Vol. 17 No. 2 (2020)
Published:
1 September 2020
Articles
-
-
Framing the text: understanding emotional barriers to academic reading
When students arrive at university there is an expectation that they come already equipped with the skills they need to read academic texts. In contrast, many students have low confidence in their ability to read challenging texts, often
When students arrive at university there is an expectation that they come already equipped with the skills they need to read academic texts. In contrast, many students have low confidence in their ability to read challenging texts, often experiencing this as a barrier to engaging with academic practices. Recent research has identified the importance of affect in the university context, exploring the impact of emotions around academic practices such as critical thinking and interpreting feedback, but has not looked specifically at reading as one such key practice. This paper draws on this research and reads it alongside data gathered from questionnaires and focus groups conducted with one group of first-year undergraduates. We found that students have a complex relationship with reading for academic study, and that many experience significant negative affects and self-perceptions in relation to their academic reading tasks. We explore some of these encounters, engaging the student voice and using affect theory to unpack some first experiences of reading in higher education.
-
“It’s not a waste of time!” Academics’ views on the role and function of academic reading: A thematic analysis
The role of academic writing in the development of academic literacy in university students has been considered in some depth in the literature. However, the view of lecturers as to the role and value of academic reading is notably less
The role of academic writing in the development of academic literacy in university students has been considered in some depth in the literature. However, the view of lecturers as to the role and value of academic reading is notably less explored and warrants further exploration. Academic staff from a broad range of subject areas were invited to participate in a survey on the role and function of academic reading. Using an explorative approach, the study investigated academics’ views about reading behaviour with regards to the students’ academic journey, their own academic development, and its incorporation into their teaching. All comments were thematically analysed, resulting in a number of elicited themes and subthemes. The paper highlighted the key role of academics in the modelling, rewarding, and teaching of academic reading and discusses practical implications for Higher Education, particularly with regards to academic teaching and students’ skills development.
-
Towards the co-identification of threshold concepts in academic reading
This paper seeks to identify threshold concepts in academic reading. It builds on existing research on the subject by working in collaboration with three groups of academic readers (1: academic staff and subject lecturers; 2: learning
This paper seeks to identify threshold concepts in academic reading. It builds on existing research on the subject by working in collaboration with three groups of academic readers (1: academic staff and subject lecturers; 2: learning developers and librarians; 3: students) to co-identify a list of potential threshold concepts of academic reading. The Delphi Method was used to build a consensus between the different groups. Throughout the study, participants were invited to suggest and discuss threshold concepts across three rounds of asynchronous online surveys, which resulted in the identification of eight threshold concepts. It is hoped that these threshold concepts will enable and empower the teaching and learning of academic reading in a more transparent and explicit way.
-
Reading to Be: The role of academic reading in emergent academic and professional student identities
Despite the widespread acknowledgement of the importance of academic reading, much research tends to focus on academic writing. The role of academic writing in the development of academic and professional identities is generally accepted
Despite the widespread acknowledgement of the importance of academic reading, much research tends to focus on academic writing. The role of academic writing in the development of academic and professional identities is generally accepted. In contrast, the role of academic reading has been less visible in the literature, and when discussed, it tends to be conceptualised as a generic skill. In this paper, we explore the role of reading in emergent academic identities in undergraduates. We reflect on research with our own Nursing and Midwifery students that highlighted the role of reading in the development of ‘writing capital.’ Drawing on this and wider evidence we explore how, through academic reading, students begin to recognise, and then participate in the scholarly conversations that construct knowledge within disciplines. We argue that academic reading, like academic writing, is a complex ongoing process that involves multiple transitions, rather than a skill that can, and should, be mastered early on. We contend that educators need to consider how and where academic reading is addressed within academic programmes. Moreover, we suggest ways to make room for it within our curricula and engage students in conversations about the nature of scholarship within their disciplines.
