The Effects of Reading Mode (Digital vs Printed Text) on Reading Comprehension: A Literature Review of the Key Assessment Factors

The technological advancements are rapidly disrupting our lives and causing a wide technology adoption gap between older and younger people. When it comes to reading modes (Printed-text vs Digital), researches show discrepancy in results and preferences among generations. Reading comprehension is always seen as a pivotal subject in any reading process or task. This paper aims to examine the key assessment factors to be considered to assess the impacts of reading modes on reading comprehension. Several factors and methodologies were observed that span across several disciplines like neuroscience, brain research, instructional and learning technologies, human computer interactions, information technology among others. In this paper, only the common and most frequently used factors were selected and described, namely reader's attention, reading speed, reading workload, and reading preference.