A proposed reading event analysis model (REAM) for determining likely reading format preferences

Purpose This conceptual paper relates disparate evidence on the factors influencing reading format choice and preference, whether print or digital, in order to inform educational practice and scholarship. Design/methodology/approach The authors propose a reading event analysis model (REAM) to help guide practitioners and scholars through a consideration of relevant factors, as evidenced by empirical research, to predicting whether print or digital formats will best support the reading and/or learning objectives of a reader in a given reading event in the current technological era. Findings The evidence synthesized and communicated by the REAM model reflects complex interactions between reader characteristics, task characteristics and text characteristics that influence the effects and outcomes of reading in print or digital format. Research limitations/implications This model serves to guide scholars in the design of future empirical studies that account for critical performance variables related to reading comprehension and user preference. Practical implications In examining the effects of reading format on learning and the relationship of learning to overall reader format preferences, this model will help educators, educational administrators, industry practitioners, technologists and interface developers transfer current findings to practice, make decisions and determine developmental priorities to meet the needs of readers and learners across a variety of contexts and support the pursuit of equity in education. Originality/value This model is necessary and contributes important original synthesis and to an area of scholarship that in recent years has yielded results that at times appear contradictory. The model provides possible resolutions to these apparent contradictions in a construct that lends translational value for practice.