The effectiveness of digital reading for motivating student reading and vocabulary development : Effektiviseringen av digital läsning för att motivera elevernas läsning och ordförrådsutveckling

Sammanfattning: Even though vocabulary skills are the essential key to achieving proficiency in a target language, there are some students who do not like reading. Thus, the purpose of this study is the potential use of digital technology for facilitating and motivating reading and vocabulary building in English. Thanks to technological innovations, children and young people are reading and writing in many ways and digital tools have become a part of everyday life for children and adults. Since 2018, the schools in Sweden have been preparing for the first digital national tests that will be taken in the year 2023. The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) has highlighted the importance of digital tools and the competence that is needed for teachers so that the students will be able to pass and succeed in their education. Digital tools in schools all around the world have become an essential tool in the classroom, especially in Sweden.    Ultimately, this critical literature review investigates whether the use of digital texts in the ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom can help students improve and build their vocabulary as well as motivate children to read. It also examines the advantages, disadvantages, and effectiveness of using vocabulary learning in the classroom to motivate students to read more. The goal is to motivate students to read more so that they will be able to practice reading independently and, thus, become fluent readers. The results indicate that it is crucial that teachers improve their competence in digital technology.    Key terms: Digital, reading, books, motivation, English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL).