Academic English Reading Research Articles

A decade of English academic reading research: A bibliometric analysis

This paper addresses a gap in the literature by conducting a bibliometric analysis of research on "English academic reading." The study aims to classify English academic reading articles, identify research trends, and explore popular and emerging topics in the field. To achieve these objectives, relevant articles were located using Publish or Perish software and assessed for quality using the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR). A total of 36 articles from 33 reputable journals, published between 2013 and 2023, were analyzed. Mendeley software managed references, while VOSviewer software classified the articles into six distinct research clusters. The most frequent keywords identified were ‘academic achievement,’ ‘academic reading,’ ‘students,’ ‘development,’ ‘English,’ and ‘case study.’ The analysis also revealed underexplored areas for future research, such as ‘academic performance,’ ‘English reading proficiency,’ and ‘extensive reading,’ among others. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape on English academic reading. The findings highlight areas that have been extensively studied and suggest significant opportunities for further exploration. Researchers and educators can use these insights to develop more effective strategies to enhance English academic reading proficiency among students.

Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: The Power and Damage of AI-assisted Tools on Academic English Reading Skills

The research explores the impact of AI-assisted tools on academic English reading skills in the classroom and personalized learning among university students regarding how AI tools complement students’ assessments. To conduct this research, 24 students were divided into two groups of equal size: a control and an experimental group, which will be involved in an experimental study: one group using solely conventional methods and another group using AI-assisted tools in addition to conventional methods. The goal is to gain evidence on the effectiveness of AI-powered tools in enhancing reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and critical thinking while identifying potential damage, such as overreliance on AI and ethical implications. It employed a mixed-methods approach, which involved an experimental study, survey, and semi-structured interview with students who either have or have not utilized AI for English reading learning. In the experimental research, pre-and post-tests were used to compare the differences in English academic reading scores between two groups of students. The survey was used to determine the students’ opinions on the effectiveness of AI tools, and individual semi-structured interviews were employed to obtain more detailed information. The findings posit that the involvement of AI tools in facilitating traditional teaching and learning methods has a more significant positive effect on improving academic English reading skills in educational settings, offering better convenience and effectiveness for students. However, challenges such as overreliance on AI and ethical implications were emphasized. The research provides invaluable insights into the potential benefits and challenges of evolving AI tools to enhance higher education English reading skills in educational settings.

Exploring the interplay of English academic reading and writing proficiency among international doctoral students

Academic English is discipline-specific and requires a high level of linguistic knowledge as well as expertise in respective fields. Therefore, doctoral students with limited exposure to academic English tend to face challenges in dealing with its demands, especially when they come from non-native English-speaking (NNES) backgrounds. At the doctoral level, research students are expected to work independently. Therefore, the ability to critically engage with academic materials written in English and the ability to write a dissertation in English at an expected standard play essential roles in successful PhD completion for students studying in international PhD programs where everything is conducted in English. This study investigates the relationship between English academic reading (EAR) and English academic writing (EAW) abilities among NNES doctoral students. We conducted a survey by employing a 1–6 Likert scale, following Dörnyei and Dewaele (2022), in the 2021–2022 academic year. A total of 255 international doctoral students studying in 65 PhD programs across Hungary voluntarily participated in the study. The students came from 49 countries and represented 48 mother tongues. The analysis revealed that students were positive about their abilities in both EAR and EAW, even though there was a significant gender difference at the p < 0.01 level. Additionally, students with the highest English proficiency level (C2) were found to be the most confident about their EAR and EAW abilities. The most junior students from 1st-year PhD programs were less confident about their abilities compared to their peers from 2nd, 3rd, 4th-year PhD programs. The analysis showed a significantly positive correlation between EAR and EAW (r = 0.792, p < 0.001). This study highlighted the inseparable role of EAR in fulfilling doctoral requirements and submitting a dissertation within a contracted PhD time framework, indicating the importance of targeted language support in facilitating academic progression within PhD programs.

The Reform and Practice of the Integrated Teaching of Academic English Reading and Writing under the Concept of OBE in Medical Universities —A Case Study of Abstract Writing

The Reform and Practice of the Integrated Teaching of Academic English Reading and Writing under the Concept of OBE in Medical Universities —A Case Study of Abstract Writing

Exploring EFL Students’ Perceptions of Reading Habits in English Academic Reading: A Case of a Cambodian Private School

Exploring EFL Students’ Perceptions of Reading Habits in English Academic Reading: A Case of a Cambodian Private School

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.

