Academic Reading Research Articles

The Feminist De-brahmanising Pedagogy of Writing

Pedagogic practices are central to how feminists from the West and the subcontinent have envisaged the liberatory transformation of society. Feminist methods of teaching-learning emphasise making educational material accessible, the creation of communities of learners historically excluded from education, the re- education for educators and making learners independent and equipped to continue the process of learning. In the Indian context, feminist pedagogy is key to challenging and replacing the default patriarchal and Brahminic setting of academia that perpetuates exclusion even when it grants admission. Writing pedagogy, following feminist methods, is building step-by-step access to teaching-learning that makes academic reading and writing doable. In that, it is de-brahmanising academic writing from appearing to be mystically transmitted only to those born into the socio-cultural capital to receive it. Drawing from reports by observers and participants, this article demonstrates how a conscious pedagogy of writing reworks access to academic reading, writing and thinking to directly address issues of intersectional marginalisations of gender.

Effect of Explicit Teaching of Vocabulary Strategies on EFL Learners’ Recall and Recognition of Academic Words

Objectives: This study aimed at investigating the effect of the explicit teaching of vocabulary strategies on 202 EFL learners’ improvement of receptive vocabulary knowledge in terms of meaning recall and recognition of academic words. Methods: This mixed-methods study consisted of two phases: quantitative and qualitative. In the first phase which was a quasi-experimental design with two groups (experimental and control), all students responded to an adapted vocabulary test that has multiple choice and multiple matching questions. Through focus group interviews with some participants in the experimental group, qualitative data on students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of explicit teaching of vocabulary strategies were collected. While the quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), the interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: The results of the study revealed that the explicit method of teaching vocabulary strategies was effective in improving students’ vocabulary knowledge in terms of both meaning recall and recognition of academic words. Conclusions: Thus, the explicit method of teaching vocabulary strategies can be recommended for EFL learners in academic reading courses.

To read or not to read

Reading continues to be a critical skill for success in university studies. However, students have competing interests and activities which make academic reading less of a priority. The aim of the study is to explore the reasons why students do or do not engage with set reading tasks using an extant survey instrument. The literature highlights several factors, including a lack of interest in the academic subject, family duties and work obligations, which contribute to this behaviour and indicates how it might possibly be addressed. The theoretical foundations of this work stem from areas such as strategic learning, reading non-compliance, curriculum structure, and student engagement. The aim of the study is to explore the reasons why students do or do not engage with set reading tasks using an extant survey instrument. Building on the literature which discusses why students do not read, the pilot study presented in this paper examines the reading behaviours amongst a group of first year business students studying in block mode at Victoria University (Australia). The paper explores the implications for teaching practice and the potential for further research.

Enhancing Students’ Engagement and Critical Thinking Skills in English Language Teaching: A Transformative Approach

The transition from high school to tertiary institutions always pose challenges to students. Students struggle with engagement because of lack of critical academic literacy skills. The aim of this study was to review two Academic Literacy modules offered to Education students with the intention to bring in engagement and develop critical thinking skills amongst students. The study adopted the qualitative explorative approach where two students (one registered for HACL011/012 and one registered for HLLT021/022 modules) and two lecturers were interviewed. Students were interviewed on their perceptions towards the importance of the modules in their preparations for their academic studies and whether the tenets of social justice have been met in developing their academic reading skills. Lecturers were interviewed on their perceptions on the importance of the content in their modules. This was whether the content empowers students to develop the critical reading skills and the transformative learning needed for them to be fully engaged in their academic studies. The study found that although the two modules aimed at empowering students with critical thinking skills, they run short because the level 1 module is fused in within the computer literacy module. The critical thinking skills’ aspects of the module are far less towards empowering students with social justice aspects that would contribute to transformed critical thinking and reading. Lecturers’ reflections also indicated a lack of power in changing the content of the module as it will require the whole module review, which implies the review of the whole programme.

