Digital resources and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined digital resources (DRs) and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria. This study aims to establish the relationship between DRs and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all university students in Nigeria. An online questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was validated by two experts in research methodology and educational technology. 412 university students who responded to the questionnaire were used as the sample for the study. The sample size is justified by Fox et al. (2007) and Meyer (1979), who recommended 384 samples from an infinite population range. Cronbach’s alpha was used to establish the reliability of the instrument, which yielded 0.76. Data were analyzed with frequency counts and simple percentages, and statistical product and service solutions version 23 was used to generate the mean and standard deviation while Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings established that the majority of the university students used DRs daily and the Internet resources were mostly used by the students. The students had positive perceptions of the impacts of DR usage on their reading habits. Lastly, the test of the hypothesis showed that there is a significant relationship between DRs and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that the university management should continue to provide the Internet services and computer systems so that students can continue to enjoy more access to DRs to enhance their learning.

The culture of reading for acquisition and learning of content knowledge for English language and literature in English in higher education

“…The statements imply that students had challenges using digital devices such as digital presentations and reading in their academic work. The study also revealed a significant relationship between DRs and the reading habits of university students in Nigeria (Ogunbodede and Sawyerr-George, 2023). The assertion implies that DRs can enhance the reading culture of university students in Nigeria since it enables easy accessibility of reading materials; this is consistent with the understanding that the use of digital texts is unavoidable in today's academic environment and has had a significant impact on student's attitudes and reading habits (Pardede, 2017).…”

“…Students can access materials easily if they have the internet. Consistent with the understanding that moving texts and visual components add vitality to reading, making it more enjoyable to students of all ages to read without getting bored (Ogunbodede and Sawyerr-George, 2023;Akkaya and Çıvğın, 2020;Ogunbodede, and Sawyerr-George, 2023;Akkaya and Çıvğın, 2020). Digital reading, therefore, can improve the poor reading culture at institutions of higher learning.…”

“…In this study, the researcher explored the existing literature on the reading culture in higher education to find the trend, gaps, challenges, and solutions, thus constructing new knowledge in the field. This critical review of the global literature on the phenomeneon is for the past six years from the studies by Ogunbodede and Sawyerr-George, (2023), Marianita (2023), Kumar (2022), Marquez, Lambert, Ridge, and Walker (2022), Yusof (2021), Pabro-Maquidato (2021), Akkaya and Akkaya and Çıvğın, (2020), Çıvğın (2020), Widiyawati (2020), Kim (2019), Demirci, (2019, Dukper et al, (2018) and Greene, 2018).…”

“…The assertions above imply that reading is a process of acquiring/ learning new information/knowledge and different generic skills from interacting with the written material. Therefore, it is a crucial skill for lifetime learning for students to flourish in their academic endeavors, so students must cultivate a strong reading culture (Ogunbodede and Sawyerr-George, 2023). Reading could also refer to a person's capacity to recognize letters and symbols and derive meaning from them.…”

“…The statements above show that libraries are the catalysts of the reading culture. However, statistics on university library users show that students use the library more only when studying for examinations (Ogunbodede and Sawyerr-George, 2023).…”