Li, L.-Y., Chen, G.-D., Fan, C.-Y., Huang, D.-W. (2014). The Effects of the E-Book System with the Reading Guidance and the Annotation Map on the Reading Performance of College Students. Educational Technology & Society, 17 (1), 320–331. The Effects of the E-Book System with the Reading Guidance and the Annotation Map on the Reading Performance of College Students Liang-Yi Li, Cheng-Yu Fan, Dong-Wei Huang and Gwo-Dong Chen * Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan // lihenry12345@gmail.com // fanpaul2009@gmail.com // steven740114@gmail.com // chen@csie.ncu.edu.tw * Corresponding author (Submitted May 26, 2012; Revised August 16, 2012; Accepted November 5, 2012) ABSTRACT Novice learners demonstrate marked difficulty in using reading-study systems to read academic textbooks. One notable problem is that the process and constructed knowledge is complex. Novice learners are required to exert considerable effort in applying the process and in remembering the knowledge, resulting in lower motivation and fewer cognitive resources for reading. This study develops an e-book reading system with an integrated reading guidance module and an annotation map, and conducts an experiment for examining the effect of this system on reading, reviewing, navigational performance, and reader behavior. The results show that the annotation map significantly improves reviewing and navigational performance, but not reading performance. Log analysis identifies two problems related to reading guidance: time allocation and learner control. We discuss these results and propose recommendations for future works. Keywords E-Book, SQ3R, Annotation, Reading guidance Introduction Reading is a vital skill. Students with proficient reading skills have the potential to become enhanced self-regulated learners and, thus, demonstrate high academic achievement. However, most students are not proficient in reading. Many students even lack the basic reading skills necessary to perform future job-related tasks (Artis, 2008), which will greatly affect their future study and work. Several reading-study strategy systems provide clear guidelines to help students learn and practise techniques that imitate the behaviors of highly proficient readers (e.g., SQ3R, 3R, and KWL; Al-Khateeb & Idrees, 2010; Artis, 2008; McDaniel, Howard, & Einstein, 2009; Robinson, 1970). SQ3R, which consists of five steps (surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and reviewing), is the most popular reading-study system and was primarily designed for expository text, particularly academic textbooks. Although SQ3R is a purposeful and meaningful reading method in which students practise different reading strategies, it is cumbersome for novice learners to learn and use (Flippo & Caverly, 2000; Huber, 2004). The SQ3R process is complex, and the knowledge constructed during this process is comprehensive and varied. Novice learners must expend more cognitive and behavioral effort in operating and managing the process and knowledge before they become experienced. Their effort may impede reading comprehension when learners are unfamiliar with this method. This impediment may lower their motivation for using and practising this strategy (Artis, 2008). Because the SQ3R process is complex, novice learners must use more cognitive resources to remember the SQ3R steps, when to use these steps, what purpose each step has, and how to perform each step. Although training and practice can facilitate the learning process, it consumes time and effort. Teachers typically address this method for a brief period and ask students to use it by themselves after class. The learning products that are constructed and acquired during the SQ3R process are comprehensive and varied: section titles, keywords, an overview in the surveying step, questions in the questioning step, comments and crucial points in the reading step, and summaries in the reciting step. The relationship among the products forms a hierarchical structure. For example, when creating a question for a section title, several pieces of highlighted text and comments are generated to answer the question or explain a keyword, and a summary is written for the section. The hierarchical structure is useful for remembering and reviewing the learning products. However, they are distributed among different pages, and students have difficulty perceiving and remembering the structure and relationship. 320 ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the copyright of the articles. 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