Objective: To examine the relative effects of electronic books (e-books) and paper books (p-books) on reading comprehension, eye fatigue, and perception among Korean children, ages 10-12.Design: Experimental study.Subjects and Setting: 56 Korean children (29 boys, 27 girls), ages 10-12, enrolled in their sixth year at a public scontinued
Objective: To examine the relative effects of electronic books (e-books) and paper books (p-books) on reading comprehension, eye fatigue, and perception among Korean children, ages 10-12.
Design: Experimental study.
Subjects and Setting: 56 Korean children (29 boys, 27 girls), ages 10-12, enrolled in their sixth year at a public school. All children had at least 20/20 vision with corrective lenses, with no physical or mental problems, and had substantial exposure to technology, including at least one shared personal computer and an email account.
Interventions: Each child read 2 children’s short stories (approx. 700 words and 4 pages each), previously unread, on either an e-book or p-book and then repeated the same exercise 1-week later on the medium not used in the first exercise (e-book or p-book) for 2 different short stories. Both books types contained the same content, typeface, and font size.
Outcome Measures: Eye fatigue, measured as critical flicker/fusion frequency (CFF), or the frequency at the child cannot distinguish between a flickering light and a steady light. Reading comprehension, assessed via quiz following reading session. Perception of medium, including satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and intention to use in the future.
Results: The children had significantly higher scores on reading comprehension and significantly less eye fatigue after reading the p-book than after reading the e-book. Approximately half of the children expressed satisfaction with the using the e-book for a reading tool and reported that the e-book was easy to read, but less than 10% reported that they would choose the e-book over the p-book if given the choice.
Conclusion: Korean school children experienced less eye fatigue and greater reading comprehension after reading stories in a paper book than in an electronic book. The children expressed general satisfaction with the electronic book, but few preferred it over the paper book, suggesting that improvements to electronic books are necessary in order to make them more useable. © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn
Age Group:
Childhood (birth-12 yrs), School Age (6-12 yrs)
Source of Funding:
Source of funding not stated in paper