Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033

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Computers and Education Open

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The COVID-19 school closure effect on students’ print and digital leisure
reading
Baoqi Sun a,1,∗, Chin Ee Loh b,1,∗, Youyan Nie c
a
Centre for Research in Child Development, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
b
Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
c
Psychology and Child & Human Development, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: Adopting an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this study examined Singaporean primary school
Distance education and online learning students’ changes in reading enjoyment, reading amount, and their access to resources in print and digital formats
Elementary education during the COVID-19 school closure. Survey data showed reading was a more preferred leisure activity during
Media in education
the school closure. Students’ reading enjoyment prior to the closure was positively correlated with changes in
Pedagogical issues
their reading enjoyment and reading amount during the closure, for both print and digital formats. Despite the
ubiquity of devices, devices were underutilised for reading purposes. Students demonstrated a clear preference
for print reading over reading digitally both before and during the school closure and relied more on home
than online resources for reading materials. Changes in time spent on devices during school closure were not
related to changes in digital reading amount, but negatively related to changes in reading enjoyment and print
reading amount over the same period, suggesting more time on devices may not naturally lead to more reading
digitally. Qualitative results revealed several challenges students faced with reading digitally. While students
were digital natives in terms of using technology for entertainment purposes, they had difficulty locating digital
reading materials as few students were socialised into using technology for reading. When it comes to reading, we
propose that primary school students are print natives who are generally more familiar with reading in print and
prefer print. Some inherent limitations of digital reading that restrict continuous reading (e.g., eye strain, reliance
on power supply, cumbersome navigability) may prevent students from embracing the new form of reading.

1. Introduction
This study examined students’ changes in leisure reading in print
and digitally during the two-month-long school closure in Singapore be-
tween April and June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden
and unexpected nationwide closure of schools in Singapore, mirroring
the situation worldwide, expedited schools’ and students’ use of tech-
nology for learning and forced students to rely on home resources for
reading. In a situation of forced school closure, where students lacked
physical access to print resources for reading (other than what they al-
ready have at home), did these “digital natives” [62] take to technology
for reading when loans and purchases of physical books were limited?
Did they read more or less when literally left to their own devices? What
factors influenced their choice to read physical books or e-books?
Furthermore, the pandemic-related school closure mirrors the much-
examined concept of summer reading loss, extensively studied in the
Western hemisphere [2,17,33,51]. Students who enjoy reading less or
who come from homes with fewer books are likely to read less during
summer, resulting in the aforementioned summer reading loss ([4,5],
and may fall behind in their reading proficiency due to their lack of
practice. Students’ loss in reading may also be associated with reduced
frequency of engaging in literacy-rich activities, such as visiting libraries
and participating in summer-based enrichment classes and activities
[2,7,10]. During the pandemic-related school closure, these activities
were not available, and the impact of summer reading loss may have ex-
tended beyond summer (Sun et al., 2021, under review). Some scholars
have noted the possible negative impact of school closures on students’
learning [8,36]. An early survey in the first half of 2020 by the National
Literacy Trust found that some UK students and adolescents aged 9–18
years actually read more and enjoyed reading more in both print and
digital formats, whereas students who enjoyed reading less before the
lockdown and had access to fewer books were more likely to report en-
joying reading less and reading fewer books during the lockdown [14].
As such, this study aimed to add to this body of research by examining

