The use of tablets and its implications on literacy
Evidence has provided that the use of tablets is increasing and is going to increase. In fact, companies have stated that particular technology have outweighed the purchase of text-based material. According to Amazon, Kindle books are now outselling paperbacks, which is a “major milestone” in the publishing industry. It doesn not state whether this achievement has a negative setback, rather it is enforcing the idea technology has become a strong preference and convenience for many.
Another source from “The Wall Street Journal” predicts that more consumers will be purchasing tablets and many companies are expecting to sell them. Statistics show that people are purchasing more hand-held devices than laptops. Apple, Windows, Blackberry, etc are all competing to sell their products–however, they have become very conscious with the physical size of the produ
ct to make it more user-friendly, particularly in response to specific groups such as , students, employers, etc.
For example, “Scholastic” released an article discussing the effectiveness of Kindle and how it will change literacy in today’s generation. It has been labeled as the “hand-held library” that offers various resources from educational to pure leisure. Educators are finding positive results with this gadget, particularly the “text-to-speech” function that aides students with vision problems, lack of reading fluency, and even language barriers. This is seen as a positive improvement in closing the literacy gap in underprivileged children.
However, while educators are looking forward to implementing this technology; teachers are still dubious. They are disappointed that the Kindle does not (yet) have an output button to plug into the projector, in order to be viewed in class. But it is still work in progress, and high expectations are held for the Kindle and other hand-held tablets to be exposed to academic institutions.