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.

“Gruelling to read”: Swedish university students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards academic reading in English

Students around the world are expected to read, comprehend and learn from growing numbers of English texts in higher educational contexts where the official medium of instruction is the local language. Despite this language shift, relatively little attention has been paid to the challenges academic texts in English present for students. The present paper provides insights into first-year university students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards academic reading in English in Sweden through a sequential explanatory design with questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Sweden is often seen as a model country in terms of second-language proficiency in English, but as this study shows, a majority of first-year university students expressed negative attitudes towards academic reading in English. Student responses suggested more than one third of first-year Swedish university students in social science subjects struggled to comprehend and keep up with their assigned reading, with vocabulary and reading speed cited as their biggest challenges. This paper further shows that a considerable number of students entered higher education unaware that they were going to be required to read academic texts in English, with some questioning this common practice. Finally, implications for teachers are discussed.

The role of live transcripts in synchronous online L2 classrooms: Learning outcomes and learner perceptions

This study explored the role of live transcripts in online synchronous academic English classrooms by focusing on how automatically generated live transcripts influence the learning outcomes of lower-proficiency and higher-proficiency learners and on their perceptions towards live transcripts. The study adop ted a 2 × 2 factorial design, with the two factors being learner proficiency (high vs. low) and availability of live transcription (presence and absence). The participants were 129 second-year Japanese university students from four synchronous classes taught on Zoom by the same teacher under an academic English reading course. Learning outcomes in this study were evaluated according to the course syllabus through grades and participation in class activities. A questionnaire consisting of nine Likert-scale questions and a comment box was administered to explore participants’ perceived usefulness of, perceived ease of use of, and perceived reliance on live transcripts. Results showed that contrary to previous studies reporting the effectiveness of captioned audiovisual materials in L2 learning, live transcripts as a special type of captions were not effective in promoting the grades of learners of either proficiency. However, it significantly improved the activity participation of lower-proficiency learners, but not that of higher-proficiency learners. Questionnaire results showed that there were no significant differences between learners of two proficiencies in their perceptions towards live transcription, which contradicts previous findings that lower-proficiency learners tend to rely more on captions. Besides enhancement of lecture comprehension, participants reported innovative uses of live transcripts such as screenshots with transcripts for notetaking purposes and transcripts downloaded for later review.

Extensive Reading and its Impact on Malaysian Undergraduate ESL/EFL Learners’ Reading Proficiency and Reading Motivation

English language reading skills are important for tertiary students. In Malaysia, tertiary students are required to master the English academic reading for their tertiary studies. However, Malaysian tertiary students’ reading proficiency in English is often found below par, which is attributed to poor reading skills and habits, as well as a lack of motivation to read. The authors believe that extensive reading (ER) should be used to complement intensive reading practiced in tertiary education reading. It is important to learn from past studies the potentials as well as problems with ER, so that teachers and researchers alike can better approach the use of ER in the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) reading. This article reports on the systematic literature review of 32 studies on ER programmes, particularly on its impact on ESL students’ reading proficiency and reading motivation, that were published between 2003 and 2019 and obtained through established research databases. The results of the review found that there are positive impacts of ER on ESL reading, particularly on reading rate and reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and reading motivation, as well as the importance of goal setting and monitoring to ensure the success of ER in ESL reading. The authors suggest implications for teacher practitioners, future researchers and course developers to plan how ER would be a valuable addition to their respective programmes and also provide them with ideas in designing their own unique ER programmes to cater to their students’ needs.

The Impact of COVID: Case Study of an Academic English Reading Course at Qassim University

This paper contributes to the burgeoning field of research investigating the educational effects of COVID. A questionnaire with both open and closed questions was administered to female takers of an Academic English Reading course at a Saudi university, eliciting responses about aspects of the quality of delivery of that course before and after the onset of COVID. From this quantitative and qualitative student evaluation of traditional class teaching (TCT) versus emergency remote teaching (ERT), some findings emerged that echoed those in the few comparable studies in the West. For example, certain features like the greater autonomy of the student in ERT than TCT were liked by some students but not others, while features such as the superiority of teacher-student communication in TCT were more uniformly approved. Furthermore, predictions from the literature such as that favouring TCT would be associated with greater self-efficacy, or a greater perceived degree of transactional interaction between student and teacher were not supported in the context of this study. Analysis of suggestions for ERT improvement leads to the conclusion that, at present, it may be that students need training to exploit the existing ERT, rather than that the ERT to be altered.&#x0D; &#x0D; Received: 28 September 2022 / Accepted: 30 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023

