Booktuber as a literary practice in Secondary Education A systematic review

Introduction

Adolescents are usually discouraged toward reading in the traditional format (paper), as they perceive it as a compulsory element that requires great effort (Dar et al., 2019), thus they prefer to learn on the Internet and from the Internet through digital media, due to the language flexibility (Colás-Bravo et al., 2013). However, the debate must not be polarised in a dualist view where screens and reading are rivals; it should be focused on making use of emerging reading practices in virtual interactive environments to enhance reading habits. The new scenario derived from Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with hybrid reading (Martos, 2013) and the pedagogical model of multiple literacy (Kalantzis et al., 2019) is causing a change in the reading interests and practices of adolescents that must be considered in the design of the academic curriculum (Hamid et al., 2015). The use of digital technologies through social networks and 2.0 digital platforms promotes advantages among adolescents, such as interaction, communication and learning (Ahmed, 2016; Başoğul, 2021; Ghavifekr & Rosdy, 2015; Dahee, 2021), although it requires new ways of teaching and learning the reading practices in order to arouse motivation and offer greater possibilities to readers, using them for academic purposes (Cáceres-Reche et al., 2020; Dar et al., 2019; García & Jhonson, 2010; Hu & Yu, 2021; Prasanna-Kumara, 2019, Rajendran & Yunus, 2021).

Therefore, social networks are becoming allies of education, as they allow promoting reading in Primary and Secondary Education. Thus, teachers must mediate between the contents and learnings that students are required to acquire through reading practices to generate knowledge (Álvarez & Vejo, 2017; Ballesta Pagán et al., 2021; Dans-Álvarez-de-Sotomayor et al., 2021; Serna et al., 2017). According to the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO, 2011), teachers should become agents of change to educate competent reader citizens, and that literacy is a permanent right for communicating, developing as a person and exercising civic rights. This change in the teaching role is equally patent in the educational policies from Ley Orgánica de Educación (2006), Ley Orgánica 3/2020, de 29 de diciembre, por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación (2020) and the Plan de Fomento de la Lectura (Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, 2021).

The subject of Spanish Language and Literature of Secondary Education in Spain has found in ICTs new and more interactive models, formats and means of communication and knowledge construction, such as educational servers, websites, resources and platforms to carry out practices related to reading. Along with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there is a literary social network called Goodreads, where the reviews of read books are written from emotion and not from an academic or journalistic perspective; therefore, it is gaining great acceptance, since famous people who are not related to the literary scope are making use of it to publish their reviews. The social network Librote allows adapting to popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Other social networks include Lecturalia, Library Thing and Tú qué lees (What do you read). As for digital platforms, Wattpad is worth highlighting, an online community for readers and writers where many adolescents from Fan Fiction gather and share their works; this digital community has no specific publication requirements or censorship, since there is no financial gain, thereby allowing for great creative freedom (Başoğul, 2021; García-Roca & De-Amo, 2019). Other platforms include Kindle, Audible, Sonora and Google Play Books. Thus, the appearance of all these resources demands changes in the way of reading, understanding and writing, considering the metacognitive processes that are activated through reading. However, it is important to take into account that the use of digital technologies through social networks and 2.0 web platforms may have some disadvantages, such as a lack of digital competence, a lack of resources and poor time management due to dispersion (Al-Mulhim, 2014; Ahmed, 2016; Gashi-Shatri, 2020; Ghavifekr et al., 2016; Keezhatta & Abdulfattah, 2019).

Despite these inconveniences, rapid changes in reading and writing are being demanded by the following factors: the relationship between readers and writers; the transfer of the business strategy of editorials to social networks; the critical literature spaces through YouTube, Instagram and Twitter; the change of paradigm that led to the adoption of the Internet as a support tool; and dissemination media (Chen & MacLeod, 2021; Gómez-Díaz et al., 2016; Morales-Sánchez et al., 2021).

Currently, bloggers, fans and booktubers are new intermediaries in the ways of reading, participating and interacting, and they are also creating new content and opening relations between authors and readers (García-Canclini, 2015; Lluch & Acosta, 2012; Lluch, 2014). In the booktuber intervention, there is a reader mediation in which literary reviews and opinions are shared through social networks or specialised websites. Therefore, the booktuber movement has not stopped growing in book comments, organising games and guiding on the last trends (Morales-Sánchez et al., 2021; Rovira-Collado, 2017). Authors such as Tomasena (2021) define booktubers as an online knowledge community whose members learn through the socialisation of rules, hierarchies, values and shared values. On their part, Paladines-Paredes and Aliagas (2021) define booktubers as a virtual community of young people who upload videos in YouTube in which they talk about books. The role of booktubers is that of literary mediators, since they must recommend a book through a video review. Video reviews must follow the same format as reviews, and the sequence of their structure consists in presenting the book and valuing the characters, plot and style. This structure is the same as that used for literary reviews; however, since it is in YouTube, the audience posts comments and reviews to continue the literary discussion (Paladines-Paredes & Aliagas, 2021; Sibón-Macarro & Picado Sánchez, 2021). According to Paladines-Paredes and Margallo (2020), the duties of booktubers are to analyse their readings, show their personal literary collections and select literary information through challenges or games they share with other booktubers. To organise and select the literary information, they respond to a series of challenges in their videos, which consist in questions on topics with preferred readings, characters or literary genres, and they challenge other booktubers to upload a video of their own responding to those questions. One of the most relevant characteristics of booktubers is that the practice of the literary review is outside of the professional scope, and readers are not required to have previous literary knowledge beyond their own reading experience. The literary practice is performed among peers in a horizontal and participatory manner, and there is no hierarchy control (universities, editorial groups and traditional communication media).

