Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 507
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 507 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 507
READING PASSAGE – 3
Ways of Reading
Choosing how to read books is getting harder now there’s a choice of on paper, tablet, e-reader, or smartphone – and people have strong opinions on which medium is best. But is there more to the decision than expense and convenience? The answer suggested by numerous studies into the neuroscience and psychology of reading in different formats is emphatically that there is.
There’s no shortage of people warning of the risks attendant on the rise of ‘screen culture’, as the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield calls it. She has repeatedly expressed concern that, as technology takes us into unknown territory, ‘the brain may be adapting in unprecedented ways’. Though she tends to stress that these changes might be good or bad, her more negative speculations have been picked up in the media and amplified in far more strident terms.
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E-reading certainly took off quickly. The Pew Research Centre reports that, as recently as 2010, hardly anyone in the USA had an e-reader or tablet. By 2014 half did, with 17 per cent reading at least one e-book in that year. But was that a cause for concern? There is some evidence that reading on screen can result in less comprehension and even affect sleep patterns. But the research here is complex and inconclusive and, in any case, it is actually doing something far more interesting than telling us which medium is superior. It’s making us think more about what it means to read.
As researchers examine the differences between reading in different media, they are also having to distinguish carefully between different things we do when we read. For instance, the difference between ‘deep reading’, when you really get immersed in a text, and ‘active learning’, when you make notes in margins or put down the book to cross-reference with something else.
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When Anne Campbell of the Open University in Scotland compared how young people used very basic e-readers and paper books, she found that the electronic devices promoted more deep reading and less active learning. This appeared to be a direct result of design. ‘They were less distracted using an e-reader; she told me. ‘They were almost being forced to focus on it because of the very lack of ability to do things like flick forward and flick back:
Another related, widely replicated finding is that people read more slowly on screens than from paper. Sara Margolin of the State University of New York has also conducted research in this area. She says that ‘slowing down may actually allow us to spend more time consolidating what we’ve read into a more cohesive mental representation of the text’; furthermore, ‘not skipping around during reading’ could be ‘a good thing in that it forces the reader to process the text in order, and preserves the organisational structure the author wanted us to follow: However, it also discourages re-reading, which is known to help with ‘meta-comprehension’ readers’ ability to recognise whether or not they’ve understood what they just read.
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This example alone shows how debates over whether print beats screen are hopelessly simplistic, not least because reading on a computer, with endless distractions a click away, is very different from reading on a dedicated e-reader. Much depends on what you’re reading and why. In a Taiwanese study led by Szu-Yuan Sun, the results suggested that reading linear texts in the manner of traditional paper books is better for ‘literal text comprehension’ but reading on computers with hyperlinks ‘is beneficial to inferential text comprehension’.
In other words, the joined-up environment of the web encourages people to make connections and work things out for themselves, while straightforward reading encourages them to take in and believe what’s on the page in front of them. Hence the prevalence of hyperlinks and multiple windows on computers could be seen as creating either unwelcome distraction or more opportunities for active learning.
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Where research has suggested that comprehension is diminished by screen reading, it is hard to know if this results from the particular piece of technology and people’s ability to use it easily. ‘Having a device that requires a lot of attention to operate could essentially steal working memory resources; says Anne Mangen, from the University of Stavanger in Norway. This is a nice example of how hard it is to know whether the preferences we have for one type of reading device over another are rooted in the essentials of cognition or are simply cultural.
It’s equally important not to make hasty unsubstantiated claims about either form of reading. For example, Margolin says that one of the biggest problems with screen reading is that back-lit screens used by early tablets lead to eye fatigue and, if done at night, made sleeping difficult. Newer screens have overcome these problems, so earlier· assumptions about the effects of screen reading on sleep need to be re-examined.
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A whole other area of research concerns motivation. One of the recurrent concerns of the internet age is that teenagers are reading less. But there is some evidence that, used wisely, e-readers could encourage more reading. Campbell, for instance, found that teens read more when using e-readers than paper books.
She thinks the main reason for this is that the device is small, light and portable, and you can pull it out at odd moments, such as ‘when waiting for the bus to arrive’. E-readers also have the advantage that, from the outside, it’s impossible to see whether someone is reading the latest teen vampire romance or a primer on differential calculus. ‘You could study surreptitiously; says Campbell, giving examples of people using their readers while getting their hair cut or even at work.
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Overall, there doesn’t seem to be any convincing evidence that reading on screen or paper is better per se. ‘If the cognitive component is strong; suggests Benedetto, ‘the cultural one is even stronger: For Margolin, ‘the preference for reading on paper or a screen seems to be just that: a preference: And, increasingly, younger people are opting for digital.
A large National Literary Trust survey in 2013 found 52 per cent of 8 to 16-year-olds preferred reading on screen, with just 32 per cent preferring print. Mangen suggests that we need more longitudinal studies, conducted over decades, before we can figure out which effects of different reading media are due to familiarity or lack of it, and which are ‘related to more innate aspects of human cognition’.
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Questions 27-34
Do the following statements agree with the views/claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 27-34 on your answer sheet, write
YES – if the statement agrees with the views/claims of the writer
NO – if the statement contradicts the views/claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN – if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
27. Convenience is the main thing that guides people’s choice of whether to read on paper or on screen.
28. The media has generally exaggerated Greenfield’s analysis of the risks of screen culture.
29. The Pew Research Centre’s findings should not be taken too seriously.
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30. Research aimed at deciding whether reading paper books is better than reading on screen has largely been a waste of time.
31. The distinction between ‘deep reading’ and ‘active learning’ is a false one.
32. Campbell found that simple e-readers were not good for developing ‘deep reading’ skills.
33. There is little evidence to back up Margolin’s finding that people read an e-reader more slowly than a paper book.
34. An e-reader may help people to read in the way the original writer intended.
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Questions 35-37
Choose the correct letter, A, 8, C or D.
35. Szu-Yuan Sun’s research established that when people read in a linear way, they
A. find it harder to concentrate on what they’re reading.
B. are easily distracted by the need to look up references.
C. are more likely to be convinced by arguments they read.
D. will probably be more open to the idea of active learning.
36. What does Mangen’s research suggest about electronic devices?
A. Some are better for the purposes of reading than others.
B. Some readers may be more adept at using them than others.
C. It’s difficult to know why people read less effectively on them.
D. More sophisticated ones allow people to read in different ways.
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37. What does Margolin’s example of back-lit screens demonstrate?
A. how quickly the technology is changing
B. how unwise it can be to jump to conclusions
C. how quickly the industry responds to complaints
D. how new features can make e-readers more attractive
Questions 38-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E below.
38. Campbell thinks that teenagers are encouraged to read using e-readers because
39. Margolin thinks that some people would rather read on e-readers because
40. Mangen thinks that some people use e-readers because
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A. they may just be accustomed to the format.
B. they like the level of privacy one offers.
C. they are merely exercising a personal choice.
D. they are attracted by the content on offer.
E. they find them portable and convenient.
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IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
27. NO
28. YES
29. NOT GIVEN
30. NO
31. NOT GIVEN
32. NO
33. NO
34. YES
35. C
36. B
37. B
38. E
39. C
40. A
IELTS Academic Reading Test