The effect of electronic books on the reading comprehension of middle and high school
students was examined using an experimental posttest-only control-group design. A
convenience sample of 140 randomly assigned middle and high school English students
at an independent school in eastern North Carolina participated. Half of the students used
passages from text read on tablets while half utilized traditional print text passages. Data
was collected during one class period in which the reading comprehension section of the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests®, a 35 minute test containing 48 questions, was
administered. Reading comprehension data was analyzed using an independent t-test.
The effect of electronic books on the reading motivation of middle and high school
students was examined using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control-group design.
All students from the Reading Comprehension testing took the initial Motivations for
Reading Questionnaire, a 15-20 minute survey containing 53 questions, on day two. A
posttest MRQ was administered in which 27 participants completed the MRQ after
reading a book excerpt in paper form, and 27 participants completed the MRQ after
reading the same excerpt in electronic form. Reading motivation data was analyzed
using a MANOVA. Results demonstrated no significant differences in either reading
comprehension or motivation levels based on book format.