Challenges in reading English academic texts for non-English major students of an Indonesian university

This study examines the barriers to reading academic texts among university students for whom English is a foreign language. While many previous studies have focused on instructional design for building academic reading skills, this study focuses on the fundamental issues that need consideration before setting up the instructional design for English academic reading. Taking an interpretive phenomenological viewpoint, this study applied a qualitative method through an online survey and interviews. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, online data collection was the most accessible means of approaching the students. Ninety-five students from various non-English study programs (courses) at a private university voluntarily responded to the open-ended online questionnaire, providing survey data. Five students provided further data through individual interviews on their academic reading challenges. A thematic analysis of the survey data revealed four themes and eight subthemes representing the students’ challenges, which were explored further in the interviews. These challenges and the relationships among them are discussed. The results suggest that most students depended on single-word meanings as their prime strategy for achieving comprehension. However, this strategy also represented the most notable challenge in their effective reading of English academic texts. They failed to comprehend the text effectively because their translation did not make sense. Furthermore, the nature of the reading strategies of the student cohort had an impact on their baseline reading proficiency.

SPEECH MODELS AS A MEANS OF TEACHING ACADEMIC READING

The concept of speech patterns of police discourse, representing language stable formulas, can be considered as an auxiliary means of teaching academic reading of texts of police discourse. The present article describes the characteristics of speech patterns, their structure and signifi cance within the process of working with academic reading. The importance of eff ective formation of academic reading skills when working with institutional discourse is emphasized. It should be noted that the police discourse and its structural speech patterns should be associated with the ways of interpretation, perception and systematization of textual information for composing own utterance on this basis. The article describes speech patterns in connection with their application in the process of eff ective teachin g of academic reading as a way of explication of meaning to create their own statements of police offi cers.

Malaysian University Students’ English Academic Reading and Writing Ecology: A Preliminary Description

This study presents a preliminary description of university students’ ecology of academic reading and writing in English. Data was collected through three online discussion forums, where students could post and discuss about their perceptions and experiences in academic reading and writing. Using a grounded approach, data from these online forum posts were thematized. To ensure credibility of students’ responses, the third forum post was used to triangulate data from the first two forums. Findings indicated that the students had specific experiences of reading, through their mention of various academic texts assigned by their lecturers; however, academic writing was found to be rather general, given the lack of specific information and experiences found in students’ responses. Beyond the university, it was found that students may not be reading materials in the English language, and that their reading was of a variety of genres. These findings bring about the assumption that the ecology for reading and writing, especially in the English language, is confined to the educational setting. It is suggested that English language instructors could leverage on materials students encounter outside the university to encourage reading and writing in English.

Grassroots Inquiry through Reading Groups in Academic Libraries

Reading groups organized within academic libraries offer an interdisciplinary/undisciplined space for academics to discuss scholarly readings without the typical expectations associated with reading within the academy. Unlike reading for coursework or in order to write, which positoins the reader as a suspicious critic, reading as a community interested in a shared topic of inquiry opens up new avenues for interpretation and collaboration. This article describes some history of reading groups, how they are related to libraries, and theories of reading that help explore why reading groups create a sense of grassroots inquiry. It also offers practical advice for those interested in creating academic reading groups in their library.

Pedagogical Pleasures and Perils of Teaching During the Pandemic: Japanese History and YouTube

ABSTRACT In this article, I focus on the role of YouTube as a pedagogical tool and its associated media literacy issues. In the courses I have taught since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have included short videos produced by well-known YouTube history channels alongside required readings to stimulate student engagement with historiographical issues. Students respond positively to these videos, which they also seek out themselves. However, YouTube history channels are increasingly producing polished and entertaining videos that do not clearly cite sources and gloss over historiographical inaccuracies or misrepresentations. YouTube videos on Japanese history should be selected and utilised carefully. Media literacy skills and academic readings are essential to students’ ability to critically view and understand these media representations of the past. Therefore, I argue that it is important for Japanese Studies students to develop critical media literacy skills and be aware of the role and power of social media sites such as YouTube in the creation and representation of Japan and Japanese history.

JournalMate: An Accessible Academic Reading Tool for Third-Level Students with ADHD.

This paper outlines the research activities undertaken to design and evaluate an accessible academic reading tool to support third-level students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This research project was conducted in three phases, using a User Centred design (UCD) approach. The initial research phases explored cognitive processing difficulties related to reading habits and user needs that are associated with ADHD. A series of interviews with 3 subject matter experts and 8 students with ADHD aimed to identify pain points and problems hindering users from carrying out academic reading efficiently and confidently. Phase two involved ideating solutions based on data collected in the first phase and applying universal design principles while focusing on developing an electronic reading tool. After the ideation activity, the resulting prototyped solution was evaluated by 10 users. The data gathered during this evaluation provides insight into the performance of the application and will aid in any subsequent design iteration. The output of the study is an accessible academic reading tool for third-level students with ADHD, using a user-centred design process. Future practical implications and limitations are discussed. Results will provide additional data to build on current study findings and existing theories.