∗
Corresponding authors at: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, NIE5-B3-30, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore.
E-mail addresses: baoqi.sun@nie.edu.sg (B. Sun), chinee.loh@nie.edu.sg (C.E. Loh).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100033
Received 10 November 2020; Received in revised form 11 March 2021; Accepted 12 March 2021
2666-5573/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
the effects of the COVID-19 school closure on primary school students’
print and digital leisure reading in an Asian context.
It is vital to understand whether students continue to read dur-
ing school closures because leisure reading, otherwise referred to as
recreational or independent reading, has been shown to correlate to
reading proficiency, academic achievement and increased opportunities
for self-directed learning [3,19,34,35,73]. At the same time, sharp in-
creases in the availability and affordability of digital devices over time
means that students today have more access to various non-computer
devices for reading [72]. This, combined with the increasing immer-
sion of today’s digital natives in digital environments, has resulted in
a general widespread belief that digital reading materials will over-
take print reading materials. However, current research suggests that
print is still preferred to e-books and that e-book reading may be un-
even across children and adolescents who identify as avid and non-avid
readers [15,41,48] and across individuals of different educational and
socio-economic statuses [42,60].
Adopting an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this
study examined print and digital leisure reading of students before and
during the COVID-19 school closure in Singapore. Understanding stu-
dents’ preferences and habits related to reading in print and digitally
can inform policymakers and educators about how best to support stu-
dents’ engagement in reading through the use of different technologies,
especially when homebound or blended learning may become a regular
part of schooling [20], not just in Singapore but internationally.
2. Literature review
2.1. The importance of leisure reading
In this article, we use the term leisure reading to encapsulate reading
that students themselves choose to do as opposed to reading that is man-
dated for school or homework tasks [46]. Research on leisure reading
has focused on three interrelated components – namely, reading enjoy-
ment, reading amount (i.e. reading frequency and reading duration) and
reading resources [12,13,27,74].
There is extensive evidence that students who enjoy reading are
likely to engage in reading and develop sustainable reading habits
[39,40,64,73]. Research has consistently shown that good reading
habits are closely related to a wide range of educational, social and per-
sonal benefits [27]; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De-
velopment [[59]. For instance, the Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study [55,56,63] has shown that 10-year-olds across all coun-
tries who reported enjoying reading and reading outside of school on
a daily basis performed significantly better on reading tasks than those
who did not enjoy reading and read less frequently. Leisure reading has
also been linked to greater empathy and social connection [6,58] and
better social-cognitive abilities [57].
These well-established benefits of leisure reading, however, can only
be realised when students have access to high-quality reading resources.
Research has consistently demonstrated that providing students with ac-
cess to suitable and diverse reading materials encourages them to read
[43,44,64] and that students who have access to a wide variety of read-
ing materials are likely to be engaged readers and perform particularly
well in reading [59]. With rapid advances in science and technology,
there is a pressing need for researchers and teachers to understand how
the use of electronic devices and the Internet may impact students’ ac-
cess to resources for leisure reading.
2.2. Print and digital reading preferences
Reading in print refers to reading on paper, whereas reading digitally
refers to the reading of textual material online, whether on a reading de-
vice, smartphone, tablet or computer [41]. Reading digitally can include
reading e-books in digital formats that adopt the linearity of print books,
as well as texts with hyper-links. E-books may be obtained through
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Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
specific subscription platforms (e.g., Epic or Kindle books), through li-
braries (e.g., the National Library App in Singapore) or through other
online resources (e.g., project Gutenberg or Adobe Reader). The present
study focused on reading digitally rather than digital reading, which is
the ability to navigate the Internet [72]. We limited our focus to the
reading of continuously linear texts, whether fiction or non-fiction, as
the reading of long-form texts has been found to correlate to reading
proficiency and academic achievement [21,29,54,81].
Despite improvements in reading technology and access to books, re-
search demonstrates that the majority of primary [48,61] and secondary
school [41,47,80] students still prefer reading print books to e-books,
though they are open to using the latter [11,31,53]. However, whatever
the format or device, students value choice and variety in reading ma-
terials, and having access to interesting texts encourages them to read
more and enjoy the reading experience [31,53]. Prior studies indicated
that in comparison to older adolescents, primary school students were
more likely to be unaware that smartphones and tablet devices could
be used for reading, associating them instead with game-playing and
other forms of entertainment, such as watching YouTube [11,53]. In
a study on students using e-readers, Ciampa [11] found that Grade 1
students who had been exposed to e-books on tablets in school still con-
tinued to associate their home devices with gaming rather than reading.
In an Australian study, Merga and Roni [48] found that ownership of
smartphones and tablets was negatively associated with upper primary
students’ reading.
2.3. Technology amplifies existing reading habits
The assumption that students and adolescents today are “digital na-
tives” [62], who must necessarily prefer using devices to for reading
than print, may be incomplete and overly simplistic. Students from dif-
ferent home backgrounds often have differential access to digital re-
sources and technological and cultural knowledge that allow them to
access these resources [30,65,68,69,76]. Moreover, students may be
reading, but some forms of reading, such as the reading of fiction and
long-form texts, have been found to more strongly correlate to reading
proficiency and academic achievement than others [21,29,54,81].
Children’s and adolescents’ existing habits are often amplified in
their use of technology. A study found that adolescent girls, who tended
to read more print and enjoy reading more, used e-books to extend their
existing reading habits [49]. Many boys prefer to read digital recre-
ational texts, but these short-form digital reading materials are not cor-
related to academic achievement [22,28,52,70]. Though definitions of
frequent readers vary across studies [66], studies across different age
groups and countries showed that avid or frequent readers read more
across both print and digital mediums compared to non-readers or less
frequent readers [41,47,48,67,78,79]. This suggests that avid readers
are more likely to make use of all available resources to obtain more
books. That is, students and adolescents with more books at home are
more likely to be avid readers and are also more likely to utilise tech-
nology for digital reading, and vice versa [42,80].
2.4. Singapore context and the present study
Singapore provides a unique setting to understand the role of tech-
nology in supporting leisure reading during school closure. English is the
medium of instruction in Singapore, and all students formally start learn-
ing English from Primary One (Grade 1 equivalent, 7 years old). The
Singaporean school system places a premium on students’ English lan-
guage proficiency. The English curriculum aims to foster a love for read-
ing and requires schools to have a daily morning reading session lasting
15–20 min, during which students are encouraged to bring their own
books to read [71]. In addition, as one of the most digitally connected
countries in the world [77], Singapore has continuously endeavoured
to support and improve students’ learning through online resources via
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
a ministry-sponsored online learning portal. The country has also in-
tegrated regular online learning into future schooling [20]. During the
COVID-19 school closure, students without sufficient devices to partici-
pate in home-based learning were provided with Internet-enabling and
digital devices for learning [1]. Furthermore, given Singaporean stu-
dents’ unlimited access to online reading materials through a free sub-
scription to the National Library Board (NLB)’s vast e-collection [37],
the authors wondered if it would be possible for digital resources to
ameliorate reading loss during the school closure period. Understand-
ing whether students enjoy reading, read in print or digitally and how
they do so in this digital age can guide researchers’, policymakers’ and
educators’ future directions in the provision of reading and technologi-
cal resources.
The study examines the impact of the two-month school closure on
Singaporean primary school students’ leisure reading in print and digi-
tally. Specifically, the following research questions guided the study:
1 What are the changes in Singaporean students’ reading enjoyment
and reading amount in print and digitally before and during the
COVID-19 school closure?
2 What are their sources of reading materials and the changes in time
spent on devices during the COVID-19 school closure?
3 What are the relations among their reading enjoyment, changes in
print/digital reading amount, numbers of print/e-books owned at
home, and time spent on devices during the COVID-19 school clo-
sure?
4 What reasons do students give for their print or digital leisure read-
ing preferences and changes during the school closure?
3. Material and methods
This study is part of a larger research project investigating Singa-
porean students’ leisure reading. Data collection for the initial study,
which was planned for the first half of 2020, was postponed when Sin-
gapore went into a two-month Circuit Breaker from 8 April to 1 June
2020. During the Circuit Breaker, schools were closed, and lessons were
conducted online in April 2020. The mid-year school holidays were then
brought forward from June to May 2020. Students returned to school
in phases in June, with cohorts rotating between home-based learning
(HBL) and going to school. All students reported physically to school on
29 June 2020 and it was announced that HBL would be part and par-
cel of future learning [20]. In light of these circumstances, the original
study was expanded to include a section on students’ leisure reading
during the school closure.
The study adopted an explanatory sequential mixed methods design
[18], for which quantitative data were collected using a reading survey.
The survey data was analysed first and then expanded and corroborated
by qualitative data obtained from semi-structured Focus Group Discus-
sions (FGDs). The rationale for this approach is that results from the
survey yielded some general patterns of the students’ leisure reading in
print and digital formats before and during the school closure, which
could be further refined and elaborated through an in-depth qualitative
exploration. Fig. 1 shows the sequence of data collection and analysis
of the study.
3.1. Quantitative data collection and analysis
3.1.1. Participants
The participants in this study were 2012 Primary Four and Five
(aged 10 – 11, U.S. equivalent to fourth and fifth graders) from six pri-
mary schools in Singapore. Efforts were taken in school selection so as
to match the distribution of school types for primary schools in Singa-
pore and ensure a good mix of students from different social and ethnic
backgrounds. The sample included 1420 Chinese (70.6%), 338 Malay
(16.8%), 174 Indian (8.6%), and 80 students of other ethnic origins
(4.0%), reflective of Singapore’s multicultural population ratios. The
gender distribution of the sample was 51.9% male and 48.1% female.
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Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
3.1.2. Survey and data analysis
A reading survey that sought to understand students’ print and dig-
ital leisure reading was adapted from Loh and Sun [40] and Sun et al.
[74], the pilot study of the present project. The items selected for the
survey were based on a review of relevant research and theories related
to reading as well as an analysis of existing surveys designed for ex-
amining leisure reading in primary school children (e.g., [13]; Mullis
et al., 2011). As mentioned earlier, a set of questions on students’ read-
ing habits during the school closure was added. The survey contained a
brief introduction to remind the students that the questions were about
their leisure reading out of school, but not about reading for school
work. The students were also reminded that the first set of questions
was about how they usually read out of school before the school closure
(i.e., before the pandemic), and the second set of questions was about
reading during the school closure. To ascertain that the new questions
in the survey could be interpreted as intended, the revised survey was
piloted with a small group of Primary Four (Grade 4 equivalent, 10-
years-old) students from another primary school. After they completed
the questions, one-to-one interviews were conducted, during which the
researchers asked the students to paraphrase the questions in the survey
and interpret them. Items were then refined based on the results from
the interviews. The finalised survey contained 55 questions and took
approximately 25–30 min to finish.
For the purpose of the present article, 14 questions were retrieved
from the survey and grouped into three categories: (1) reading enjoy-
ment before the school closure and changes during the school closure;
(2) reading amount before and changes during the school closure, (3)
access to devices and sources of reading materials during the school clo-
sure (See Appendix A for the questions).
To address the research questions, survey data were submitted to
descriptive, inferential, and correlational analyses using SPSS 26.
3.2. Qualitative data collection and analysis
3.2.1. Participants
Due to movement restrictions, only students from one government
school were chosen for FGDs. After careful discussion with the school
and teachers, 36 primary four students were selected, with a spread
of varied reading proficiencies. There were 18 boys and 18 girls. The
FGDs were conducted in school and audio recorded, with each group
consisting of 4 students and each session lasting around 30 min.
3.2.2. Focus group discussion and data analysis
The FGD functioned as a follow up to the quantitative results to
capture a deeper and richer understanding of how and why students
read in print and digital formats during the school closure. The FGD
questions were prepared based on the survey data and a review of rele-
vant research and theories related to reading and technology ([40], See
Appendix B for the FGD guiding questions).
The FGD data were transcribed and analysed using Nvivo 12. Con-
stant comparative coding procedures [24] were used to code the data.
Structural analysis was then conducted to identify, organise, and cate-
gorise themes so to compare participants’ perceptions on print and digi-
tal reading during the school closure and to cross-check across the FGD
data. For reliability, two researchers coded the data independently and
then compared the coded results, discussing the results to reach consen-
sus and attain accuracy of study findings [18].
3.3. Procedures
Ethics approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board
of the university before schools were contacted. Full physical school
attendance resumed in July 2020, and the survey was administered be-
tween July and August 2020 to the six schools that indicated readi-
ness to take the survey. Thus, students’ reports on leisure reading be-
fore the COVID-19 school closure and changes in leisure reading during
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033

