Exploring Digital Reading in the High School German Classroom

This dissertation explored students’ digital reading in a high school German level three classroom. The initial problem of practice was situated around what is done instructionally to support digital reading, the actual digital German texts, and the student perceptions, attitudes, and experiences reading digitally. The research questioned how students perceive digital reading, and how students read digital texts when working on a cooperative task. Students completed a self-reflection after reading digitally and were then grouped for a cooperative video task. During the video task, students used iPads to watch a video and seek meaning. The students’ work was observed and recorded. Initial findings showed that students perceived themselves to be confident readers in their L1, found reading in German to be challenging regardless of medium, and that students perceived the importance of employing L1 reading strategies for German and reported using repertoire of reading strategies. Findings from the cooperative task indicated that students managed feelings as they read, used English to support their German language abilities, and consulted material resources to support their reading. Based on the findings it appears that cooperative task design benefited and supported students’ reading experience and that humor was a tool that students’ use to manage the anxieties associated with L2 reading. Instructional implications could include the use of English as practice to support the learning of a foreign language and increased task repetition in the foreign language classroom. The findings and discussion indicated that emotions played an unexpected role in how students dealt with German reading tasks and further research is recommended