Loh, Chin Ee

Drawing on data from a mobile ethnography study of 12 adolescents from one secondary school, this article proposes to examine the everyday digital reading resources and practices of Singapore adolescent youths to better understand the print and new media (fiction) leisure reading habits of adolescents. Mobile ethnography, with its capacity to capture adolescents’ actual reading through images, texts, and video recordings, provides a new way to document and understand the changing reading habits of adolescents. Participants documented their print and digital reading on a smartphone app over four days, followed by a photo-elicitation interview. Findings showed that these adolescents read for pleasure and were self-directed readers who invested time in reading various new media fiction texts such as ebooks, Japanese manga and fanfiction. Practices of new media reading include cross-media consumption, engagement in fandom behaviours, and interest-driven searching for diverse reading materials. Adolescents are motivated to read when the reading experience promises immersive entertainment. A good story, ease of access to interesting content and potential for multiple media engagements encourage adolescents’ volitional reading. Implications for curriculum and future research on adolescent volitional reading are discussed.

This article adopts a Bakhtinian understanding of dialogue to explore the affordances of virtual book clubs, and how they can foster dialogues and encourage dialogic thinking in students. Drawing on a qualitative case study of 11-year-old students participating in an online book club, we explore how digital book clubs open dialogic spaces for students to build on discussions of texts. Readers learn to read beyond the text by becoming more aware of the text and other readers, and also learn collaboratively by building on each other’s responses and being exposed to different perspectives and ideas. We demonstrate how online spaces such as virtual book clubs can enhance students’ reading engagement and open dialogic spaces for the different exchanges they have with others. Implications for using online book clubs for offering students opportunities to read and think critical and collaborative learning are discussed.

Leisure reading is associated with many advantages such as improving language skills and academic achievement, developing emotional intelligence and supporting social mobility. Children’s dispositions to read are shaped by instrumental and social factors, and the home reading environment is an important factor that encourages the development of leisure reading habits. This study examines how parental cultural capital, in the form of parents’ educational qualifications,identification as readers and ability to provide their children with resources (e.g., books, comfortable reading environments, devices and subscriptions for reading) support children’s development of positive reading habits.

There is worldwide concern about the decline in children and adolescent enjoyment of reading as documented by international and national surveys, with smartphones and other technologies often blamed for the decline. Yet, with recent rapid improvements in technologies for reading, the accelerated adoption of devices for learning during the pandemic and increased access to e-books through the public library system in Singapore, the relationship between adolescent technology use and reading may be more complex than is typically painted in popular press. This mixed-methods study seeks to make current an understanding of adolescent reading in relation to technology by exploring adolescents' preferred reading devices, their use of technology for reading and their use of public e-resources for reading. In this study, adolescents preferred using their smartphones over print forms for reading and preferred to read social media online. E-books accessed freely through the public library were under-utilised, and adolescents reported lack of knowledge or experience about how to look for reading resources online. Findings suggest an intentional and nuanced approach is needed to create an ecosystem of opportunities for adolescents to have meaningful reading experiences in print and digitally.

Research has shown that adolescents are more likely to read when they find books that are engaging and relevant to them. Fiction remains popular among teens because it meets adolescents’ need for reading something enjoyable with relatable characters and storylines. Furthermore, fiction titles that are popular among teens provide a topic of conversation for adolescents to connect with their peers. Educators and librarians need to know what teens like to read to find engaging and motivating content for them.