Fig. 1. Sequence of data collection and analysis.

Phase Procedure Product

QUANTITATIVE A reading survey was conducted to 2012 Numeric data retrieved

Data Collection children aged 10-11 from survey responses

QUANTITATIVE Quantitative data analysis using SPSS 26 Descriptive, inferential,

Data Analysis and correlational
statistics

Develop FGD questions based on QUAN FGD questions finalized

results 36 FGD participants
Connecting QUAN +
Contacting schools to recruit FGD recruited through
qual phases
participants through purposeful sampling purposeful sampling

Qualitative Data 9 FGDs were conducted with 4 children Transcriptions of the

Collection in each group FGD (Textual data)

Qualitative data analysis using Nvivo 11 Codes, categories, and

Qualitative Data Constant Comparative Analysis was emerging themes
Analysis adopted to code transcriptions, collapse
codes into categories, and discern
emerging themes

Mixing of the QUAN Corroborate and substantiate QUAN Conclusion and

+ qual Results results based on qual findings implications

Table 1
Top five most preferred leisure activities before and during the school closure.

Before the school closure % During the school closure %

1 Playing games using a device 56.4 Playing games using a device 57.2
2 Hobbies 45.5 Hobbies 47.8
3 Reading 40.5 Reading 44.5
4 Watching TV 37.1 Watching TV 38.9
5 Spend time with family 37.0 Spend time with family 35.2

the school closure are retrospective. The survey was administered either Table 2
via the school’s online learning platform or in paper-and-pen copies to Reading enjoyment before the school closure.
groups of students in their classrooms in full compliance with schools’ Very much 36.80%
COVID-19-related measures. The class teachers informed the students Quite a lot 30.90%
about the research and clarified that their participation would not af- Somewhat 16.50%
fect their academic grades. The scheduling of sessions was carefully dis- A bit 14.70%
Not at all 1.10%
cussed with the schools to avoid interference with school curriculum M (SD) 3.88 (1.10)
time. The FGDs were conducted in one school in early September 2020,
after quantitative data were collected and analysed.

4. Results
4.1. Quantitative results
4.1.1. Reading enjoyment before and during the school closure
The students were asked to choose their preferred leisure activities
out of 10 options. The top five most preferred leisure activities before
and during the school closure are presented in Table 1. Overall, while
reading remains to be important to students, playing games using a de-
vice ranked as the most preferred leisure activity before and during
the school closure, followed by hobbies. Reading was considered more
preferable during the closure than prior to it, with about 4% more stu-
dents choosing reading as their preferred leisure activity when they were
not in school.
The students were asked to rate their reading enjoyment before the
school closure on a 5-point rating scale (1 = do not enjoy at all; 5 = enjoy
very much), and the results are summarised in Table 2. To track the
changes in their reading enjoyment during the school closure, the stu-
dents were also asked if they enjoyed reading “more than usual” (coded
3), “about the same as usual” (coded 2), or “less than usual” (coded 1)
during the lockdown.2 Results are shown in Table 3. Responses for each
2
In the pilot study, we presented the same 5–point rating scale to the students
to assess their reading enjoyment during school closure as well as the 3-point
rating scale to assess their changes of reading enjoyment during school closure.
Students in the pilot study showed no problem in understanding the latter, but
more than half of them confused the former with the other reading enjoyment
question about their reading enjoyment before school closure. Therefore, we
chose the 3-point scale to track students’ changes in reading enjoyment.

