Reflections and Research on Enhancing Digital Reading Ability in Primary and Secondary Schools

Li Bin, Liu Shaoxing, Shao Ping, Hang Tian, Liu Xin
(Chongqing Xinhua Publishing Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing 400060)

Abstract

[Objective] This study aims to deeply analyze the current state of digital reading among primary and secondary school students, understand the needs and pain points of teachers, students, and parents, explore effective pathways for cultivating digital reading abilities, provide theoretical support for practical implementation in schools, and propose recommendations for improving the digital reading ecosystem and guiding product development directions. [Methods] Through theoretical research, practical investigation, empirical studies, case analysis, and literature review, this paper comprehensively examines the impact and value of digital reading in primary and secondary education. [Results/Conclusion] With technological advancement, an increasing array of technological tools are being applied to the reading domain, including intelligent recommendation systems, virtual reality reading, and audiobooks, all of which bring entirely new reading experiences to users. Creating a favorable reading atmosphere and delivering high-quality content constitute the core competitiveness of reading platforms. Fully leveraging technological means to create more convenient, efficient, and personalized reading environments represents a future development trend. Developing products that help parents accompany their children in digital reading—whether remotely or in person—will help meet parental needs, enhance children's digital reading abilities, foster a positive reading environment, and cultivate good reading habits.

Keywords: digital reading; reading ability; reading literacy; ability enhancement; children's reading products

Reading plays a vital role in cultivating the comprehensive qualities of primary and secondary school students. Through reading, students can understand others, perceive the world, and reflect on themselves, thereby enhancing their personal qualities. Reading also serves as an important vehicle for teaching practice, helping students deepen their understanding of knowledge content. Currently, with rapid social development and widespread application of digital information technology, digital reading has become a crucial means for students to acquire knowledge. The emergence of various digital reading platforms not only provides abundant digital resources for teachers and students but also brings entirely new reading experiences and learning models. However, how to effectively cultivate students' digital reading abilities and construct a scientifically sound digital reading ecosystem remains an important challenge facing primary and secondary education.

The 2024 Government Work Report emphasized deepening national reading activities, with "National Reading" having been included in the Government Work Report for eleven consecutive years [1]. The Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee issued the "Opinions on Promoting National Reading Work," proposing to strengthen reading content guidance, organize key reading activities, enhance the supply of high-quality reading content, improve the infrastructure and service system for national reading, actively promote youth reading and family parent-child reading, improve the quality and level of digital reading, and organize and guide various social forces to jointly participate and strengthen the promotion of national reading [2].

With the rapid development of information technology, primary and secondary school students have increasing opportunities to engage with digital reading. How to enhance their digital reading abilities has become an urgent issue. Through this research, we aim to further understand market demands and reader preferences, provide references for bookstores and publishers, and offer theoretical support and practical guidance for improving digital reading abilities among primary and secondary school students.

1. Research Objectives and Significance

1.1 Research Objectives

The research objectives of this study are threefold: First, to deeply analyze the current status of digital reading in primary and secondary schools and understand the needs and pain points of teachers, students, and parents. Second, to explore effective pathways for cultivating digital reading abilities and provide theoretical support for practical implementation in schools. Third, to propose recommendations for improving the digital reading ecosystem in primary and secondary schools and guiding product development directions.

1.2 Research Significance

This research holds significant importance in three areas: First, it boosts the digitalization process of primary and secondary education and enhances students' digital learning capabilities. Second, it provides replicable and generalizable practical experience for cultivating digital reading abilities in primary and secondary schools. Third, it offers references for policy formulation and product development, thereby promoting the healthy development of the digital reading ecosystem for primary and secondary schools.

2. Literature Review and Product Analysis

2.1 Literature Review on Digital Reading Research

Globally, the cultivation of digital reading abilities among primary and secondary school students has become an important topic in educational technology. From early e-books to today's interactive learning platforms, research focus has gradually shifted from single digital tool usage to how to effectively integrate these tools to promote reading comprehension and critical thinking development. Some advanced education systems in the United States, Europe, and Asia have incorporated digital reading abilities as part of basic education, emphasizing the cultivation of media literacy [3].

