Reading and collaboration: Developing digital reading practices with computer-assisted text analysis tools

The introduction of digital media into university writing courses, while leading to innovative ideas on multimedia as a rhetorical enhancement means, has also resulted in profound changes in writing pedagogy at almost all levels of its theory and practice. Because traditional approaches to examining and discussing assigned texts in the classroom were developed to help students analyze different genres of print-based texts, many university educators find these methods prohibitively deficient when applied to digital reading environments. Even strategies in reading and text annotation need to be reconsidered methodologically in order to manage effectively the ongoing shift from print to digital or electronic media formats within first year composition. The current study proposes one of the first and most extensive attempts to analyze fully how students engage with digital modes of reading to demonstrate if and how students may benefit from reading digital texts using computer-assisted text analysis (CATA) software.