-
Can the reading load be engaging? Connecting the instrumental, critical and aesthetic in academic reading for student learning
Learning an academic discipline requires at a fundamental level reading of knowledge that has been recorded, debated and developed in writing over time. Given the essential role of reading in shaping knowledge, there needs to be more
Learning an academic discipline requires at a fundamental level reading of knowledge that has been recorded, debated and developed in writing over time. Given the essential role of reading in shaping knowledge, there needs to be more emphasis on approaches that nurture an engaged reading practice. This article explores the role of instrumental, critical and aesthetic reading stances in engaging students in academic reading at university and the extent to which connecting these reading stances can enhance student learning through academic reading. Using this dynamic view of reading, the article examines insights and evidence from recent research to investigate the connection between these reading stances and student learning. The studies analysed indicate elements of instrumental, critical and aesthetic reading in approaches that effectively engage learners in academic reading. These ways of reading are linked to enhanced learning in terms of individual reflexivity, disciplinary participation, social perspective and global awareness. An analysis of the studies investigated advocates for using a variety of text types, giving students choice of texts, explicitly teaching dynamic reading skills, providing opportunities for social reading practices and implementing process-based assessments for learning. These practices can lighten the academic reading load by enhancing engagement and learning of disciplinary knowledge.
-
Outsiders looking in? Challenging reading through creative practice
Becoming well read, especially in academia, is key to being part of the university - and of society. Academic reading is ‘tricky business’ especially for those widening participation students not necessarily familiar with the forms and
Becoming well read, especially in academia, is key to being part of the university - and of society. Academic reading is ‘tricky business’ especially for those widening participation students not necessarily familiar with the forms and processes of Higher Education. To foster these students’ academic literacies and practice, rather than the decontextualised teaching of ‘skills’, we create empowering social spaces for authentic collaborative reading. To facilitate this, we present text ‘differently’: text as scroll. A textscroll can be made by taping article or chapter pages together, side-by-side. Textscrolls open up the contested bookspace and make the written word accessible. They foster dialogic and multimodal interaction with texts and, if woven into a developmental embodied sequence of learning activities, help develop an understanding of academic reading as a wider social practice. Student and staff feedback show that scrolls are liberating. Scrolls, in embodied ways, make university reading meaningful and can authentically scaffold entry into epistemic communities. Scrolls help learners access the written word - and enjoy reading.
-
Building knowledge to ease troublesomeness: Affording theory knowledgeability through academic reading circles
Academic reading for knowledge building is under-researched in the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP); a field that foregrounds academic writing above all other skills. Alongside this dearth of literature, a relative wealth of
Academic reading for knowledge building is under-researched in the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP); a field that foregrounds academic writing above all other skills. Alongside this dearth of literature, a relative wealth of literature exists which identifies the ‘troublesomeness’ of academic reading. This paper argues that reading for knowledge building is one way to ease the troublesomeness of academic reading within the field of EAP, with a focus on reading to build knowledge of theory and theory use. This paper reports on findings from a study which explores how taught postgraduates on a pre-sessional course acquire the threshold concept of ‘theory knowledgeability’ (Cowley-Haselden 2020) through reading and discussion. ‘Theory knowledgeability’ can be defined as not just acquiring knowledge of how to use theory in academic practice, but also acquiring knowledge of particular theory/ theories themselves. This knowledge is one key to unlocking success in postgraduate level education. Through the analysis of knowledge practices within academic reading circles performed by postgraduate pre-sessional students from a range of disciplines within the social sciences, it is argued that acquiring the threshold concept of theory knowledgeability allows students to emerge as a more legitimate knower in the UK higher education context.
-
Co-constructing a Liberated / Decolonised Arts Curriculum
This article presents a case study of liberating reading lists through a staff-student collaboration in a UK arts university. It characterizes reading lists as a familiar but under researched feature of academic life and discusses their
This article presents a case study of liberating reading lists through a staff-student collaboration in a UK arts university. It characterizes reading lists as a familiar but under researched feature of academic life and discusses their practical and symbolic role in maintaining Western / Eurocentric / White disciplinary canons, and how they inform what it means to be ‘well read’ in a discipline. The collaborative project, which was initiated as Liberate the Curriculum work, brought together students, academic staff and librarians to audit and review reading lists, and reimagine them to represent multiple narratives, reflecting the diverse and international student population of the university. The article explores the challenges of auditing reading lists and identifying more diverse resources, and the complex relationships between identity and knowledge production. The authors use Critical Race Theory to comment on the relationship between race, colonialism and the arts, and how racism is reproduced within the academic environment. The project methodology is described, with an evaluation of the project as a student staff collaboration, and the learning and impact within the institution.
-
Book Review: Reading at University: How to Improve Your Focus and Be More Critical. Jamie Q Roberts and Caitlin Hamilton