Ragnhild Engdal Jensen

My research interests are students’ reading comprehension and the influence of digital media on reading development and comprehension. In my ongoing PhD project Paper-based and on-screen reading: Does delivery mode influence students’ reading comprehension?, I explore whether paper-based and on-screen reading assessments measure the same underlying reading construct. Currently we can observe a trend where paper-based reading assessments are carbon-copied and replaced with digitally delivered, on-screen assessments: in 2015 the PISA reading assessment was conducted on-screen for the first time, and from 2016 the Norwegian national tests in reading was as well. I want to draw attention to the fact that the way students read texts and solve items, may be different, depending on the test delivery mode, which in turn could affect students test results. To examine the questions I raise in my project, I analyze PISA and national test data to identify tasks where test delivery mode influences students’ comprehension. Further on, I want to develop a parallel test utilizing assessment items for which a difference between the two test delivery modes has been observed and use eye tracking methodology to explore how students read texts on paper and screen. This could provide new and useful insights in understanding how digitisation might influence students’ reading.

I would like to participate in Traning School on eye tracking methodology, or other courses related to measuring students’ reading comprehension.