Developing a Digitalised Reading Platform to Enhance Primary School Students’ Online Reading Competence

Overview

International research has considered online reading as a new literacy that is distinct from traditional reading, and many countries and international educational assessments have also incorporated digital/online reading into their curriculum and assessment in recent years. For instance, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) will fully transition to include online reading skills from 2026 onwards.

While Hong Kong primary four students have consistently performed well on the paper-based PIRLS over the past 20 years, with the changing test mode, would they adapt and maintain their strong performance? This seminar will report on a QEF project that designed assessment-for-learning Chinese online reading resources, and explored the characteristics of online reading competence. The speaker’s team aims to advance students’ Chinese online reading competence and maintain Hong Kong's international competitiveness.

Since 2023, the project has formulated a draft framework of 18 online reading competency indicators, invited eight primary schools to participate, and constructed an online reading assessment platform consisting of 12 reading tasks. The tasks were conducted and analysed, and the strengths and weaknesses of lower and upper primary students in online reading were summarised. In August 2024, the final stage of analysis will be conducted, summarising the changes and noteworthy findings of over 1,000 research participants in this project.　

Participants of this seminar will understand:
1. the differences in the competence between paper-based and online reading;
2. the challenges primary school students face in online reading; and
3. effective strategies for online reading