Student response to e-books: study of attitude toward reading among elementary school children in Kuwait

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the impact of e-books on attitude towards reading among elementary school students. The paper also reflects on issues related to readings and e-books. Design/methodology/approach – Experimental method of research was used to carry out the study. Experiment was conducted on fourth-grade students in an international school in Kuwait. The control group consisted of nine students. The experimental group had 16 students: eight read the book under the “read-to-me” feature and the other half read the book alone. Students in the two groups were assigned readings randomly and their reactions were studied and compared using different methods. Findings – The experiment demonstrated that students enjoyed reading the electronic medium more than the paperback alternative. The difference, however, was not significant. In addition, difference between the comprehension levels of the three conditions was also insignificant. Students did, however, finish reading the paperback book in ...

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