Exploring Learners’ Perception of Different Types of Reading Strategies in Academic Reading

Exploring Learners’ Perception of Different Types of Reading Strategies in Academic Reading

Development and validation of an academic reading instrument for graduate students of applied linguistics

Development and validation of an academic reading instrument for graduate students of applied linguistics

The Reading Challenges, Strategies, and Habits of University Students With a History of Reading Difficulties and Their Relations to Academic Achievement

Given the increase in students with learning disabilities entering university, we investigated a broader group—students with a history of reading difficulties (HRD)—who are known to be at risk of academic struggles. We identified the self-reported reading challenges and strategies of university students with HRD (n = 49) and those with no history of reading difficulties (NRD; n = 88) and examined group differences and relations with first-year grade point average (GPA). Students with HRD reported more difficulties with perceived reading comprehension, concentration, and reading speed than students with NRD. Groups differed in use of reading strategies: Students with HRD were descriptively more likely to reduce reading volume by using alternative materials and chose to read based on text length and availability of alternative materials. For both groups, reading completion and concentration strategies were positively related to GPA, while perceived difficulty with reading comprehension and choosing to read based on interest were negatively related to GPA. Some strategies were negatively associated with GPA for students with NRD, but not for students with HRD. Findings revealed the challenges that students with HRD experience with reading in university and identified strategies, potentially adaptive or maladaptive, that they used to manage their academic reading load.

The effect of background audio and audiovisual stimuli on students' autonomic responses during and after an experimental academic examination.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown during the online-distant education period, certain students tended to combine their courses and homework with TV or social media news or other media content, such as classical music, including a wealth of audio and audiovisual stimuli. As the audio and audiovisual stimuli existing in a learning environment may affect students' autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses negatively, the present study aimed to monitor the impact of background TV, classical music, and silence on students' ANS activity represented by heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood volume amplitude (BVA), and skin conductance level (SCL) during and after an experimental academic examination. Seventy-six students were randomly allocated to background TV, classical music, or silence groups. The experiment with repeated measures design consisted of four consecutive periods: baseline, anticipation, challenge, and recovery, lasting 4 min each. Within-subject analyses indicated significant HRV decrement only in the background TV group. Regardless of the experimental groups, HR and SCL increased while BVA decreased during the task. In addition, the between-subject analysis showed that the background TV group experienced significantly larger changes in HR and HRV parameters compared to the other experimental groups relative to their respective baseline measurements. Based on these results, we concluded that relative to classical music and silence, background TV, including audiovisual and verbal stimuli, extant in a learning environment might raise students' sympathetic activity. Further, classical music, without lyrics, may suppress the withdrawal of vagal activity and elevate the autonomic regulation capacity during the academic reading comprehension task. HRV is a more valid and reliable indicator of students' autonomic responses during a challenging academic task.

ONLINE LEARNING VARIETIES AS EFFORTS TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ READING MOTIVATION

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) became a pandemic in March 2020. As the impact, the learning activities experienced a shift from traditional learning methods to technology-based or online learning. The shifting forces the students and instructors to adapt to new things. This study aims to determine how various learning activities in English reading class motivate students and to determine students’ motivation in English reading class. This study involved 22 students from Universitas Kristen Indonesia in Jakarta utilizing experimental research using three strategies of teaching reading. This research recommended three activities that motivated the students to participate actively in class. The three activities include implementing online reading tests, assigning reflective reading, and presenting the summary of journal articles. The three different teaching reading strategies increase students’ motivation to trigger their enthusiasm to participate consistently in every activity. The research suggests that various ways of teaching academic reading are necessary since students feel contented. This study implies that it provides alternative strategies for teaching reading applicable in all reading classes, mainly to university students.

