This paper challenges the reductive notion of children as "efferent" readers who learn to decode written language in order to "take away" knowledge. This anachronistic idea has become entrenched in current UK curriculum and education policy. However, it is well established that decoding letters and sounds is only one aspect of…

There is a growing body of research that provides evidence that today's late adolescents and college-age students have been affected in many ways, some adversely, by growing up in the ever-increasing technology-driven world--one in which they have been living, playing and communicating. The purpose of this article is to present recent research…