Effects of linear reading, basic computer skills, evaluating online information, and navigation on reading digital text

• The number of visits to task-relevant pages predicted performance in digital reading.
• Good linear text readers selected more relevant hypertext pages than weak readers.
• Beyond linear reading skills, digital reading demanded ICT-related skills.
• Basic computer skills predict the selection of relevant hypertext pages.
• Skills in evaluating online information accounted directly for digital reading.

Reading and understanding digital text that is organized in a non-linear hypertext format can be challenging for students as it requires a more self-directed selection of text pieces compared to reading linear texts. This study aims at investigating how individual differences in students' skills in comprehending digital text can be explained by their navigation behavior and various underlying skills. Students' navigation behavior was operationalized by their selection of task-relevant hypertext pages; students' abilities in terms of reading linear texts, dealing with computer interfaces more generally, and evaluating the usefulness of online information were considered as underlying skills. We hypothesized that basic computer skills and evaluating online information would explain performance in digital reading above and beyond reading skills measured with linear texts. These effects were expected to be mediated by navigation behavior. A subsample of 15-year-old German students who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 was investigated (N = 888). The results confirmed the hypothesized mediation between linear reading, navigation behavior, and digital reading. Moreover, navigation behavior also mediated the relation between basic computer skills and digital reading but not the relation between evaluating online information and digital reading. Implications regarding processes in digital reading and navigation of hypertexts are discussed.