; Flow experience; Reading medium; Text type; Presentation formats
• ISSN: 0264-0473; 1758-616X; 0264-0473
• DOI: 10.1108/EL-05-2022-0117

Purpose This study aims to explore the influence of information presentation conditions on the flow experience of digital reading for high school students. Design/methodology/approach Firstly, a survey determines the preferred reading medium and the types of texts that high school students frequently read. Secondly, Experiment 1 focuses on the effects of the text type and reading medium on flow experience and reading comprehension. Finally, Experiment 2 addresses a narrative text presented on a smartphone, and discusses the influence of advance organizer, presentation format and page layout on flow experience and reading comprehension. Findings In digital reading, the narrative text has a stronger flow experience than explanatory text; the flow experience of reading narration on smartphones is more evident than on computers. The advance organizer and text combined with pictures are more conducive to a flow experience when a smartphone is used as a reading medium. From the perspective of reading comprehension, scrolling is more suitable for reading text combined with pictures and paging best suits pure text. Originality/value Through experimental methods, this study reveals the influence of information presentation conditions on the digital reading flow experience, which is a meaningful and innovative topic. The findings can provide more enlightenment and reference for the design and promotion of digital resources and digital reading by teenagers.