Domestic research on digital reading in primary and secondary schools mainly focuses on status surveys, which can be categorized as follows: The first category directly examines the current state of digital reading. Some researchers have found that most students enjoy digital reading, with interest, academic performance, age, and gender being the main individual factors affecting digital reading [4]. Other scholars conducted questionnaire surveys among primary and secondary school students in multiple provinces, concluding that students' digital reading literacy, rather than mere digital reading behavior, is the key factor affecting academic performance [5]. The second category compares urban and rural digital reading status differences. Researchers surveyed students and parents separately, finding that student gender, age, and parental reading attitudes have certain influences on digital reading [6]. The third category focuses on the digital reading status of primary and secondary school students in different regions [7]. Some scholars investigated the digital reading status in specific provinces and proposed corresponding promotion strategies [8][9].

Domestic research emphasizes status surveys to identify problems in digital reading among primary and secondary school students and propose solutions. Additionally, domestic scholars have focused on comparative studies between digital and paper reading, though there remain divergent views on reading effectiveness. One perspective holds that there is no significant difference in text comprehension between digital and traditional paper reading, while another suggests that digital reading can significantly enhance reading ability and effectiveness in certain dimensions, though it shows no obvious difference from traditional reading in proofreading, reading transfer, and overall comprehension [10]. Foreign research focuses more on exploring the effects of digital reading, including reading attitudes, abilities, and literacy.

Among the most concerning issues is the impact of different media formats on student reading effectiveness. Some studies have found that paper reading comprehension is superior to screen reading, while others believe e-books can enhance student reading ability [11]. Some scholars have explored the impact of different digital text types on reading comprehension, finding that hypertext is easier to understand than linear text [12]. A study on online reading programs showed that after using online platforms, students' reading comprehension scores improved, their reading experience was positive, and they developed habits of online reading at home [13]. Foreign research also focuses on factors influencing student digital reading behavior, including individual student characteristics, family environment, and reading media.

Research has found that individual factors such as gender, age, and education level, environmental factors such as parental reading attitudes and family atmosphere, and different types of reading materials all influence student digital reading behavior [14]. Studies have shown that effective digital reading teaching strategies can significantly improve reading comprehension, including but not limited to multimedia-assisted teaching, interactive reading tasks, and personalized learning path design. Additionally, students' self-regulation ability, motivation, and prior reading habits are important factors affecting digital reading effectiveness. With the development of AI and machine learning technologies, intelligent reading tutoring tools and customized learning content generation tools have gradually emerged. These tools can automatically adjust content difficulty and presentation methods based on students' reading behavior and comprehension abilities, better meeting the needs of different students.

Although research findings are abundant, existing studies still have some limitations. First, most research focuses on technology application rather than deeply exploring how technology can improve educational essence. Second, research on the long-term impact and sustained effects of digital reading is insufficient. Moreover, research is concentrated in developed countries and regions, and its applicability to developing countries has not been widely validated.

Overall, research on digital reading abilities in primary and secondary schools has made certain progress, providing theoretical and methodological support for educational practice. However, to more comprehensively enhance students' digital reading abilities, future research needs to more systematically integrate educational theory, technology application, and practice, particularly for Chinese families. It should strengthen research on different family situations to achieve both educational equity and quality improvement [15].

2.2 Analysis of Digital Reading Products

Accompanying digital technology development and strong market demand growth, digital reading products continue to emerge, and reading behaviors of primary and secondary school students have undergone tremendous changes. Foreign educational reading products started earlier and are more mature, while domestic educational reading products have developed rapidly in recent years, showing diversified characteristics. This study selected foreign reading products such as Epic!, Reading IQ, and Khan Academy Kids, as well as domestic products including ABC Reading, KaDa Reading, Ximalaya Children, Yimi Reading, Youdao LeRead, and Kaishu Storytelling as research objects. Through comparative analysis of domestic and foreign reading products, this study summarizes the characteristics of different products to provide useful references for optimizing domestic reading products for primary and secondary schools.

[TABLE:1] shows a comparison of foreign reading products, while [TABLE:2] compares domestic reading products. Overall, both domestic and foreign products primarily use age 12 as a分层 (layering) point. Foreign products cooperate with publishers and mainly offer genuine books, while domestic products have more diverse content forms, providing not only e-books but also rich audio content. In functional design, foreign products emphasize personalized recommendations and reading ability assessment, while domestic products place greater importance on parent-child interaction and habit formation. Regarding business models, foreign products mostly adopt membership subscription systems, while domestic products offer diversified monetization methods including course sales and individual purchases in addition to subscriptions. Domestic and foreign children's reading products each have their own characteristics in product positioning, content resources, functional design, and business models, but domestic products have an edge in content diversity and functional innovation. However, the differences in functional types among various products are not significant, and there exists a phenomenon of homogenization.

