6 COMPUTER USAGE AND READING LITERACY
6.6 Discussion
The results show that computers and the Internet are part of a 15-year-old Nordic student’s everyday life. Nordic students, particularly the boys, were especially active in using computers. In addition to using the Internet and the communication possibilities it offers, teenagers also use computers actively for word processing and playing games. Although boys in general are more active computer users, the results in Finland show that girls are more active email users than boys and as active as boys in chatting and using other discussion forums. Boys use activities that demand more technical skills (Leino 2001).
Nordic boys were very interested in computers and confident and comfortable with their ability to use them. However, the interest of Nordic girls, as well as their self-assessment of their comfort with and perceived ability to use computers, was below the OECD average. The gender differences in these two aspects were generally larger in the Nordic countries than in the other participating countries on average. Naturally, the amount of usage is connected with confidence, but the gender difference may also be accounted for by the fact that computers and networks are still seen as boys’ territory.
There is an old prejudice according to which girls cannot use and understand computers. The self-assessment measure may be somewhat unreliable, as Nordic people in general are quite humble when it comes to self-assessing their skills.
The results show that there is a positive relationship between moderate computer usage and reading literacy skills. This can be seen in all the participating Nordic countries. The most active computer usage, however, seems to be related to a somewhat lower reading literacy score, particularly among girls. The difference between boys’ and girls’ mean scores was smallest among those who used computers the most actively. This can be specifically seen in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The largest difference was to be found among those who did not use computers at all. However, these findings will need further investigation.
The most alarming situation is among those teenagers, be they boys or girls, who do not use computers at all. Their mean reading literacy score was clearly much lower than those who used computers at least sometimes. As some previous studies have shown, it is clearly not just a matter of using computers;
those who did not use computers also read newspapers, magazines, comics, non-fiction and in most cases fiction less frequently than computer users (Leino 2002). Teenagers who do not use computers and therefore have poor multiliteracy skills are in danger of being marginalized in the information society, because in today’s labour force technological knowledge and skills are in ever greater need. Workplace activities require traditional literacy skills as well as the multiliteracy skills necessitated by technology.
The increasing gender gap in reading literacy may be explained by the increase in computer use among boys leading to a decrease in reading of fiction. On the other hand, the purposes for which computers are used vary:
using the Internet and electronic communication channels has a more positive relationship to literacy proficiency than playing games or programming (Leino 2002). We need to create a pedagogy which enables everyone to use computers at least at school and, even more importantly, which also supports the literacy skills of those who use computers only now and then as well as of those who use them almost every day.
Electronic texts should not only be part of students’ free time, they should also be a part of school material in every country, and should include not just word processing activities, but also reading, interpreting and evaluating authentic texts on web pages and in chat rooms. Teachers should prepare tasks for students involving retrieving information and critically evaluating the information in class or as a network discussion. Using electronic texts in teaching may be one way to get computer “nerds” interested in reading and to look beyond the surface of the texts.
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