4
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
Table 3
Changes in reading enjoyment during the school clo-
sure.
More than usual 37.9%
About the same as usual 46.8%
Less than usual 15.3%
M (SD) 2.23 (0.69)
option in percentage are included to provide a more detailed picture of
the findings.
As shown in Table 2, about two-thirds (67.7%) of the students re-
ported that they enjoyed reading very much or quite a lot before the
school closure. Table 3 shows that 37.9% of the students enjoyed read-
ing more than usual during the school closure. We were also interested
to know how students’ reading enjoyment level before the school closure
was related to their changes in reading enjoyment during the closure.
To better elucidate this relationship, Table 4 presents the frequency of
students’ changes in reading enjoyment during the school closure in re-
lation to their reading enjoyment before the closure.
As shown, 55.5% of the students who enjoyed reading very much
before the school closure reported they enjoyed reading more during
the school closure. In contrast, 59.1% of the students who did not enjoy
reading at all reported they read less than usual, suggesting the impor-
tant role of reading enjoyment during school days on students’ changes
in reading enjoyment when they spend most of their time at home.
4.1.2. Reading amount before the school closure and changes during the
school closure
Reading amount prior to the school closure was assessed by measur-
ing reading duration and frequency. To understand the changes in print
and digital reading amounts during the school closure, students were
asked to indicate if they read print or e-books/online materials “more
than usual”, “about the same as usual”, or “less than usual”. Options of
“I have print books/a device, but I didn’t read them during the school
closure” and “I don’t have print books/a device to read at home” were
provided as well. Table 5 shows the results of print and digital reading
frequency and duration before the school closure and the changes in
reading amount during the school closure.
The results revealed a reading gap between print and digital for-
mats. Before schools were closed, students read significantly more fre-
quently in print than in digital format (t(1973) = 32.84, p < .001). For
instance, about two-fifths of the students reported reading print sources
on a daily basis, and one-tenth did not read print books at all, whereas
only 11.6% read digitally almost daily and 36.8% did not read digi-
tally at all. Similar patterns were found for reading duration. Students
read in print for significantly longer durations compared to digital for-
mats (t(1981) = 23.11, p < .001). The gap between print and digital
reading before the closure continued during the school closure, as stu-
dents read significantly more in print than digitally (t(1147) = 5.78, p
< .001). Moreover, 28.9% of the students chose not to read on devices
even though they possess the relevant technology at home, whereas only
7.4% reported not reading the print books they have at home. Given that
there is widespread access to books and technology in Singapore, it was
surprising that about 5% of the students reported that they did not have
print books or devices to read at home. This suggests that some students
may have been under the radar and more attention needs to be given to
address the needs of this student population.
4.1.3. Access to devices and sources of reading materials
To understand their access to devices during the school closure, the
students were asked to indicate if they spent less, about the same, or
more time on devices in their free time when schools were closed. The
options of “my parents/guardian did not allow me to use any devices”
and “I don’t have any devices” were also provided. The results are pre-
sented in Table 6. As shown, few students did not have access to devices,
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Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
and few parents banned devices in their students’ spare time during the
school closure. While one quarter of the students spent about the same
time on devices as they had prior to the closure, more than half (58.0%)
of them spent more time on their devices.
Table 7 presents the numbers of print and e-books that students
owned at home. Overall, students possessed significantly more print
books than e-books (t(1968) = 41.70, p < .001). For instance, 63.1% of
the students owned 0 to 10 e-books at home, whereas 44.7% of them
owned more than 50 print books.
The students were presented with a list of sources for obtaining read-
ing materials and were asked to select their reading sources during the
school closure. The results are presented in Table 8. Here, it is evident
that home is the most popular source for reading materials (73.7%),
followed by online bookstores (27.0%) and the public or school library
(26.8%). Students were less likely to utilise online sources: only 22.3%
of the students chose online resources/e-books, and 19.1% of them in-
dicated that they used the NLB app, which provides access to e-books
through the public library. Teachers and friends were the two least-
popular sources for reading materials during the school closure period,
suggesting there were teachers or schools may not have intentionally di-
rected the students to reading materials even though there were online
lessons for half the school closure period.
4.1.4. Correlation between reading enjoyment, changes in reading amount
and time spent on devices
Correlation analyses were conducted and tested against a Bonferroni-
adjusted alpha level of 0.0024 (0.05/21) to examine the relationships
among reading enjoyment before and during the school closure, print
and digital reading amount changes, reading resources at home, and
time on devices changes during the school closure. Results are sum-
marised in Table 9.
The results underscored the supportive role of home resources in
maintaining students’ leisure reading in print and digital formats dur-
ing the school closure, especially when other resources were difficult to
obtain. The number of books in either print or e-book format was sig-
nificantly correlated with reading enjoyment before the school closure,
reading enjoyment changes and print/digital reading amount changes
during the school closure (rs= 0.06–35). In addition, students’ changes
in print reading amount was significantly correlated with their changes
in digital reading amount (r = 0.17), suggesting some students who read
more in print were also likely to read more digitally.
The relationships between students’ changes in time spent on de-
vices during the school closure and leisure reading are noteworthy.
Firstly, students who enjoyed reading more before the school closure
and students who owned more print books at home were less likely to
spend more time on devices during the school closure (rs= −0.11 and
−0.07, respectively). Secondly, time spent on devices may be in conflict
with reading enjoyment changes during the school closure, as students’
changes in time spent on devices during the closure was negatively cor-
related with their changes in reading enjoyment over the same period
(r = −0.14). Furthermore, the changes in time spent on devices was not
related to the changes in reading amount in both print and digital for-
mats during the school closure. These results suggest that even though
spending more time on devices may not affect the changes in print read-
ing amount, it also may not necessarily lead to more digital reading [48].
Moreover, the results demonstrate a widening reading gap in both
print and digital formats between students who enjoyed reading be-
fore the school closure and those who did not. Students’ reading enjoy-
ment before the school closure, their changes in reading enjoyment, and
changes in print/digital reading amount during the school closure were
significantly correlated, with the changes in reading enjoyment and the
changes in print reading amount during the closure having the strongest
relationship (r = 0.56, p < .01). That is, students who enjoyed reading
before the school closure were more likely to enjoy reading more dur-
ing the school closure (as detailed in Table 4). This in turn leads to an
increase in reading amount in both print and digital formats. To expli-
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033

Table 4
The relationship between reading enjoyment before the school closure and changes in reading enjoyment during the school closure.