By reviewing and organizing user comments on these products in the App Store, several typical shortcomings currently exist: game-guided reading modes can lead to children becoming addicted to games rather than focusing on reading content, with products lacking anti-addiction guidance; unreasonable pricing models with excessively high prices make them unacceptable to some parents, and products lack free reading content; some products have too many advertisements; some picture book contents are deemed unsuitable for children, even frightening them; reading interfaces have excessive functions that affect children's attention and make independent operation difficult; there are compatibility issues such as crashes, lagging, and high power consumption; and there are few functions to help parents assist their children with reading.

Based on a comprehensive comparison of typical problems, we recommend that domestic children's reading products: strengthen content development and introduce more high-quality copyrighted content; optimize functional design to provide students with focused reading experiences; optimize business models and explore diversified monetization methods for sustainable development; improve product compatibility and strengthen functional testing on low-end devices; conduct further in-depth research on the actual needs and pain points of domestic families regarding primary and secondary school student education, and comprehensively understand the difficulties and challenges parents face when assisting their children with reading.

3. Research Methodology

3.1 Research Subjects

The research subjects include parents, to understand their expectations for cultivating their children's digital reading abilities, and industry experts and practitioners, to understand the current development status and trends of digital reading in primary and secondary schools.

3.2 Research Questionnaire

A questionnaire was designed for parents of school-age children, covering aspects such as digital reading needs, usage patterns, and pain points. The questionnaire content is shown in [TABLE:3].

3.3 Interview Outline

Interview outlines were designed for digital reading practitioners and content resource providers to gain in-depth understanding of digital reading practices in primary and secondary schools. The outlines cover technology, content resources, commercialization, and implementation effectiveness. The specific content is shown in [TABLE:4] and [TABLE:5].

3.4 Statistical Results

During the questionnaire survey, approximately 800 valid samples were collected. The raw data statistics for each question are as follows:

(1) Your child's age stage: Preschool (35.56%), Grades 1-2 (11.10%), Grades 3-4 (26.67%), Grades 5-6 (8.89%), Junior high (17.78%).

(2) Your current age group: Under 25 (2.25%), 25-35 (42.45%), 36-45 (48.61%), 46-55 (6.69%), Over 55 (0%).

(3) Your education level: High school and below (4.13%), Associate degree (24.60%), Bachelor's degree (62.38%), Master's degree (8.89%), Doctoral degree (0%).

(4) Do you have overseas study experience: Yes (2.22%), No (97.78%).

(5) Your child's current frequency of digital reading: Never (31.41%), Occasionally (46.82%), Frequently (21.77%), Always (0%).

(6) Do you think digital reading helps your child's learning and growth: Not helpful at all (5.05%), Somewhat helpful (64.74%), Quite helpful (20%), Very helpful (10.21%).

(7) What are your biggest concerns about digital reading's impact on your child (multiple choice): Vision decline (42.53%), Learning distraction (17.24%), Electronic device addiction (40.23%), Other (0%).

(8) What types of digital reading content do you prefer for your child: Educational (11.35%), Stories (37.79%), Popular science (45.58%), Other (5.28%).

(9) Are you willing to participate in school-organized parent-child digital reading activities: Not interested at all (2.81%), Not very interested (32.55%), Quite interested (62.18%), Very interested (2.46%).

(10) What forms of digital reading family guidance do you hope schools provide: Reading resource push (64.29%), Online lectures (16.07%), Parent classes (19.64%), Other (0%).

(11) Approximately how much time do you spend accompanying your child in digital reading per week: 0-1 hour (55.56%), 1-3 hours (26.37%), 3-5 hours (15.81%), Over 5 hours (2.26%).

(12) What is the biggest obstacle to implementing digital parent-child reading in your family: Not enough time (48.15%), Don't know the methods (29.63%), Child doesn't cooperate (18.52%), Other (3.7%).

(13) Do you think remote parent-child reading guidance is helpful for children: Not helpful at all (20%), Somewhat helpful (66.67%), Quite helpful (8.89%), Very helpful (4.44%).

