STUDENTS’ PREFERENCE BETWEEN DIGITAL AND PRINTED READING FORMATS

The purpose of this research is to analyze the reading format preferences of 4th
semester students of English education study program at University of Bengkulu
and describe the reasons for preferring one reading format over another. The
method used in this research is mixed method with sequential explanatory design,
which is to collect quantitative data followed by qualitative data. The research
instrument consists of two items, namely questionnaires and interviews. The results
of this research are divided into two, the first result shows that 14% of respondents
strongly agree with the preference for printed formats, 70% stated that they agree
so that total of 84% of respondents stated that they agree with the preference for
printed formats, while 16% stated that they depend. The second result described the
reasons behind students' preferences for printed formats, namely eye health-related
issues (70%), concentration/focus issues (60%), convenience (50%), ease of
highlighting (40%), understanding issues (30%), ease of access (20%) and
increasing interest in reading (20%). The conclusion is that most of the 4th semester
students of the English education study program at the University of Bengkulu
prefer printed formats to digital formats, this preference is motivated by these seven
main reasons.
Keywords: preference, reading, digital format, print format.