"Trinity" Teaching Mode of Academic English Reading

"Trinity" Teaching Mode of Academic English Reading

Academic vocabulary knowledge among adolescents in university preparatory programmes

English academic vocabulary knowledge is needed for reading in many internationalized university contexts around the world. However, our knowledge is limited regarding the degree to which pre-tertiary education prepares students for the academic English reading demands at university. To explore this question, this cross-sectional study analyzed academic vocabulary scores from two Swedish student samples (N=952), at the beginning and at the end of upper secondary English education. Statistical analyses were conducted to describe and compare the academic vocabulary knowledge in the two samples, also in relation to gender, study disciplines and English grades. Large variations in vocabulary scores were observed within and between samples. The exit-sample outperformed the entry-sample. The exit-sample’s academic vocabulary knowledge correlated positively with English grades, however, these (CEFR-B2) students do not, on average, reach suggested mastery thresholds of academic vocabulary knowledge. A logistic regression analysis showed higher probabilities for male students and Arts/Humanities/Science/Technology students than female and Economics/Social science students to reach suggested mastery thresholds. This unequal distribution of academic word knowledge is discussed in the context of curricular goals about equality and university-preparation.

The relationship between L2 motivation and transformative engagement in academic reading among EAP learners: Implications for reading self-regulation.

This study examined the relationship between L2 motivation and engagement in academic reading skill from the lenses of L2 motivational self-system and transformative experience. More specifically, following the transformative experience (TE) framework, we investigated the level of students’ engagement in academic reading skills inside and outside English classes. We also explored what motivational factors act as strong predictors of transformative experience and whether L2 motivation and engagement of students differ across different disciplines. Stratified purposive sampling was followed to recruit 419 undergraduate English for academic purposes (EAP) students studying in different majors. As such, we developed a questionnaire for measuring TE and utilized a pre-established questionnaire to operationalize L2 motivational self-system. We found that L2 motivation significantly covaried with students’ level of engagement in English academic reading skill. Furthermore, the results of multiple regression analysis revealed that L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were strong predictors of transformative engagement; ought-to L2 self played a marginal role in the occurrence of TE. Discipline-wise, Life Sciences students were considerably more motivated than those in Arts and Humanities. However, no significant difference was observed in the extent of transformative engagement among students across disciplinary groups. Implications for EAP instructors, educational authorities, and material and curricula developers are discussed.

The Efficacy of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Low-Proficiency International Students in Online Teaching and Learning

International students with low academic English proficiency face challenges with reading their course materials and writing assignments. Their challenges are exacerbated during remote learning, as they remain in their home countries, immersed in their home languages, which may be quite distant from academic English. To investigate the effects of culturally responsive pedagogy for international students online, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a learner-driven, instructor-facilitated (LeD-InF) support program at a large university in southern Ontario. This fully online delivery of the Reading and Writing Excellence (RWE) program was re-envisioned from a long-running co-curricular program that addressed students’ academic English reading, writing, and critical thinking needs. Among eight groups (with the total enrolment of 154) in the Fall 2020 academic term cycle and nine groups (with the total enrolment of 226) in the Winter 2021 academic term cycle of the online RWE program, the intervention groups that were additionally supported with culturally responsive pedagogy had the highest volume of writing output and engagement metrics among all groups. The text data (of student voices and experiences) also reinforces the efficacy of culturally responsive pedagogy in facilitating student experience, constructing identities, promoting learner agency, increasing satisfaction, improving students’ perceptions of learning, and realizing transformative inclusivity.

Levels of textual cohesion and the meaning‐construction process of advanced second language readers

Academic reading in English requires processing of challenging advanced texts for comprehension. Highly proficient second language (L2) readers, such as graduate students, are expected to interpret complex texts fluently and efficiently for academic success, yet the field has little evidence on how these readers process texts. Through two think‐aloud reading sessions and pre‐ and postreading interviews, this study closely examined nine graduate students' interactions with texts that had low and high levels of discourse cohesion. The focus was on the readers' meaning‐construction process in relation to the texts' cohesion. The researchers analyzed these data qualitatively using a grounded theory approach that revealed text‐processing activities of proficient L2 readers grouped at local and global levels. Although all readers experienced these two levels with both texts, some differences were found in their processing between two texts, especially in reading the low‐cohesive text. The findings of the study provide implications for reading instructors and teacher researchers in understanding how advanced L2 readers construct meaning and draw on text discourse as they read texts in English and potentially in conceptualizing what novice L2 readers must do to progress.