4. Results Analysis

4.1 Questionnaire Results Analysis

4.1.1 Parent Group Characteristics

Based on questionnaire results, participating parents exhibit the following characteristics: (1) Age distribution is concentrated between 25-45 years old, accounting for 91.06%, belonging to the young and middle-aged parent group. (2) Education level is relatively high, with 71.27% holding bachelor's degrees or above, indicating strong educational awareness. (3) The vast majority of parents (97.78%) have no overseas study experience, reflecting a relatively uniform domestic educational background.

4.1.2 Children's Digital Reading Usage

Regarding children's digital reading usage: (1) The frequency of digital reading is dominated by "occasionally use" (46.82%), with "never use" accounting for 31.41%. (2) The highest proportion of parents (64.74%) believe digital reading has "some help" for their children's learning and growth. (3) Parents' biggest concerns about digital reading are "vision decline" (42.53%) and "electronic device addiction" (40.23%).

4.1.3 Parental Needs and Expectations for Digital Reading

Key findings include: (1) Most parents spend less than one hour per week accompanying their children in digital reading (55.56%), reflecting limited parental accompaniment time. (2) The biggest obstacle to implementing digital parent-child reading is "not enough time" (48.15%), indicating parents lack effective time and methods to guide their children's digital reading. (3) 66.67% of parents believe remote parent-child reading guidance has "some help," demonstrating demand for remote guidance. (4) Parents prefer "popular science" (45.58%) and "stories" (37.79%) for their children's digital reading content. (5) 62.18% of parents are "quite interested" in participating in school-organized parent-child digital reading activities. (6) Parents most hope schools provide "reading resource push" (64.29%) and other forms of digital reading family guidance.

4.1.4 Profit Models and Advantages

Regarding profit models, digital reading platforms primarily adopt diversified revenue sources [16]. The foremost is the content payment model, including single purchase and membership subscription systems, allowing students to choose appropriate payment methods according to their needs. The second is the value-added service model, generating revenue by providing personalized learning plan customization, reading ability assessment, and professional teacher guidance. Additionally, platforms actively develop B2B cooperation, establishing partnerships with schools, institutions, and publishers to create a complete educational service ecosystem.

From the perspective of platform advantages, digital reading platforms possess multiple competitive strengths. In terms of educational effectiveness, platforms utilize big data technology to achieve efficient and precise educational governance, support heuristic and inquiry-based learning, and effectively cultivate students' deep thinking abilities. At the technical level, they accurately track student learning progress through data analysis, achieve personalized content recommendation, and integrate multimedia formats to enhance learning experiences. Regarding market development, a complete industrial chain layout, continuously growing market demand, and national policy support all provide favorable conditions for platform development.

Operational advantages are important guarantees for sustainable development. The characteristic of digital content being easy to replicate and disseminate brings possibilities for low-cost expansion. As user scale expands, marginal costs decrease accordingly. Meanwhile, massive educational data has important research value and can continuously optimize educational service quality.

4.1.5 Content and Platform Cooperation Models and Effects

With the continuous development of the digital reading market, content cooperation has become a core strategy for digital reading platforms to achieve sustainable development. Major platforms continuously improve their content ecosystems and promote industry innovation through establishing diversified cooperation models. Based on current market practices, digital reading platforms mainly adopt three core cooperation models: deep strategic cooperation with traditional publishing institutions, interconnection among diverse content platforms, and innovative value co-creation models.

In terms of publishing institution cooperation, platforms establish strategic partnerships with well-known publishers to promote deep integration between paper and digital media. This cooperation not only ensures platforms obtain high-quality genuine book resources but also promotes the digital transformation of traditional publishing.

At the content platform linkage level, digital reading platforms actively carry out cross-border cooperation, integrating diverse content resources such as books, picture books, and magazines. Some platforms have innovatively launched cross-platform joint membership models, such as strategic linkage with audio and video platforms, to build a comprehensive content service ecosystem. This diversified cooperation model not only enriches platform content supply but also effectively expands user coverage and enhances platform market competitiveness.

Through these deep cooperations, digital reading platforms have achieved remarkable development results. First is significant enrichment of content resources, enabling platforms to provide more professional and differentiated content services. Second is comprehensive improvement of user experience, meeting users' diverse reading needs through technological innovation and personalized recommendation. Finally, there is effective enhancement of commercial value, with the "paid + free" integrated development model bringing considerable economic benefits.

4.1.6 Consensus and Practices on Digital Copyright

In today's era of booming digital reading, digital copyright protection and cooperation have become issues that cannot be ignored. At the copyright protection level, the industry and platforms have established corresponding protection measures. On one hand, by establishing the legal status of digital copyright as a new type of intellectual property, institutional guarantees are provided for digital content development. On the other hand, at the technical level, platforms widely adopt technical means such as digital watermarking and encryption to establish copyright content tracking and monitoring systems, effectively preventing infringement. This protection system combining law and technology provides strong guarantees for the safe dissemination of digital content [17].

Regarding cooperation models, digital reading platforms and copyright owners have formed flexible and diverse cooperation methods. The copyright revenue-sharing mechanism is the most important cooperation form, generally using a basic sharing ratio with dynamic adjustments based on content quality and market performance. Authorization methods also show diversified trends, including exclusive authorization, non-exclusive authorization, and customized authorization, to meet the operational needs of different types of works. Meanwhile, transparent revenue accounting mechanisms and diversified monetization channels ensure mutual benefit and win-win outcomes for copyright owners and platforms.

In specific practice, many platforms have established professional copyright management teams to implement strict content review and quality control. Through services such as copyright registration and certification, piracy monitoring, and rights protection assistance, the legitimate rights and interests of authors and platforms are comprehensively protected [18].

4.2 Interview Results Analysis

Ages 0-12 represent the best period for reading and the golden time for cultivating reading habits and accumulating knowledge. During this stage, children's nervous systems develop most rapidly, and their brains' ability to absorb and process external information gradually strengthens. Reading, as an input method, can expose children to rich and diverse knowledge, thereby stimulating their curiosity and thirst for knowledge. During this stage, through reading picture books, fairy tales, and popular science books, children can initially understand the world and form their own worldview and values.

During the 0-12 age stage, children's interests and hobbies are forming. Through reading, they can access different types of books to find their preferred fields and topics. Once interested in a particular field, children will actively seek knowledge, forming a virtuous cycle. Such reading habits will accompany them throughout their lives, becoming an important part of their lives.

The 0-12 age stage is a period when children are full of curiosity about the outside world. Through reading, they can learn about cultures, histories, and customs around the world, broadening their horizons. Such reading experiences not only help cultivate children's global thinking but also make them more competitive in future study and work.

During the 0-12 age stage, parent-child shared reading is a very beneficial interactive method. By reading together, parents can share the joy of reading with their children and enhance parent-child relationships. At the same time, parents can guide children to think and ask questions during the reading process, helping them better understand book content and cultivate critical thinking abilities.

Creating a good reading atmosphere and outputting high-quality content to provide readers with good reading experiences is the core competitiveness of reading platforms. Only by continuously focusing on readers' needs and feedback and emphasizing content quality and format can platforms stand out in fierce market competition and win readers' favor.

Good reading habits are important support for creating a good reading atmosphere. Families, schools, and society should work together to guide young people to develop reading habits from an early age. At the same time, through reading promotion activities and reading incentive mechanisms, we can stimulate national reading enthusiasm and improve national reading literacy.

With technological development, an increasing number of technological means are being applied to the reading domain. Intelligent recommendation systems, virtual reality reading, and audiobooks all bring new reading experiences to readers. In the process of creating a good reading atmosphere, we should fully utilize technological means to create more convenient, efficient, and personalized reading environments for readers.

4.3 Enhancing Digital Reading Abilities of Primary and Secondary School Students

4.3.1 Specific Strategies and Systems for Enhancing Digital Reading Abilities

(1) Teacher Level

Utilizing digital teaching resources: Teachers can use digital teaching resources and media during lectures, employing convenient digital means to enhance students' reading interest and abilities, thereby further improving their comprehensive qualities. For example, in English classes, teachers can use online English reading platforms to provide students with rich English reading materials while utilizing platform interactive functions such as online questioning and discussion to stimulate students' reading interest and participation.

Guiding students to correctly use digital reading tools: Primary school Chinese teachers should combine current teaching situations, use the internet as a platform, and employ diverse digital reading models to make students interested in reading. On this basis, they can expand reading horizons through online resources and cultivate students' reading abilities. Teachers can introduce some high-quality digital reading platforms to students, such as online libraries and e-book platforms, and guide students to effectively use these platforms for reading. At the same time, teachers can guide students to learn how to screen high-quality reading resources and avoid the influence of harmful information.

