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@article{209511,
        author = {Farhath Anjum and Dr. M. Praveena},
        title = {Beyond the Printed Page: Digital Technology and the Changing Experience of Reading English Literature},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {5},
        pages = {1931-1944},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=209511},
        abstract = {The movement of English literary reading from printed books to digital screens has altered not only the material form of texts but also the conditions under which readers attend to, interpret, annotate, remember, and emotionally engage with literature. Existing research, however, does not support a simple print-versus-screen hierarchy. Meta-analyses have reported small advantages for paper in some forms of comprehension, particularly under time constraints and with expository texts, while research focused on narrative and literary reading has frequently found no reliable medium effect. Recent empirical work further suggests that device type, scrolling, reading habits, annotation practices, and the social and material setting of reading can shape outcomes. This article develops a mixed-methods framework for examining the changing experience of reading English literature among adult university readers. It integrates medium preference and reading habits, attention and distraction, literary engagement, concentration and pace, digital affordances, interpretation and reflection, practical/material factors, and contextual complementarity. The study proposes a 40-item five-point Likert questionnaire and five open-ended questions, to be administered to approximately 300–400 adult university readers. The article provides the theoretical rationale, literature synthesis, instrument design, sampling and analysis plan, and criteria for interpreting quantitative and qualitative evidence. Because the uploaded material is an IJIRT manuscript template rather than a participant-response dataset, no empirical results are fabricated here. The manuscript therefore establishes a transparent empirical framework that can be completed once genuine responses are supplied.},
        keywords = {digital reading, English literature, literary reading, print and screen, reading experience, reading practices, reader response, ELT, digital humanities, materiality},
        month = {October},
        }