RESEARCH OF THE CHALLENGES OF READING IN THE DIGITAL ERA

In the 21st century, different digital generations have coexisted, and there is already talk about different types of literacy. Traditional literacy is not being displaced from its position as a mandatory for every educated person, but it necessarily goes hand in hand with other literacies - with digital, multimedia, information, etc. Digital literacy does not replace traditional forms of literacy; it builds upon the foundations of traditional forms of literacy. The fourth industrial revolution, which is our near future as Klaus Schwab described, and its consequences in every area of our lives, will inevitably have an impact on reading and attitude towards the books. The major problem of this article is to identify the parents' role on forming reading habits of their children. The actuality of the research problem is determined by the increasing level of illiteracy among Bulgarians, as well as by the need to constantly raise the topic of the book and its influence on the young generation. The article presents the results of a survey among parents of primary school age children. The survey is a part of fundamental research, funded by the Bulgarian Science Fund - Digital Competencies and Media Education at Pre-school and Primary School Age (DN 05/8 14.12.2016) with coordinator Prof. Dr Rumyana Papancheva from the University "Prof. Dr Asen Zlatarov", Bourgas. The author is the leader of the Working Group "Research of the connection between Reading and Digital literacy" as part of the project. Based on preliminary done investigations and on an acquainting with literature about this problem in Bulgarian and English languages it has been developed a toolkit that is integrated in the questionnaires. In the first stage of the project there are made three types of surveys - for students (priority from fourth grade), for parents and for teachers. The survey of parents' toolbox contains a questionnaire with 41 questions for parents. The design of the study is divided in three parts - section "Reading" (18 questions), section "Digital literacy" (13 questions - 5 of them open questions) and section that tries to analyse the parents' opinion about a connection between traditional literacy, reading habits and the formation of digital literacies of children up to 11 years old. There is also a demographic part. The accent in this article is on the results of parents' survey - there are analysed parents' attitudes towards reading habits of their children. In 2018 144 parents were interviewed from different Bulgarian cities and towns. The main idea is that the parents' manner of reading and attitude to reading books will shape child as a good reader. The survey describes children's reading habits towards their parents.