Cultivating students' digital reading literacy: School teachers should focus on digital reading education and optimize digital reading management and guidance. Through classroom teaching and reading activities, teachers can cultivate students' digital reading literacy, including information screening ability, reading strategy application ability, and critical thinking ability. For example, in reading instruction, teachers can guide students to analyze and evaluate reading materials to cultivate critical thinking. Simultaneously, teachers can teach students effective reading strategies such as speed reading, intensive reading, and skimming to improve reading efficiency.

Digitalization of classic literature reading: Combining the cultivation requirements of Chinese core literacy and the proposition trends of classic literature reading comprehensive questions in various middle school entrance examinations, this study analyzes the inevitable trend of digitalizing classic literature reading in middle school and preliminarily explores implementation plans. Centered on reading closed loops and question chains, it builds the content structure of digital classic literature reading products and constructs a corresponding reading ability evaluation system based on authoritative reading ability assessment standards.

In summary, enhancing primary and secondary school students' digital reading abilities requires joint efforts from teachers, schools, society, and students themselves. Through collaborative cooperation among all parties, we can provide better digital reading environments and resources for primary and secondary school students, cultivate digital reading literacy, and improve their digital reading abilities.

4.3.2 Effectiveness Differences of Different Strategy Types on Reading Ability Enhancement

Strategy Introduction: Applying information technology in middle school English reading instruction can enrich teaching resources, enhance teaching effectiveness, cultivate good reading habits, and improve communication skills through online exchanges. Teachers can use diverse digital resources and convenient digital means, relying on digital models and platforms, to stimulate students' interest in reading, improve English reading skills, enrich reading experiences, and enhance English core literacy. In primary school Chinese reading instruction, using the internet as a platform and employing diverse digital reading models can make students interested in reading and expand their reading horizons through online resources to cultivate reading abilities.

Impact on Primary and Secondary School Students: For primary and secondary school students, using information technology strategies can broaden their reading channels and enrich reading resources. Students can access various types of reading materials through online reading platforms, e-books, and learning software. At the same time, information technology can provide interactive reading experiences such as online discussions and reading games to stimulate reading interest. Additionally, information technology can help students conduct personalized reading learning, selecting suitable reading content and learning methods according to their reading levels and interests.

Effectiveness Difference Analysis: Different subjects may have different focuses and effects when using information technology strategies. For example, in English reading instruction, information technology can provide more language learning resources and interactive exercises to help students improve comprehensive English listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities. In Chinese reading instruction, information technology can display more literary works and cultural backgrounds, enriching students' emotional experiences and cultural literacy. Additionally, the information technology infrastructure and teaching levels of different regions and schools also affect the effectiveness of information technology strategies.

4.3.3 How to Further Enhance Digital Reading Abilities of Primary and Secondary School Students

In today's digital age, optimizing digital reading strategies for primary and secondary school students is crucial for improving their reading abilities. The following explores how to further optimize these strategies from multiple perspectives.

(1) Utilize Digital Teaching Resources to Stimulate Reading Interest. Teachers can fully leverage digital teaching resources such as rich online books, audiobooks, and animated videos, relying on digital teaching media to present diverse reading materials to students. For example, in English classes, teachers can use digital English reading platforms to recommend English reading materials suitable for students' levels. Through vivid and interesting content and formats, teachers can stimulate students' interest in reading and enhance their enthusiasm for active participation.

(2) Build Personalized Reading Models. Digital graded reading platforms are effective tools that can test students' reading levels and then accurately recommend suitable books, ensuring that reading content is challenging yet not overly difficult, meeting the personalized needs of different students. For upper primary school students, inquiry-based reading teaching methods can be adopted, where teachers guide students to actively ask questions and explore answers during reading, cultivating independent thinking and reading comprehension abilities.

(3) Introduce Innovative Reading Methods. Gamified reading is a worthwhile approach. By integrating game elements into reading, students learn in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. Research shows that gamification can make it easier for students to learn and understand vocabulary, improve English reading skills, and enhance student engagement. Smartphone strategies can also be used to improve reading skills by conducting reading workshops to introduce various strategies for using smartphones for reading to students and parents, such as reading software and online libraries. This is both interesting and can stimulate reading interest, while parental participation can ensure effective implementation of strategies at home.

(4) Strengthen Reading Process Management. In classrooms, teachers can monitor and manage students' digital reading. For example, when using digital graded reading platforms, teachers can track students' reading progress and time in real-time, providing timely feedback and evaluation. Multiple forms of feedback and evaluation can be adopted, such as online discussions, reading reflection sharing, and reading quizzes. This allows students to promptly understand their reading achievements, identify shortcomings, and further improve reading abilities and self-awareness.

(5) Cultivate Good Reading Habits. Family reading can be linked, with parents reading digitally with their children to share the joy of reading. For example, using the parent-child reading function of digital reading platforms, parents and children can read the same book together and then discuss it. Students should also be encouraged to develop habits of digital reading during their spare time through reading reminders and recommendations of excellent reading resources.

4.3.4 What Kinds of Platforms Facilitate Digital Reading

Digital reading platforms can provide various functions to help learners absorb and understand content more effectively. The following are some functions that help improve reading comprehension:

(1) Vocabulary Annotation and Translation. Instant dictionary lookup allows readers to click or select unfamiliar words to immediately display definitions, synonyms, or antonyms, helping them understand difficult words in the text. Multilingual translation provides instant translation for non-native readers, greatly reducing language barriers.

(2) Interactive Learning Tools. Note-taking and annotation functions allow readers to mark and write notes in e-books for easy review and memory consolidation. Highlighting important points helps readers quickly grasp key points of the article.

(3) Reading Progress Tracking. Reading time statistics record users' reading time and progress to help establish stable reading habits. Reading achievement systems set reading goals and rewards to motivate continuous reading.

(4) Content Customization and Recommendation. Personalized recommendation algorithms recommend similar or related content based on users' reading history and preferences, broadening knowledge. Difficulty grading provides suitable reading materials according to different ages and reading levels, ensuring content is challenging but not overwhelming.

(5) Practice and Assessment. Reading comprehension exercises provide questions related to article content, such as multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, to help consolidate knowledge. Timely feedback and analysis provide correct answers and explanations after exercises, helping readers understand mistakes and improve learning methods.

(6) Multimedia Assistance. Audio reading provides article narration to help improve listening comprehension and pronunciation accuracy. Video explanations offer video or animated demonstrations for complex concepts or difficult parts, making abstract content more intuitive and understandable.

(7) Community and Discussion. Comment sections allow readers to express their opinions and questions and exchange ideas with other readers. Discussion groups enable joining specific topic groups to discuss and learn with like-minded people.

(8) Data Visualization. Learning reports generate detailed reading and learning reports, including reading volume, comprehension rate, and common errors, to help readers self-assess and improve. Progress charts display reading progress and learning results in chart form, intuitively showing personal growth trajectories.

(9) Auxiliary Learning Tools. Mind mapping provides tools for creating mind maps to help organize article structure and clearly show logical relationships. Knowledge cards allow making knowledge point cards for easy memory and review of key points.

(10) Personalized Learning Paths. Adaptive learning systems dynamically adjust learning content and difficulty based on user performance, ensuring everyone receives the most suitable learning experience.

5. Research Conclusions

Ages 0-12 represent the golden period for cultivating reading habits and accumulating knowledge. During this stage, children's nervous systems develop rapidly, and their brains' ability to absorb and process external information continuously strengthens. Reading can stimulate their curiosity and thirst for knowledge, helping them form good values and worldviews.

Questionnaire results show that most parents believe digital reading is somewhat helpful for their children's learning and growth, but they also worry about adverse effects on children's vision and attention. Parents prefer popular science and story-based digital reading content for their children.

Parents generally lack sufficient time to accompany their children in digital reading and don't know specific methods. Interview results also emphasize the importance of parent-child shared reading during ages 0-12, which can enhance parent-child relationships and cultivate children's critical thinking.

Most industry companies believe that creating a good reading atmosphere and outputting high-quality content constitute the core competitiveness of reading platforms. At the same time, fully utilizing technological means to create more convenient, efficient, and personalized reading environments for readers is also a future development trend.

Through comprehensive analysis, developing a product that can help parents accompany their children in digital reading—whether remotely or in person—will help meet parental needs, enhance children's digital reading abilities, create a good reading environment for children, and cultivate good reading habits. This represents one of the key directions of this research.

This study provides theoretical support and practical pathways for cultivating digital reading abilities in primary and secondary schools, offering certain innovation and application value.

References

[1] Chinese Government Website. Government Work Report [EB/OL]. (2024-03-12) [2024-06-10]. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2024/issue_11246/202403/content_6941846.html.

