The Impact of Computer Use on Literacy in Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Skills

This paper presents a pilot study. It was set to investigate a small sample of subjects in a junior high school on whether the increased use of computers, both in domestic and school environments, has affected the students’ development of literacy in reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. This stemmed from personal observation as a classroom teacher in the computer studies area. Progressively, the availability of personal computers is increasing. Students began to display more interest in using the computers rather than reading and writing in class. Teachers also expressed their concern about the decline of literacy skills that our students are demonstrating through their submitted work. The data reveals that the majority of students under study have access to personal computers. They are more or less exploiting the hardware as well as the software applications without the assistance of computer manuals. They are spending more time at their workstations playing games rather than reading a variety of printed texts which might benefit the development of their basic comprehension and vocabulary skills. The parents’ responses were for and against the use of computers. The majority of them felt that their children were spending more time using the computer than reading any type of printed text. The high use of computers is not allowing their children to develop their literacy skills as expected at this age. Spending their time exploring the microelectronic medium is good for developing computer literacy but not language literacy. Nevertheless, the parents had been convinced of the necessity of technology in their domestic environment for their children’s needs. This area requires further study on a wider scale for the vast advancement in computer use is still increasing. The transformation is occurring faster than the society can adapt to it.