Digital Academic Access and Reading Profile of Venezuelan High School Students: Reflections from the Theory of Communicative Action and Digital Academic Literacy
Abstract
This study analyzes the digital academic reading practices of Venezuelan secondary school students. Based on Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action and the New Literacy Studies, this research examines the digital access and reading practices of these students in their academic settings. Methodologically, it employed a qualitative, critical-interpretative approach, involving 19 students from a public institution located in Las Calderas, Falcón State, Venezuela. An 18-question questionnaire was used as a research tool to identify students' digital academic reading practices in the school context. For the analysis and interpretation of the data, critical hermeneutics was employed under the Habermasian conception, based on the idea of hermeneutic moments: preconception, comprehension, interpretation, and self-understanding-reflection. The results indicate that students access digital technologies, especially smartphones and computers, but primarily carry out these practices at home, with school serving as a secondary space. While students demonstrate hyperconnectedness, expanding the scope of school learning through reading and internet browsing activities, it is argued that schools must assume a central and critical role, reflecting on online discourses and strengthening digital academic literacy.
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