[2] Chinese Government Website. Publicity Department Issues "Opinions on Promoting National Reading Work" to Deeply Advance National Reading [EB/OL]. (2020-10-22) [2024-06-10]. https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-10/22/content_5553414.htm.

[3] Gao Xinfeng, Zhu Huimin, Pang Danshu. International Lessons for Enhancing Educators' Digital Literacy and Skills [J]. China Educational Informationization, 2023, 29(7): 38-.

[4] Zhang Pu, Ma Xianwei, Yuan Dayong. Research Progress and Prospects of Digitalization in Primary and Secondary Education in China Since the 21st Century—Visualization Analysis Based on CiteSpace [J]. Basic Education Reference, 2024(11): 67-80.

[5] Zhang Wenliang. Review of Digital Reading Behavior Research at Home and Abroad [J]. Agricultural Library and Information, 2019(12): 5-13.

[6] Jing Sun, Ziting Yang, Siyu Chen, Ruiqi Deng. Exploring the Disparity in Digital Media Literacy Between Urban and Rural Primary School Students: Insights from an Empirical Study in China [J]. Frontiers of Digital Education, 2024, 1(2): 178-197.

[7] He Guolian. Investigation and Research on Reading Status of Urban and Rural Children in Digital Environment [J]. Journal of Library and Information Science in Agriculture, 2016(7): 127-134.

[8] Chen Ruijun. Investigation and Analysis of Digital Reading Status of Youth in Guangdong Province [J]. China Publishing, 2010(16): 55-58.

[9] Fu Qiaoqiong. Investigation and Promotion Strategies of Children's Reading Status in Zhejiang Province [J]. Library Research and Work, 2017(2): 60-64.

[10] Huang Xianrong, Zhang Yao. Research Hotspots and Trends in Digital Reading: Ethics, Behavior, and Application [J]. Publishing Science, 2020(2): 5-16.

[11] Wang Juan, Ma Xuemei, Yang Dandan. Empirical Study on the Influence of Information Carriers on Primary School Students' Text Reading—Comparison Between Digital Reading and Paper Reading [J]. Western China Quality Education, 2017, 3(8): 14-16.

[12] Fesel S. S., Segers E., Verhoeven L. Individual Variation in Children's Reading Comprehension across Digital Text Types [J]. Journal of Research in Reading, 2018, 41(1): .

[13] Tan Ziqi, Chen Ying, Ding Geying, Sun Shuo, Hu Xiaoyong. Empirical Study on Digital Reading Strategies for Upper Primary School Students [J]. Digital Education, 2023(6): 47-54.

[14] Zhang Xinyuan, Wang Bin. Research on the Influence of Family Capital on Educational Attainment—Empirical Analysis Based on CGSS2021 [J]. Operations Research and Fuzziology, 2023(4): .

[15] Li Ting. Realistic Dilemmas and Implementation Paths of Educational Equity in Digital Transformation of Education [J]. Social Science Front, 2024(10): 443-448.

[16] Peng Jia. Research on Construction and Application of Digital Reading Platforms in National Reading Promotion [J]. Canhua, 2024(1): 116-118.

[17] Cai Liyuan, Lai Mingyan. Discussion on Digital Publishing Infringement Issues and Countermeasures in the Information Age [J]. Western Academic Journal, 2018(12): 17-19.

[18] Huang Shan. Analysis of Digital Publishing Infringement Issues and Solutions in the Information Age [J]. News Culture Construction, 2021(3): 64-65.

Author Biographies:
Li Bin (1969—), male, from Meishan, Sichuan, is Chairman of the Party Committee and Board of Directors of Chongqing Xinhua Publishing Group Co., Ltd., senior engineer, with research interests in digital publishing.
Liu Shaoxing (1967—), male, from Shizhu, Chongqing, is First-level Special Officer of Chongqing Publishing House Co., Ltd., senior editor, with research interests in digital publishing.
Shao Ping (1968—), female, from Shapingba, Chongqing, is General Manager of Chongqing Zhile Culture Communication Co., Ltd., intermediate editor, with research interests in digital publishing.
Hang Tian (1987—), male, from Nan'an, Chongqing, is Product Director of Chongqing Zhile Culture Communication Co., Ltd., with research interests in digital publishing.
Liu Xin (1990—), male, from Dadukou, Chongqing, is Product Manager of Chongqing Zhile Culture Communication Co., Ltd., engineer, with research interests in digital publishing.

(Responsible Editor: Li Jing)