Reading Self-Efficacy of EFL Students on Pre-Service Teaching Program and Practice in the EFL Classrooms

Students’ self-efficacy regarding their ability to learn is critical for their motivation to learn and achieve the intended goals. What they believe, they are capable of will influence how they learn. This study examines students’ self-efficacy in reading academic materials and their preferred academic materials based on two distinct sources, printed and digital. Descriptive qualitative is used to conduct this study. In collecting the data, the researchers utilized an online questionnaire and interview. The study interviewed and distributed questionnaires to 30 university students about their experiences reading academic materials. The study found that students exhibit favorable attitudes toward the three components of self-efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, and physiological states. Additionally, the majority of students have a high level of self-efficacy when it comes to reading academic materials from both printed and digital sources. From the two sources, students prefer to read digital academic materials than printed ones. Therefore, lecturers are expected to let students choose the most appropriate sources of materials for academic reading. They should also instill a reading habit in their students, which can begin with reading materials that interest them.

TEACHER’S SCAFFOLDING IN ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING BY USING SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION IN UNIVERSITY LEVEL

The using of scaffolding in many teaching subjects has been used by teachers. Many lectures use scaffolding to embrace the students and make easier the learning. Lectures also use micro-scaffolding and macro- scaffolding for teaching. Previous study said that using scaffolding has advantages and disadvantages. However, this article attempts to find out the result of using scaffolding in Academic Reading and Writing in classroom. This study using qualitative with case study as a path to gain the information, with an English lecturer in one of university in Garut. This study also used non-participant observation as instrument and gathering the information using inductive analysis. The finding indicate that scaffolding make the classroom interact each other

SCIENCE, EDUCATION, WAR - CHALLENGES OF THE TIME

The analytical review of the materials of the ХХ academic readings dedicated to professor V. I. Strikha memory presents the main contents of the reports of the participants on the state of affairs in various fields of modern science, education, the system of scientometric assessment of the scientific level of articles and the problems generated by this, the role of science and education in solving the problems of martial law period and the subsequent post-war recovery, as well as the interaction of science and society as a whole.

Analyzing the Students’ Needs of an Academic Reading Class at a Private University in Lubuklinggau

This present paper studied the students’ demands of a reading class at a private institution in Lubuklinggau, South Sumatera. The needs are separated into two elements, namely students’ needs and wants. This research was a descriptive study employing a qualitative method with the data collection strategy using the mix of the closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires. The respondents in this study were 27 students from 2021 at English Education Study Program of Universitas PGRI Silampari who had taken academic reading subject. They were given 25 closed-ended questions and three open-ended questions. The results showed that 88.14% of the students agreed that the topic variation in an academic reading class was importance, the Importance of Tasks in Academic Reading was categorized as “important” (81%), Topic for academic was categorized as “important” (63.5%). There were 86.19% students expected to have the improvement in the term of topics in Academic Reading Materials. There were 74% students wanted the improvement in the aspect of tasks. Then, 56% of 27 students wanted the improvement in term of skills. In conclusion, the students agreed that the topic should be realistic, relevant, and diverse. Moreover, in consideration of the needs of the pupils, the topic should be diversified, engaging, and current.
 Key word: Academic Reading, Needs Analysis, University Students

Tertiary Indonesian EFL Learners’ Learning Style in Reading Hypermedia Material

Technology, learning environment, and e-sources have shifted learners’ learning styles in academic reading courses. The study aimed to explore tertiary Indonesian EFL learners’ learning styles in reading hypermedia material since it benefits teachers in determining teaching approaches, assessments, and tasks in teaching reading courses. This study answered the research questions about tertiary Indonesian EFL learners’ learning styles and gender differences in their learning styles in reading hypermedia material., Seventy-one first-grade learners were selected randomly as the sample from the 141 learners who enrolled in the Academic Reading course. The four types of learning styles, concrete, analytical, communicative, and authority-oriented, were employed as the categories in this study. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were applied for the data analysis. The study revealed that the tertiary EFL learners’ learning styles were concrete and authority-oriented. Concrete and authority-oriented styles were the highest, the communicative style was the second, and the analytical style was the lowest. The t-test result showed no significant difference in learning styles between gender. The successful implementation of this descriptive quantitative research and the design of research instruments for learning styles contribute to expanding the research methodology in this digital era. The research result can help tertiary Indonesian EFL learners understand their learning styles. It also allows teachers to develop classroom activities, tasks, reading material, and media. Specifically, the use of hypermedia material and the changes in the learning environment mode has changed learners’ learning styles in Reading courses, which lead to a change in teachers’ teaching approaches.