Mobile Devices Boost Student Reading

As book retailers spar for superiority in the marketplace, consumers are reaping the benefits of unparalleled access to reading materials. Experts say this is leading to an increase in student reading.

The proliferation of e-readers like the iPad has led to an explosion in reading for enjoyment.

Retail competition among Apple, Barnes & Noble and Amazon has made getting books and periodicals ridiculously simple. In addition to their original device incarnations, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle are both available in App format on every mobile platform. That means anyone with an account to either e-bookstore can access their virtual libraries, purchase new titles and read everything via iOS (the iPhone and iPad operating system), Android and BlackBerry devices. Apple’s iBooks is proprietary, but the sheer amount of iPhones and iPads in the field put the firm’s e-book market share on very solid ground.

All of this has put the tech-savvy student in a very enviable position. Gone are the days of dragging kids to the library or making trips to the local bookstore. In a matter of seconds, students can have a book in their hands, often for free.

This ease of access to reading material, the vast majority of which is for entertainment purposes, has some experts predicting a boom in youth literacy.

“We know that the earlier a child starts reading, and if the reading is enjoyable, he will want to read more,” said Reading is Fundamental (RIF) Vice President of Literacy Services, Judy Cheatham. “I have never seen a study in my entire life that says children keep reading if they hate it. We know that they think it’s nifty to use these things because of the ‘cool factor’ of using the technology.”

While the increased accessibility of reading materials is leading to an increase in enjoyment reading, it has also provided some benefit to academic reading. iBooks has an extensive list of literary classics that are free to download. Titles such as A Tale of Two Cities and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which have been taught in schools for decades, can be had at no cost.

This technology is already making its way into broad literacy initiatives. RIF has implemented book downloads into one of its youth literacy programs.

“We’ve got a RIF program right now where students get to choose five different books that they can download,” Cheatham said. “We’re in the middle of that project right now so we don’t have results, but I can say anecdotally that they think it’s the coolest thing in the world.”

While the debate continues as to what kids should be reading, most educators agree that any supervised reading is positive. That is one of the reasons the American Library Association organizes National Banned Book Week every September. Books like the Harry Potter Series, The Lord of the Rings, Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird have all been banned by American schools at one point, but are now only a click away.

Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor
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