Digital Reading Attitudes of Pre-Service Teachers

Abstract

The study explored the attitudes of pre-service teachers of two different groups majoring in numerical and verbal fields towards digital reading in terms of different variables. By examining variables such as daily digital reading time, daily print reading time, number of books read from digital devices, the level of digital reading attitudes of pre-service teachers in numerical and verbal fields were examined and the findings were discussed. Selected using the convenient sampling method among the non-random sampling methods, the study sample consisted of a total of 100 participants, 56 of whom were majoring in Mathematics Education and 42 of whom were majoring in Social Studies Education at a state university in Central Anatolia. The "Attitude Scale Towards Digital Reading for Pre-Service Teachers" developed by Yurdakal and Susar Kırmızı (2021) was utilized as the data collection tool. The study revealed that while the digital reading attitudes of pre-service teachers showed a statistically significant difference according to their daily reading duration from printed sources, reading books from any kind of digital devices, digital reading competencies and the number of books they read in a year, there was no significant difference according to the program they were in, daily digital reading duration and electronic text that can be read in an internet-free environment. In line with the study results, suggestions were provided for educators regarding digital reading, which are believed to improve the quality of education.