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IRISH TEENS ARE highly literate online, a new survey has shown.
The survey, undertaken by the Organisation for Econcomic Co-Operation and Development, focused on 15-year-olds and their ability to read and understand digital or online texts.
According to the survey, Korea is the top-performing country in digital reading, with a mean score of 568. Ireland comes in with 509 score points.
In Ireland, students perform significantly better, on average, in digital than in print reading.
A previous OECD survey on 15 year olds showed that Irish teens had a lower literacy level than ten years ago. They dropped in that instance from fifth to 17th place.
Ireland and Japan are the only countries in which there is a substantially larger proportion of low-performing students in print reading. In Ireland, 17.2% are low performers in print reading compared with 12.1% in digital reading.
Ireland has a slightly lower than average amount of students who use a computer in school compared to the other participating countries.
Girls outperform boys in digital reading by an average of 24 score points, compared to an average of 39 score points in print reading.
The average Irish young person has a proficiency at Level 4 – students at this level can perform challenging reading tasks in the digital medium.
Two additional european countries have mean scores significantly higher than the OECD average: Ireland (509) and Belgium (507).
The amount of time students reported spending on social activities online is shorter for boys (average -0.04) than for girls (+0.04).
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn told RTE that as these surveys indicate a decline in reading standards, he will be bringing proposals to Cabinet to help improve the situation in Ireland.
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What’s the different between reading a book and reading something on a website?
*difference
I don’t think I’d equate the simple ability to use and navigate a website with the word “literate”. It’s more than that.
The standard of many online comments from Irish people to news sites and other online forums tends to approach “barely capable of thought” from the arse-side of nowhere. (Not here, of course. Users of TJo are beyond reproach — or comparison.)
Then there’s txtspk, that truncated gobbledegook that makes me want to scream. Ur was a city in Mesopotamia. Your shorthand is awful, and just to save two miserable characters.
Gawd almighty, I feel so old… and so curmudgeonish. :)
No your not old at all, I hate that text talk, or shorthand or what the hell you call it, I like it all spelt out properly, complete with commas, and of course, full stops.
whr duz txt spk cum into dis ???
Literate irish teens? I question dat !
QED.
The fact Irish teens show better literacy in reading digital media than traditional books is hardly something to be proud of in my humble opinion…
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