Digital Social Reading

Abstract This study examines the interplay between the motivational needs of adolescents when engaged in digital social reading (DSR) in school settings and also their digital social reading behaviour, measured by the amount of the primary text read and the intensity of written communication. The study shows that in a digital social reading situation the basic human needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are represented proportionally, without any one need gaining a greater prominence. Although students working under different motivational conditions read similar amounts of the primary text, the intensity of written communication varied significantly depending on the text. We attribute this difference to story world absorption. Stories with a higher story world absorption rating elicited twice as much written communication than less absorbing stories. The implications of these findings are discussed.