Reading enjoyment before the school closure (%)

Changes in reading enjoyment A bit and not at all

during the school closure Very much (n = 731) Quite a lot (n = 604) Somewhat (n = 330) (n = 290) Not at all (n = 24)

Less than usual 6.8 11.8 19.3 36.6 59.1

About the same as usual 37.6 50.8 59.5 47.9 31.8
More than usual 55.5 37.4 21.2 15.5 9.1

Table 5
Print and digital reading frequency and duration before the school closure and changes in reading amount during the
school closure.

Reading frequency Print Digital

almost daily 42.3% 11.6%

2 - 3 times a week 23.9% 18.2%
2 - 3 times a month 12.4% 13.9%
during school holidays only 10.6% 19.5%
not at all 10.9% 36.8%
M (SD) 3.76 (1.38) 2.48 (1.43)
Reading duration Print Digital
15 mins or less 16.8% 41.8%
15 to 30 mins 28.5% 26.5%
30 mins to 1 h 27.4% 18.1%
more than 1 h 27.2% 13.7%
M (SD) 2.65 (1.05) 2.04 (1.07)
Changes in reading amount Print Digital
less than usual 16.5% 19.6%
about the same as usual 33.9% 22.6%
more than usual 37.2% 23.1%
M (SD) 2.24 (0.74) 2.07 (0.80)
I have print books/a device but I didn’t read them during the school closure 7.4% 28.9%
I don’t have print books/a device to read at home. 5.0% 5.7%

Table 6 Table 7
Students’ access and time spent on devices in their free time during the The numbers of print and e-books students
school closure (%). owned at home.

During school closure, did you spend more time on devices Number of books Print books e-books
in your free time? %
0–10 16.4% 63.1%
Yes, I spent more time. 58.0 11–20 17.0% 17.5%
No, I spent about the same time. 26.8 21–50 21.9% 9.2%
No, I spent less time. 9.2 51–100 20.2% 4.7%
My parents/guardian did not allow me to use any 4.0 >100 24.5% 5.5%
devices. M (SD) 3.19 (1.40) 1.72 (1.15)
I don’t have any devices. 1.8

4.2. Qualitative results

cate the relationship, Table 10 presents the frequency of students’ print
and digital reading amount changes in relation to their changes in read-
ing enjoyment during the school closure. 76.3% of those who enjoyed
reading more during the school closure reported that they read more
print books. In contrast, 62.7% of the students who enjoyed reading
less during the school closure reported they read less than usual. Simi-
lar patterns were found for reading digitally as well.
4.2.1. Reading as a preferred leisure activity during the school closure
The qualitative data helped to explain the survey results in more
depth. Regarding how they felt during the school closure, the students
unanimously expressed that staying at home during this period was “bor-
ing”. They complained that they “just have to face the computer for school”,
“can’t see our friends and go out and play” and “cannot go out and eat”.

Table 9
Correlations between reading enjoyment, changes reading amount, reading resources at home, and
time spent on devices.

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Reading enjoyment –
2. Reading enjoyment changes .36∗ –
3. Reading print amount changes .32∗ .56∗ –
4. Reading digital amount changes .25∗ .25∗ .17∗ –
5. Number of print books owned at home .35∗ .21∗ .24∗ .22∗
6. Number of e-books owned at home .20∗ .16∗ .06∗ .25∗ .25∗
7. Time on devices changes −0.11∗ −0.14∗ −0.06 .06 −0.07∗ −0.06
∗
p < .0024.