The studies related to this phenomenon show that adolescents read more, show their peers a new view of literary works from their own reading and research, share their perspectives on how they perceive a literary text, and work on communication skills, thereby favouring peer interaction (Sevilla-Vallejo, 2020, p. 192).

This is a new way of reading, participating and interacting, and it is a strongly recommended practice for understanding reading in its social and collective dimension, with a great didactic potential to promote transmedia and cross-sectional competencies (García-Canclini, 2015; Heredia-Ponce et al., 2022; Paladines-Paredes & Aliaga, 2021; Rovira-Collado, 2017; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2019; Tomasena, 2021).

The aim of the present study was the systematic review of the research on the advantages, disadvantages and evaluation of social networks for the promotion of reading in Secondary Education and, specifically, the repercussion of the booktuber reading practice.

The following research questions guided the study:

Method

The systematic review of this article followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-PRISMA 2020 Declaration (Page et al., 2021). This guide was designed to provide a synthesis of the state of the art in a specific area, from which future research priorities can be identified. Moreover, it allows approaching questions that could not be answered through individual studies, thereby helping readers and researchers to better understand the analysis and results of the data presented in this work.

Due to the large number of studies related to this topic, and based on the objective and research questions set, the authors agreed on the inclusion and exclusion criteria (table 1) to validate the quality of the references selected.

Once the inclusion and exclusion criteria were established, the information sources to be used for the review were specified. The article search was conducted in the following databases: Scopus, Web of Science and ERIC. These resources were last consulted on October 31^st, 2023.

Next, we present the search strategies used in the mentioned databases with the corresponding filters and limits specified. The search was initiated by identifying terms associated with the study object in the thesauri of ERIC and Unesco. Then, the search was performed, introducing the Boolean operators to obtain better results from the following terms:

Subsequently, to evaluate the risk of bias of the individual studies included, the ROBIS tool was employed (Whiting et al., 2016). In the first phase, the concerns about the review process were identified, that is, the previously mentioned eligibility criteria were established, and those articles that fitted the study object were identified and selected.

In the second phase, the risk of bias in the interpretation of the findings was evaluated, reviewing the indicators of the first phase, that is, describing the limitations found. Since all indicators were positively evaluated, this review could be considered to be at low risk of bias.

Lastly, with the aim of facilitating and extracting the most faithful information about the records, the software tools VOSviewer and ATLAS.ti8 were used, as well as the presentation and interpretation of the data through tables and figures exported from these analytical programmes.

When exporting the data from ATLAS.ti, the studies were initially aggregated in PDF and new codes were created, although open coding was used throughout the analysis, in order to aggregate codes that were not previously taken into account. Then, a cross-tabulation analysis was performed for the code-document table, which allowed extracting the codes linked to the different analysed documents, consulting the absolute and relative frequencies, for each code or group of codes.

Results

The flowchart displayed in figure 1 presents the main general results obtained from the databases consulted.

A total of 16,055 publications were found: 10,219 in WoS (Web of Science), 4,879 in ERIC and 957 in Scopus. Once the duplicates were removed, 15,105 publications remained. Then, the abstracts of 9,128 publications were reviewed, applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

After this analysis, 5,977 publications were excluded, as they did not meet the inclusion criteria: 24 were published before the year 2012; 105 were related to other educational stages; 723 were not associated with the study object; 4,430 were related to topics of adolescence that were not associated with the study object; 579 were published in a language different from English or Spanish; and 116 could not be read in full text. A total of 120 full-text articles were selected for final evaluation (43 from ERIC, 63 from WoS and 14 from Scopus). After this last analysis, the sample included in the systematic review comprised n=38.

Figure 1.Flowchart of the studies identified based on PRISMA 2020 (Page et al., 2021)

Social networks and booktuber as concepts related to Secondary Education

To analyse the keywords on the study object, the VOSviewer software was used, which allowed viewing the clusters, relationships between nodes, and co-occurrence between terms. Figure 2 presents a map of co-occurrence obtained from the keywords of the selected publications. In this map, five nodes stand out: social networks, adolescents, reading promotion, media literacy and booktuber.