Trends in Swedish and English Reading Comprehension Ability among Swedish Adolescents: A Study of SweSAT Data 2012–2018

ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to investigate trends in academic L1 Swedish and L2 English reading comprehension ability among Swedish adolescents, with a specific focus on 18- to 20-year-olds in the period 2012–2018. The material consists of results from regular tests and anchor tests in the spring administrations of the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test (SweSAT) 2012–2018, allowing an analysis of trends in reading comprehension ability among a subset of the adolescent population. The results show two highly significant but opposite trends, with a substantial decrease in academic Swedish reading comprehension and an equally substantial increase in academic English reading comprehension. The results are discussed from the perspective of a changing media landscape, and related to results of the PISA-studies as well as to research on extramural English in Swedish society.

How scientific concept develops: Languaging in collaborative writing tasks

This qualitative case study explored the extent to which learners' L2 writing concepts changed across different collaborative writing tasks, and how languaging helped learners make meaning between scientific and spontaneous concepts. Four first-year MA students from a Chinese university formed a study group and engaged in collaborative writing tasks as required by an Academic English Reading and Writing course. Multiple sources of data were collected, including audio-taped group discussions, group writings, individual reflections, and course-related documents. Data analysis demonstrated the microgenetic evolving trajectories of the rhetorical modes of “maintaining the flow of information”. The participants progressed from spontaneous knowledge of those concepts to a scientific system through languaging about a text containing these conceptual features. Learners' conscious usage of scientific terms, constant revisiting to their prior knowledge, and critical reading of the academic text highlight the mediating role of languaging in empowering the dynamic interaction between scientific reasoning and spontaneous thinking. This study suggests that the integration of stylistic analysis tasks, peer collaboration, and rhetorical concepts may facilitate the transformation of students’ thinking patterns as well as the development of their L2 academic literacies.

The dynamics of reading development in L2 English for academic purposes

In a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates the complex and dynamic developmental trajectories of 27 Chinese Chemistry major undergraduates’ English academic reading ability. Twelve parallel tests were designed, validated, and used weekly during one semester. The analyses included a group pre-post design to measure academic reading gains, a regression analysis to predict beginning reading score with English proficiency and Chemistry knowledge as predictors, individual longitudinal case studies to measure variability and phase shifts, and a cluster analysis to discover (un)common developmental patterns. Finally, a qualitative study used interviews to discover difficulties in reading and strategies to overcome them. English proficiency predicted the initial reading score and the group gained significantly in academic reading. Each learner showed different non-linear patterns, and a cluster analysis revealed few similar patterns among learners. The high gainers showed relatively more variability over time and used more and a wider variety and more sophisticated learning and reading strategies to improve.

Business and Economics Students’ Self-Reports on Academic Reading in English as L2: A Factor Analysis

Abstract Adequate reading behaviour is vital for text comprehension across fields. In today’s professional environment, a well-developed reading skill is also expected in English as a second language (EL2), which happens already in college, although transition to college-level reading may be difficult even in the first language. It is therefore useful to analyse students’ use of reading strategies to facilitate their academic progress. This study investigates the reading behaviour of junior students of business/economics when reading academic texts in EL2. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis (N=134) of a 45-item questionnaire about students’ awareness of reading strategies and their reading confidence (i.e. self-perceived competence in text retelling). The majority of the items were based on self-reports found in the literature (Kolić-Vehovec, Bajšanski, 2001; Mokhtari, Reichard, 2002; Taraban, Kerr, Rynearson, 2004) and several items were added to the questionnaire (e.g. questions related to note taking). Five factors were interpretable: four factors related to Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies (Repeated Reading, Monitoring/Regulation, Note Taking and Elaboration) and the fifth factor covering self-perceived competence in text retelling (Reading Confidence). Internal consistency of the factors indicated by standardized Cronbach’s alphas were 0.83 (Repeated Reading), 0.80 (Monitoring and Regulation), 0.77 (Note Taking), 0.63 (Elaboration) and 0.75 (Reading Confidence). Three strategies positively correlated with each other (Repeated Reading, Monitoring/Regulation and Elaboration), while negative correlation was found between Note Taking and Reading Confidence. The results provide valuable information on the patterns in student reading as a baseline for further analysis of L2 text comprehension in college.