This post was updated Oct. 7 at 11:00 p.m.
Students today face barriers to achieving literacy, affecting both their professional and personal development.
In the 2023-2024 school year, the LA School Report found that less than half of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District met California’s reading proficiency standards. These standards help to indicate students’ overall literacy levels, which includes their ability to comprehend, produce work and communicate opinions effectively, according to advocacy group Literacy Texas.
Spencer Robins, an English professor at Saddleback College, said literacy in a broader sense measures a student’s ability to converse with others about printed text and dissect key themes from the material.
“When I talk to my students about spending time reading at the beginning of the semester, I don’t have to convince them that it’s worthwhile to do,” Robins said. “What I have to convince them of is that it’s worth trying to discipline themselves into doing it.”
According to a 2020 study conducted by the Journal of Psychology and Education, improved literacy is shown to advance cognitive skills such as memorization, planning and organization among students. The process of reading uses mental activities, including concentration and recalling important information.
Literacy rates can be influenced by the development of new technologies introduced inside and outside of the classroom.
A 2022 report by the Education and Information Technologies Journal found that in the 21st century, the emergence of digital devices in the classroom has had both positive and negative effects on students’ literacy levels. The influence of technology on students’ reading skills varied according to the pedagogical practices used by teachers and how they incorporated technology into student learning.
The Oklahoma Education Journal found that when comparing the differences between reading on paper and reading on a digital device, elementary and middle school students demonstrated slightly stronger reading comprehension with print material, as it provided more carefully edited language and structured vocabulary, whereas digital sources tended to be fragmented, extracted and less reliable.
Lori Patton Davis, a professor of education, said the rise of the internet has negatively affected some of her students’ abilities to read, learn and research.
“I am not against any sort of tool that helps promote education and learning, but there has to be work on the student’s part to actually do the thinking and not expect the machine to do it,” Patton Davis said.
EducationWeek reported that students who frequently use digital devices had lower connectivity between the regions of the brain essential for reading. The passive nature of the internet resulted in these regions communicating less with one another, limiting opportunities for students to develop the active skill of reading.
Olivia Ichard, a first-year cognitive science student, said she has observed technology interfere with her classmates’ long-term learning, specifically with reading.
“If you watch a video, sure, you’ll learn it, but for a lot of people you’re not going to retain it as long because you didn’t have that active process of learning that information versus when you’re actually using skills to get that information from text,” she said.
The introduction of artificial intelligence in school education has also had effects on how students learn and engage with reading material.
The Computers & Education Journal reported that artificial intelligence tools only have a basic understanding of sentence structure, characters and plot when interpreting a story – potentially impacting the student’s ability to critically interpret the text.
However, the same report also found that AI technology can be beneficial in addressing individual students’ needs and strengthening their ability to critically engage with texts by acting as a reading companion. These generative technologies can provide self-guiding prompts for students to support their ability to critically interpret the material.
AI tools have also been found to be beneficial for students with cognitive or learning disabilities by supporting their reading and writing comprehension. AI technology’s capacity to proofread, summarize texts and provide interactive support can aid learners with conditions such as dyslexia, according to the Internet and Higher Education Journal.
Despite technology’s mixed impact on students’ reading skills, disparities in access to these technologies have prevented students from benefiting equally and having the same learning opportunities.
According to the International Education Research Institute, a student’s socioeconomic status also affects their access to new technologies and influences their ability to develop strong reading comprehension skills.
Patton Davis said the COVID-19 pandemic and recent economic downturns have discouraged many students’ motivation to read. Students from low-income immigrant families may face greater limitations in accessing necessary technological resources to aid with their reading, she said.
“Not every family has access to a computer, but … if you’re a migrant family, accessing particular resources may be a bit more challenging than a middle-class white family or students who are attending private schools versus public schools. The resources look very different” Patton Davis said.
Literacy rates are important not just for students who are in the process of learning how to read, but also because they are an indication of students’ overall development and future socioeconomic opportunities, according to Children Rising, a nonprofit organization.
If a student has strong literacy levels, regardless of whether they hold a high school diploma, they are likely to grow into healthier adults with less medical complications than their peers with low literacy rates, according to Children Rising. Conversely, students with lower literacy rates during high school have been linked with long-term health issues, including aggressive behaviors, substance use and sexually transmitted infections.
Proliteracy, a nonprofit organization, found that reading ability has a substantial impact on future income outcomes – adults with a sixth-grade reading level earn about $63,000 annually, compared to $34,000 for those with below a third-grade reading level.
While the issue of declining literacy rates affects students nationwide, there are organizations within the Bruin community working to tackle the issue locally.
Project Literacy at UCLA is a nonprofit community service organization that offers one-on-one tutoring between Bruins and LAUSD students. The organization has over 150 student volunteers, who travel to communities in Watts, Mar Vista, Vernon and Baldwin Hills – places that historically have high rates of illiteracy and low socioeconomic status, to mentor the students there and teach them how to read.
California Reading & Literature Project is another resource at UCLA working to increase rates among students in the state. Developed by university researchers and classroom teachers, this organization offers customized professional development, designed to meet school or district needs, for teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators and volunteers working with students to improve their literacy.
Despite the work of these organizations, for individuals to improve their reading abilities, Robins said it just takes more time and practice. He added that improving literacy requires students to take responsibility for their schedules and dedicate time to practicing active reading.
“Every single time you put down a book and pick up your phone, you are trading long-term value against short-term pleasure, and when you choose short-term pleasure, you are losing out on the longer-term value,” he said.
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