6
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
Table 8
Sources of reading materials during the school closure.
Sources of reading materials % I like to read print because I don’t like to face the screen for long period
Home (I have reading materials at home) 73.7
Online bookstore (my family members bought for me) 27.0
Public or school library (borrowed before CB) 26.8
Online resources/e-book 22.3
NLB app 19.1
Teachers/school 9.8
Friends 9.8
Thus, reading provided enjoyment and relaxation and became a pre-
ferred leisure activity. Students in the FGD who expressed that they liked
reading felt that reading was a viable alternative for coping with the
boredom of staying at home during the school closure. In other words,
they saw reading in a more positive light during the school closure. FGD
participants used words and phrases such as “relaxing”, “exciting” and “I
love reading more” repeatedly to describe their reading experience dur-
ing the school closure. These results are consistent with earlier research
(e.g., [16,57]) that reported leisure reading benefit children’s mental
well-being. For some, reading was a rediscovered hobby. One student
shared that he finally read a book he had kept in his locker since Primary
Two, when he was eight years old. Another student shared in detail, “Be-
fore Circuit Breaker, I didn’t think the book was interesting, but now I think
it’s interesting, so I will read every day after school”.
4.2.2. Distraction of digital devices
Another recurring theme is that some of these students read less be-
cause the various apps and games on their mobile phones distracted
them from reading, as shown in the following excerpts.
I read lesser as I focused too much on playing with my phone. [Student
19]
I like reading quite a lot but when Circuit Breaker started, I read lesser
and play more games on devices. [Student 33]
I don’t have time to read as I love to watch TV and play video games.
[Student 27]
Together with the correlational results reported earlier, this suggests
that increased digital access may have negatively affected some stu-
dents’ reading by reducing the amount of time they might otherwise
have devoted to reading. In addition, as mentioned earlier, the Singa-
pore primary school national curriculum places a strong emphasis on
extensive reading, and primary school students are often allocated time
to read at the beginning of the school day. Without the structure of
school-mandated reading during the school closure, some students may
not have chosen to read regularly.
4.2.3. Ease of reading in print vs difficulty of reading on digital devices
Consistent with the survey results, FGD participants overwhelmingly
shared that they preferred reading in print to reading digitally. When ex-
plaining their preference, they shared that print books were more conve-
nient to bring to school than a computer (most of them were not allowed
to carry devices to school). Students also reported that they suffered eye
strain when reading longer texts on devices.
Table 10
The relationship between changes in reading enjoyment and changes in reading amount during the school closure.
Changes in reading enjoyment during the school closure (%)
Changes in print reading amount during the school closure More than usual (n = 706)
Less than usual 7.1
About the same as usual 16.6
More than usual 76.3
Changes in digital reading amount during the school closure More than usual (n = 513)
Less than usual 23.8
About the same as usual 27.1
More than usual 49.1
7
Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
I don’t like looking at the screen for a long time; it’s killing our eyes and
it gets painful (Student 31).
like if the story is very long (Student 22).
Moreover, students felt that reading in print provides a better reading
experience, as it allows for continuous reading and better control of
one’s reading pace.
Student 24: Because when you scroll, sometimes it takes a long time, cos
sometimes you don’t know what you leave from, then you just go like a bit
too much down, then you are like, this is not where I stopped, then have to
scroll up again.
Student 20: Sometimes the words are very small in computer, cos if you
zoom in sometimes that’s the maximum already but in print books you can
see.
Student 2: When you read on devices, your iPad or mobile phone will run
out of battery and it shuts down. Books can be read by turning pages. When
you do not want to read, just put it down. No need to turn it off.
These examples demonstrate how some inherent digital reading fea-
tures (e.g. reliance on power supply, cumbersome navigability) interfere
with the intuitive navigation process of reading a long text, inevitably
placing more demands on cognition and, in turn, rendering reading a
less immersive experience [23,45,50]. More importantly, the students’
responses reveal an important aspect of their e-book reading experience
that is usually unnoticed by teachers, parents, and ICT developers: al-
though primary school students are conversant with digital devices for
entertainment and social media, they are generally more familiar with
reading in print and tend to compare their e-book reading experiences
with those of print books. When students could not experience the same
pleasure or ease of print reading, they preferred print and chose to stay
with print.
4.2.4. Lack of digital book knowledge
Students’ success as readers of print books is reflected in their abil-
ity to look for physical rather than digital books. A common theme that
emerged from the FGD data are the qualitative differences in students’
knowledge of where to look for print and digital reading materials. For
print books, students around the ages of 10—11 years knew very well
where to look for and how to obtain print books they liked. Consistent
with survey data, students visited public libraries and the school library,
asked parents to purchase print books from bookstores or websites and
received recommendations from teachers and friends, in addition to us-
ing the home as the main resource for books. However, the unexpected
school closure brought a halt to accessing most sources that students
(and parents) were familiar with, with libraries and bookstores being
closed, movement being restricted and delivery of books purchased on-
line being delayed. Students had to rely on the books they had at hand,
whether owned at home or borrowed from libraries before the school
closure.
While some students discovered books at home that they had not
read previously, two students reported that they did not read during
the school closure because they did not have any books at home, lend-
ing support to the significant correlation between the number of books
at home and changes in reading enjoyment and amount. Furthermore,
About the same as usual (n = 826) Less than usual (n = 185)
19.1 62.7
60.9 24.3
20.0 13.0
About the same as usual (n = 588) Less than usual (n = 152)
27.6 60.5
44.7 20.4
27.7 19.1
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
students in the focus groups, regardless of how many print books they
owned, consistently expressed that they were not satisfied with their
home collections and wished for more books, as shown in the following
excerpts.
Student 14: So I got my English books before the Circuit Breaker, but
sometimes I will read my old books, cos some of my old books I forgot to
read them and just gave up on them, so during the Circuit Breaker, I just
took my time and finish them.
Student 17: I did borrow [books] but by the first day of the holiday, I
already finished all of them, I finished all 3 books.
Student 4: I have many books at home, but I have read them all. So I
have no choice but to re-read the books.
When searching for new reading materials, some students turned to
digital resources, where they encountered an array of challenges. To
begin with, students lacked familiarity with where to find online or dig-
ital resources. For instance, except for two students who reported using
Kindles to buy books and read during the school closure, most students
did not know what a Kindle was. Most students were unfamiliar with
reading websites or apps (i.e., the NLB app which provides unlimited
access to a wide e-collection to all students in Singapore), and only four
students shared that their parents helped them install the NLB app. To
search for digital reading resources, some of them deployed their usual
methods for searching for information or entertainment – they used
Google or searched on YouTube. The results were mixed, as some found
reading materials and others were distracted by entertainment materi-
als, such as videos and games. For those who managed to locate sources
of digital reading materials, they complained about various obstacles.
Interviewer: Do you like read in print or online?
Student 2 & 3: Print books.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 3: Because I can’t always find what I want from the internet.
Also, some need to pay money, going to library is better.
Student 2: I like go to library to borrow too, ‘cause I don’t know how to
search (books) online. Or, I ask my mother to buy. If the books are yours,
you can take your own sweet time to read them.
Student 1: Haha, I don’t read books online. I play online games.
Interviewer: Oh, you do. Why?
Student 1: When I open my computer, my phone, the games are there,
