Abstract: Communication is a set of various aspects such as reading materials from scholars, books, publications, e-materials etc. Reading culture plays a key role in the way communication flows between people, within organizations, schools (communication between pupils and teacher) and professional career (meetings, conferences, workshops). When the reading culture starts at a very early age, children grow competently with ability to analyze a set of writings, which is the source of the fundamental knowledge. Due to an increasing internet spread, school children tend to reduce time allocated to read publications and books in the library which affect their performances both at school and in their pursued careers. The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of digital communication era on the reading culture among primary school children in Rwanda. The study was guided by the following research objectives namely: Assess the effect of access to internet among school children in the digital communication era in Rwanda; Analyze the skills needed to operate the digital technologies; and Examine children’s perceptions on using and adapting to digital technologies. The study was carried out at Gahanga and Remera Catholique Primary Schools, in order to assess both rural and urban perspectives. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The target population of the study is 284 respondents at primary school level from P2-P6, as it is where they learn basic skills of reading which helped them later in their advanced education. Random sampling technique was employed for the study to select the respondents. Questionnaires with close ended questions was used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS. After findings, suggestions and recommendations was made according to observed results from respondents. The findings indicated that Access to the internet is significantly correlated to Reading culture (r=0.347, p<0.05). Skills needed is significantly correlated to Reading culture (r=0.427, p<0.05). Pupil’s perceptions are significantly correlated to Reading culture (r=0.347, p<0.05). From the analysis and discussion of the findings, the study revealed that electronic media use by pupils affect their reading culture. This is because of using abbreviated words in text messages to save time, space and cost. Using figures to represent words, using acronyms in place of full spellings, to save time and cost, and they indulge in words shortening in electronic media communication to save space. The persistent practicing of these patterns of writing contributes to pupils forgetting the correct spellings of words that can influence their reading culture. The researcher is suggesting that further studies could be undertaken in the following areas; The problems and prospects of electronic media use by primary school pupils in Rwanda. Electronic media as a resource for academic enhancement in Rwanda primary institution.
Keywords: Skills needed, digital technologies, reading culture primary school pupils Rwanda.
Title: INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION ERA ON THE READING CULTURE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN RWANDA: CASE OF GAHANGA PRIMARY SCHOOL AND REMERA CATHOLIQUE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Author: BUMWE RITHA MARIE CLARISSE, Dr. CAROLINE NABUZALE, Dr. PATRICK MULYUNGI
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
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