The first node is the one highlighted in pink, as this study is focused on social networks (digital media and booktuber), and it is related to the purple and brown nodes, since the population consists of adolescents and Secondary Education. The second most pronounced node is that of reading promotion related to Web 2.0, book reviews and reading motivation, which are linked to the node of reading skills and media literacy (YouTube, books).

Figure 2.Co-occurrence map 

To sum up, connections were established between social networks-adolescence-Secondary Education; social networks-digital literacy-booktuber; and reading promotion-reading commitment-reading skills-digital literacy.

The following sections present the answers found after the analysis of the publications. The data are shown progressively, from a global view of the linked concepts, followed by the basic characteristics of the individual studies, and ending with the advantages, disadvantages and evaluation of the technologies applied to reading and, specifically, the booktuber phenomenon.

Table 2.Frequencies and percentages of subcategories and categories 

CATEGORIES	SUBCATEGORIES	FREQUENCIES	%SUB	%C
ADVANTAGES
Pedagogical principles	VPDC (Autonomy)	1	1.82%	45.83%
	VPDI (Individualisation)	6	10.91%
	VPDS (Socialisation)	45	81.82%
	VPDT (Socioconstructivism)	3	5.45%
	TOTAL	55	100%
Cross-sectional competencies	VCTC (Creativity)	6	17.14%	29.17%
	VCTD (Digital competence)	7	20.00%
	VCTM (Motivation)	19	54.29%
	VCTS (Sustainability)	1	2.86%
	VCTT (Time management)	2	5.71%
	TOTAL	35	100.00%
Specific competences	VCEC (Transmedia)	18	81.82%	18.33%
	VCEL (New literary tactics)	4	18.18%
	TOTAL	22	100.00%
Purpose	VCEP (Educational purpose)	8	100%	6.67%
	TOTAL	8	100%
	TOTAL C	120		100%
DISADVANTAGES
Pedagogical principles	IPDM (Use of traditional methodology)	1	100%	3.23%
	TOTAL	1	100%
Cross-sectional competencies	ICTD (Lack of digital competence)	10	40.00%	80.65%
	ICTE (Dispersion)	1	4.00%
	ICTR (Lack of technical resources)	7	28.00%
	ICTT (Time management)	4	16.00%
	ICTV (Digital rights)	3	12.00%
	TOTAL	25	100%
Specific competencies	ICER (Lack of critical literary rigour)	2	100%	6.45%
	TOTAL	2	100%
Purpose	IFPO (Leisure purpose)	3	100%	9.68%
	TOTAL	3	100%
	TOTAL C	31		100%
EVALUATION
Types of evaluation	TEEA (Self-evaluation)	1	11.11%	81.82%
	TEEF (Formative evaluation)	3	33.33%
	TEEP (Peer evaluation)	5	55.56%
	TOTAL	9	100.00%
Tool	HRUB (Rubric)	2	100%	18.18%
	TOTAL	2	100%
	TOTAL C	11		100%
	GLOBAL TOTAL	162

Note %SUB (subcategories) and %C (categories)

Does the booktuber reading practice have any advantages for the development of the literary competence in Secondary Education?

As can be observed in figure 3, the most relevant advantages of the application of this reading practice are:

• – The development of the principle of socialisation (VPDS= 81.82%).
• – The improvement of the cross-sectional competencies, especially motivation (VCTM= 54.29%).
• – The promotion of the transmedia competence as a specific competence (VCEC= 81.82%).

As for the pedagogical principles, the reviewed publications also propose the principle of individualisation, although in lower proportion (VPDI= 10.91%), and, in relation to the cross-sectional competencies, they underline digital competence (VCTD= 20%) and creativity (VCTC= 17.14%).

Online collaboration allows students to receive emotional support and develop their feeling of belonging to the digital community, and communication activities improve their performance, commitment and motivation in digital reading tasks. The reviewed studies consider that students are considerably motivated by the feedback received from the readers (in any format: voting, comments or recommendations). Peer cooperation helps students to discover their weaknesses and learn from peers with greater performance. Furthermore, generating and analysing knowledge about readings enables the development of the transmedia competence, as well as the creative use of technological tools for the promotion of reading.

Figure 3.Advantages of the Booktuber phenomenon 

Does the Booktuber reading practice present any disadvantages for the development of the literary competence in Secondary Education?

Figure 4 shows that the greatest problem when applying this reading practice is the lack of cross-sectional competencies, such as digital competence (ICTD= 40%), and the lack of technical resources (ICTR= 28%). In almost all the analysed publications, the two factors that hinder the use of ICTs, by both teachers and students, are the lack of qualification for their contextual use and the lack of resources, access and technical support.