very convenient, haha. I don’t even know where to find those, those they say
need to pay.
Student 2: Yeah, my RED App (a popular fashion app) is the same, when
I tap it, it opens.
Interviewer: I see, so you mean finding books online is not as easy as
watching videos and playing games online?
Student 2: Yes, once I open RED app, I cannot stop, haha.
Student 1: Smartphones are for games only, so small, why use it to read
books?
Student 3: I read on computer, it is better than phone.
Student 1: But didn’t you say you need to pay? Haha, games better, haha.
This informative excerpt demonstrates students’ lack of familiarity
with technology for reading. Students 2 and 3 mentioned two common
challenges of digital reading – namely, difficulty in searching for reading
materials of interest and getting free access to such resources – which
other FGD participants also consistently mentioned. Like Student 2, an-
other student expressed a preference to look for physical books in the
library, as they were more familiar with the process of searching for
print books: “Because some of the books that I want online, they do not
have it online, so I rather go to the library and borrow the books”.
Compared to the abundant choice of print books and easy access of-
fered by the public library, students mentioned the user-unfriendliness
of the Internet for their book searching. The ease of searching and fa-
miliarity with print may partially explain students’ preference for print
over digital reading materials. In contrast to the challenges they en-
countered in searching for digital reading resources, the participating
students were more at ease with using devices for functions other than
reading, such as playing games, watching videos and browsing popular
8
Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
apps. These entertainment resources are easy to navigate and highly en-
gaging. In the case of Student 1, he believed smartphones were designed
for games and, thus, used his devices for this purpose only.
In light of these results, while students were digital natives in terms
of using technology for entertainment purposes, we propose that the par-
ticipating primary school children are native print readers rather than
native digital readers when it comes to reading. This is because they
have been socialised at home and in school into reading mainly through
the use of print books. Consequently, they are more likely to know how
to look for physical books than e-books. When the ease of accessing digi-
tal reading materials did not match up that of print books, they naturally
preferred to use devices for what they were familiar with (social media,
gaming and watching YouTube videos).
4.2.5. Lack of support for using technology for reading
Another noteworthy theme may explain why students lack digital
book knowledge. The parental/teacher support commonly seen in print
reading socialization (e.g., shared reading, scaffolding, book recommen-
dation) seems totally absent for reading digitally. Students constantly
mentioned that their family members (e.g., parents and siblings) sup-
ported their reading by recommending print books, reminding them to
read and helping them obtain print reading materials during the school
closure. In school, teachers read to them and friends recommended
books to them. In contrast, regarding reading digitally, students often
reported being advised to reduce their screen time: “don’t read too long”,
“watch your screen time”. For students with the NLB app, they complained
that their parents helped only with app installation but not app nav-
igation, meaning students “have to figure it out by myself”. Sometimes,
unfamiliarity with the app made the search difficult: “if you go to the
e-library, you can’t find any books that you like. You have to go down and
down and down”. When asked about if teachers provided any reading
support, students shared that some teachers reminded them to read dur-
ing the school closure and some students asked to borrow books from
the school library before the school closure. The students reported that
their teachers did not show them how to access online reading materials.
5. Discussion
In this study, we examined the changes in Singaporean students’
print and digital leisure reading before and during the school closure
resulting from COVID-19. Consistent with research conducted in the
UK [14] and recent surveys of adults [75], our survey results reveal
that reading was a more preferred leisure activity during the COVID-19
school closure, as students had more time and found reading to be en-
joyable and relaxing, as shown in the FGD data. These results highlight
the important but less-recognised benefit of leisure reading for mental
well-being [16,57]. The present study adds to the existing literature by
showing that leisure reading serves as a valuable source of enjoyment
and relaxation, which supported students’ mental well-being during this
perilous time.
Similar to the summer reading gap documented in the literature, the
findings reveal a school closure reading gap in both print and digital for-
mats between students who enjoyed reading before the school closure
and those who did not. Students who enjoyed reading before the school
closure were more likely to enjoy reading more and actually read more
both in print and digitally during the school closure, whereas their peers
who did not enjoy reading were less motivated to read in both formats,
and their learning opportunities decreased significantly. Our results un-
derscore the importance of nurturing reading enjoyment during school
days in order to promote and sustain good reading habits in both print
and digital formats during prolonged time spent at home.
Despite the easy and increased access to technology during the
school closure, this study depicts an interesting yet intriguing picture of
the relationships between time on devices and students’ print and dig-
ital leisure reading. Students demonstrated a clear preference for print
reading over reading digitally both before and during the school closure.
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
Although more than half the students spent more time on devices dur-
ing the school closure, about one third of them did not use their devices
for reading and playing games on devices was the most preferred activ-
ity. Moreover, increased time on devices was shown be in conflict with
reading, as it was negatively related to the students’ reading enjoyment
before the school closure and changes in reading enjoyment during the
school closure. These results suggest that devices were underutilised for
reading purposes during the school closure, and that students are digi-
tal natives only insofar as it related to using devices for entertainment
such as gaming and watching videos other than reading. This finding is
supported by research in the UK [11], Australia [48] and the US [53].
For print or digital texts to better support students’ reading and learn-
ing needs, it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of what under-
lies their preferences. The results from the FGDs demonstrated several
challenges students faced with digital reading. The participating stu-
dents lacked the skills required for digital reading, preferring to read in
print and being more familiar with getting print than digital resources.
Negative experiences with reading on devices such as eye strain or dif-
ficulty of obtaining materials restrict students’ capacity to engage in
continuous pleasurable reading digitally, which may then affect their
decision to embrace or reject the new form of reading. While some de-
vices such as Kindles or iPads may be more conducive to continuous
reading [26,32], not all students had access to these reader-friendly de-
vices. Thus, schools should continue to ensure that students have access
to print resources for reading, even in non-lockdown circumstances.
Even though the pace at which technology has advanced in the last
few decades has seen rapid advances in hardware and software access
to digital materials for reading, our results reveal that students had dif-
ficulty in locating digital reading materials, which may be attributed
to the lack of support from the adults around them. While socializa-
tion practices that foster students’ familiarity with print reading were
commonplace for the FGDs participants, similar practices focusing on
reading digitally were absent, as the teachers were out of reach dur-
ing the school closure and most parents were not familiar with reading
digitally. Hence, assuming that all students will pick up digital reading
spontaneously may be misguided. Just as print reading is a cultivated
process that involves years of socialisation by adults around the stu-
dents [42], digital reading needs to be carefully socialised to students’
lives so as to equip students with necessary skills to locate materials
and engage with digital texts. As with print books, reading on e-books
needs integration into the curriculum with time and programming to im-
merse students in the habit of using technology for reading [9]. Teachers
themselves need to become familiar with using technology for teaching
reading in order to effectively make use of these devices for teaching
and learning [25,38]. Furthermore, when purchasing devices or evalu-
ating platforms for download or subscription, schools should consider
whether these devices or platforms will support students’ easy access to
reading resources, and teach teachers how to make use of the devices
and platforms to support students’ reading.
6. Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes on an unprecedented
scale, from personal adjustments to global shifts. While it remains un-
clear which of these changes might have lasting effects and which ones
might diminish, the findings of this study have several implications.
First, the greatest challenge the students faced during the school clo-
sure was the lack of suitable reading materials, especially when the
usual sources such as library, teachers and friends were not available.
This suggests that it is crucial to improve students’ easy access to high-
quality reading materials not only in print and digital formats but also
at home and in school during non-school closure times. Second, it is im-
portant to acknowledge that most students may be print natives rather
than digital natives when it comes to reading. Even as technology con-
tinually improves to facilitate reading digitally, parents, educators and
schools should be aware of the benefits and challenges of using print ver-
9
Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
sus digital resources. Just as it takes time and effort to socialise students
with print books and nurture their reading habits, students must be care-
fully and consistently socialised into digital reading both at home and in
school. Moreover, schools need to take a more active role in socializing
students in the use of digital devices and resources for reading. Finally,
with the prospect of life entering a new normal with more time to be
spent on home-based or blended learning, teachers and educators may
consider how to better design and create curricular and instructional
opportunities for integrating reading into remote and online learning
for primary school-going children.
Given the rapid improvements in technology, there will certainly
be further developments in reading technology. Although recent school
closures have accelerated the adoption of technology in Singapore and
across different contexts, governments and schools must take care to at-
tend not just to device access but to integrating the use of technology
for sustained reading in both school and out-of-school contexts. Since
reading for pleasure is key to inculcating reading habits, it is vital for
schools to attend to students who do not read for pleasure and design
strategies and programmes using both print and technology to ensure
that all students have opportunities to enjoy reading and develop life-
long reading habits, thus avoiding the effects of a school closure reading
loss.
In consideration of the constant changes in technology, continual
research is also needed to track primary school students’ attitudes to-
wards, and practices of, leisure reading digitally in comparison to print
reading to better inform educators of the benefits and challenges of both
modes.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by supported by the Education Research
Funding Programme (grant no. OER 03/19 SBQ, IRB-2019-05-014-02),
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Sin-
gapore. The views expressed in this paper are the authors’ and do not
necessarily represent the views of National Institute of Education. The
authors wish to express their gratitude to the participating schools,
teachers, and students.
Appendix A. Survey questions
1. How much did you enjoy English reading before Circuit Breaker?
_ Not at all _ A bit _ Somewhat _ Quite a lot _ Very much
2. Before Circuit Breaker, I read English print books __________ .
_ almost daily _ 2–3 times a week _ 2–3 times a month _ during school
holidays only
_ not at all
3. Before Circuit Breaker, I read English e-books/online materials
__________ .
_ almost daily _ 2–3 times a week _ 2–3 times a month _ during school
holidays only
_ not at all
4. Before Circuit Breaker, when I read English print books, I could
spend _________ on each reading session.
_ 15 mins or less _ 15 to 30 mins _ 30 mins to 1 hour _ more than
1 hour
5. Before Circuit Breaker, when I read English e-books/online mate-
rials, I could spend __________ on each reading session.
_ 15 mins or less _ 15 to 30 mins _ 30 mins to 1 hour _ more than
1 hour
6. During Circuit Breaker, I enjoyed reading English books ____.
B. Sun, C.E. Loh and Y. Nie
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual
7. During Circuit Breaker, I read English print books __________ .
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual _ I don’t
have English print books at home _ I have English print books at home
but I didn’t read them during Circuit Breaker
8. During Circuit Breaker, I read English e-books/online materials
____.
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual
_ I don’t have a device (such as a computer/laptop/kindle
/tablet/smartphone) to read English e-books/online materials.
_ I have a device but I didn’t read any English e-books/ online mate-
rials.
9. During Circuit Breaker, did you spend more time on devices in
your free time?
_ Yes, I spent more time. _ No, I spent about the same time. _ No, I
spent less time.
_ I don’t have any devices. _ My parents/guardian did not allow me
to use any devices.
10. How many English print books do you have at home?
_ 0–10 books _ 11–20 books _ 21–50 books _ 51–100 books _ More
than 100 books
11. How many English e-books do you have at home?
_ 0–10 books _ 11–20 books _ 21–50 books _ 51–100 books _ More
than 100 books
12. I got my English reading materials from _____ during Circuit
Breaker period. (You may choose more than one)
_ Online bookstores (my family members bought for me) _ Home
_ Public or school library (borrowed before Circuit Breaker) _ NLB
app _ Teachers/school _ Online resources/e-books _ Friends _ For other
sources, please give examples ____________
13. How much did you enjoy MT reading before Circuit Breaker?
_ Not at all _ A bit _ Somewhat _ Quite a lot _ Very much
14. Before Circuit Breaker, I read MT print books __________ .
_ almost daily _ 2–3 times a week _ 2–3 times a month _ during school
holidays only
_ not at all
15. Before Circuit Breaker, I read MT e-books/online materials
__________ .
_ almost daily _ 2–3 times a week _ 2–3 times a month _ during school
holidays only
_ not at all
16. Before Circuit Breaker, when I read MT print books, I could spend
_________ on each reading session.
_ 15 mins or less _ 15 to 30 mins _ 30 mins to 1 hour _ more than
1 hour
17. Before Circuit Breaker, when I read MT e-books/online materials,
I could spend __________ on each reading session.
_ 15 mins or less _ 15 to 30 mins _ 30 mins to 1 hour _ more than
1 hour
19. During Circuit Breaker, I enjoyed reading MT books ____.
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual
20. During Circuit Breaker, I read MT print books __________ .
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual _ I don’t
have English print books at home _ I have English print books at home
but I didn’t read them during Circuit Breaker
21. During Circuit Breaker, I read MT e-books/online materials ____.
_ more than usual _ about the same as usual _ less than usual
_ I don’t have a device (such as a computer/laptop/kindle
/tablet/smartphone) to read English e-books/online materials.
_ I have a device but I didn’t read any English e-books/ online mate-
rials.
22. How many MT print books do you have at home?
_ 0–10 books _ 11–20 books _ 21–50 books _ 51–100 books _ More
than 100 books
23. How many MT e-books do you have at home?
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Computers and Education Open 2 (2021) 100033
_ 0–10 books _ 11–20 books _ 21–50 books _ 51–100 books _ More
than 100 books
24. I got my MT reading materials from _____ during Circuit Breaker
period. (You may choose more than one)
_ Online bookstores (my family members bought for me) _ Home
_ Public or school library (borrowed before Circuit Breaker) _ NLB
app _ Teachers/school _ Online resources/e-books _ Friends _ For other
sources, please give examples ____________
Appendix B. Guiding questions for focus group discussion
1 How do you feel about the Circuit Breaker?
2 Did you like it? Why or why not?
3 Did you read more than usual during Circuit Breaker?
a For yes, why did you read more? Did you also enjoy reading
more?
b For no, why didn’t you read more?
4 What other things did you do during this period?
5 Since you were not able to go out, where did you get your reading
materials from?
6 How did your teachers help you read during Circuit Breaker?
7 How did your family help you read during Circuit Breaker?
8 Do you read both in print and online (i.e., read using your device,
eg, phone, tablet, computer)?
9 What devices do you have?
10 During Circuit Breaker, did you spend more time or less time on your
devices?
11 What did you use the devices for?
12 Did you read more online using your devices? Why or why not?
13 Do you prefer to read using print or online? Why?
14 If you used the NLB App, how did you get introduced to it?
15 Do you like the NLB App? Why or why not?
References
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learning: MOE. CNA 2020 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/
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