Figure 4.Disadvantages of the Booktuber phenomenon 

Can this reading practice be used to evaluate the literary competence in Secondary Education?

Figure 5 indicates that the way to evaluate the literary competence with this reading practice is through peer evaluation (TEEP= 55.56%) and formative evaluation (TEEF= 33.33%). With this reading practice, students provide advice and recommendations of feedback among peers, which allows for a formative evaluation. This is a good exercise for both the person who provides feedback and the person who receives it.

Figure 5.Evaluation of the Booktuber phenomenon 

Discussion and conclusions

Following the guidelines of the PRISMA Declaration, it was possible to determine the current state of the advantages, disadvantages and evaluation of social networks, as well as the Booktuber phenomenon, in the stage of Secondary Education. This review confirms that there are experiences supported by scientific studies on the use of social networks and the Booktuber intervention for the development of the literary competence in Secondary Education.

The 38 publications that were reviewed in the three databases consulted establish several connections, as can be observed in the co-occurrence map and the design of the quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods studies. Moreover, most of the studies were conducted outside of the European Union, although Spain is the country with the largest number of publications about the Booktuber phenomenon.

The results show more advantages than disadvantages in the use of the Booktuber phenomenon for the development of the literary competence in Secondary Education. The advantages include the importance of the attitudinal factor, such as sharing feelings and thoughts with peers (Hu & Yu, 2021), and the motivational factor (Chen & MacLeod, 2021; Dar et al., 2019; Hu & Yu, 2021; Rajendran & Yunus, 2021). Students assume a more enthusiastic and active role in the classroom, since the latter is a socialising environment where young people receive support from their peers and share their interests, values, feelings, comments, criticism, and valuations about the content of the readings and writings (Başoğul, 2021). The Booktuber model can be adapted to the principles of cooperative learning, promotes literary engagement, and allows students to work on their identity (Sevilla-Vallejo, 2020). As was proposed by Dahee (2021), the commitment of the participants to the project, the learning experiences and the perceptions with respect to the creation of videos have a positive impact, increasing the intrinsic motivation and commitment. Motivational orientation is directly related to peer collaboration and collaborative dialogue, as well as to improvements in vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension ability, knowledge generation, evaluation, reflection, communication, and technological skills, such as video edition (Paladines-Paredes & Margallo, 2020; Morales-Sánchez et al., 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2019). The idea of interaction assumed in all the reviewed publications augments the term Relation, Information and Communication Technologies (RICTs), as it considers the relationship between users to be fundamental.

This is a new way of reading, participating and interacting from reading, being a strongly recommended practice to understand reading in its social and collective dimension, and it has great didactic potential to promote the transmedia and cross-sectional competencies (García-Canclini, 2015; Heredia-Ponce et al., 2022; Paladines-Paredes & Aliaga, 2021; Rovira-Collado, 2017; Tsvetkova et al., 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2019; Tomasena, 2021). Another interesting and novel aspect is sustainability, since digital spaces, electronic books, social networks and educational platforms encourage users to reduce paper consumption and their carbon footprint (Gil-Quintana et al., 2020).

The disadvantages of the Booktuber phenomenon include the lack of digital competence and access to technology (Al-Mulhim, 2014; Ahmed, 2016; Dar et al., 2019; Gashi-Shatri, 2020; Ghavifekr et al., 2016; Keezhatta & Abdulfattah, 2019; Otchie & Pedaste, 2020). Some students point out the need for training in the use of video production and edition and computer tools to carry out this activity (e.g., text, image and video edition). Similarly, the lack of access to technology may create a new divide, which could be very dangerous, as it tends to hide the lack of development in fundamental competences, such as the reading competence, as well as delving into social inequalities (Amiama-Espaillat & Mayor-Ruiz, 2017).

Regarding the question of whether this reading practice can be used to evaluate the literary competence in Secondary Education, the reviewed publications state that the implementation of peer feedback can help teachers to save valuable time, and they also assert that providing peer feedback may be a learning exercise for both the person who provides feedback and the person who receives it. Feedback is aimed at helping students to identify and reflect on the performance of their complex skills in order to improve them, and the formative evaluation methodology was designed to provide feedback on frequent and continuous moments in the learning cycle, identify learning needs and adequately adapt the teaching practice (Ackermans et al., 2021; García-Roca & De-Amo, 2019; Ghavifekr & Rosdy, 2015; Suárez & González-Argüello, 2020).

Limitations

Firstly, it is important to point out that, due to the fact that this is a systematic review, the selected studies have implicit methodological biases and factors that influence the way of understanding and interpreting the study object; thus, systematic reviews will always be limited by the number and quality of the included studies. Likewise, the search of the terms also implies restrictions in the results, since they have to be delimited, which may generate errors. Another limitation was related to the decision on the research questions, how to measure their results, and the selection of the findings to be published.