Reading Academic Texts Research Articles

Concept Mapping as a Tool to Scaffold Summary Writing

Second language learners generally struggle with comprehending and identifying main ideas while reading academic texts. Moreover, students are expected to write summaries of texts as a part of their curriculum to facilitate their reading comprehension. Whereas summary writing can be considered a sound post-reading strategy that facilitates comprehension, it is a skill that needs to be mastered. The present action research introduces concept mapping, a fundamental cognitive learning strategy, to facilitate tertiary-level students' reading comprehension and summary writing skills. The sample consisted of 22 undergraduate students, male and female, from the Faculty of Social Sciences in a public sector university in Karachi. Two four-week action cycles engaged students in reading and summary writing tasks using a direct method with model summary samples and a concept mapping tool. Students’ reflective notes and written summaries were used as data collection tools. Thematic data analysis revealed that concept mapping proved to be an effective tool in summary writing and facilitated students in identifying and organizing main ideas. Findings and ethical considerations are discussed.

Reading writing breathing

ABSTRACT This article addresses how breath is intra-active with reading and writing. The two meditation methods I used for concentrating on and writing the breath-experience were ‘attention on the breath’ as taught within a Korean Seon (Zen) tradition, and writing this experience as ‘meditative enquiry’ [Stephens, T. 2021. ‘A Meditative Enquiry into Presence: Unmaking the Autoethnographic Self.’ Journal of Writing in Creative Practice 14 (2): 161–178]. Two ‘texts’ gradually converge into an intertwined experience of reading both academic and literary writing, blurring distinctions between them. Various theories are drawn from that un-do dualistic frameworks of epistemology assumed in reading academic texts. This raises questions for the embodied cognitive humanities, post-qualitative methodologies, and in autoethnographic and phenomenological writing as well as for creative writers. The article draws from cultural, philosophical, and literary studies, recent breath studies, and from the field of embodiment, to contextualise the ‘creative academic writing’ excerpts; leading to an unavoidable conclusion: this type of ‘new writing’ is not new but, rather, contiguous with practices of embodiment. Yet, how can a written fabrication of breathing be read, and does stylistic innovation present insurmountable problems for the academic validation of creative academic writing?

Developing genre awareness in collaborative academic reading: A case study of novice academic learners

Genre awareness, the conscious knowledge of how genre features function in reading and writing (Tardy et al., 2020), plays a facilitating role in reading academic texts. However, there is limited empirical research focusing on novice academic learners' genre awareness acquisition and development in collaborative reading contexts, despite the great benefits associated with such collaborative designs (Johns, 2008; Ye, 2020). Therefore, the current study, employing a qualitative case study approach, investigated how Chinese first-year university students acquired and developed genre awareness in collaborative academic reading. Data from multiple sources were collected, including classroom recordings, students’ written products, and semi-structured interviews, from two focal groups in a university English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading course with a pedagogical design aimed at collaborative reading of research reports. Drawing on relevant genre and metacognition theories, data analyses revealed that these two groups of Chinese freshmen developed awareness of text structure, academic language, and academic norms, and that the development of the three types of metacognitive genre awareness followed different trajectories over a semester of collaborative academic reading. These findings contribute to our understanding of how novice academic learners become aware of an academic genre and learn it through a collaborative approach.

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.

“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.

First-year English majors' reading habits, reading skills and strategies from EFL and English literature tutors' perspective: An interview study

AbstractPreparing English as a foreign language (EFL) students for final exams and language exams has become more and more significant in secondary education. However, those students who continue their studies as English majors have to live up to new expectations and rise to different challenges such as reading and discussing literary texts written in English. Thus, they would need help, nevertheless it is generally believed in many university courses that students have already reached the needed language proficiency level and they are able to read academic texts in English without having difficulties (Paran, 2008). Therefore, first-year English majors are often unprepared to cope with the demands made on them in literature courses. The main objective of this interview study, involving four EFL and four English literature tutors from a university in Hungary, is to explore the tutors' perceptions on first-year English majors' reading habits, what reading skills and strategies are required in literature courses. The findings provide an insight into some of the issues related to reading texts in English, what demands English majors have to meet when they enter tertiary education, and some possible solutions.

Effectiveness of cooperative grouping in developing reading skills of university level EFL learners

Background. Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is an instructional method in which students work together in a cooperative framework, jointly construct a model of text and come to its potential meaning through discussions.
 Purpose. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group research design was used to examine the effects of cooperative grouping within the framework of CSR, with the aim of determining whether cooperative grouping is effective in developing EFL students’ reading skills.
 Method. The response variables included the students’ scores on questions testing Vocabulary, Factual Information, Prose Summary, Sentence Simplification, Reference Question and Insert text, whereas the explanatory variable was group membership (+/- cooperative), measured across three testing times (the beginning, middle and the end of the experimental intervention).
 Results. The results indicate that the students exposed to CSR within cooperative groups significantly developed those reading skills which focus on the comprehension of global information – prose summary, insert text and reference question. A possible explanation is that, in order to answer these questions, readers must approach the text in a holistic manner and focus on its main ideas, which seems to be facilitated by discussions in heterogeneous teams and negotiations of meaning resulting from those discussions.
 Conclusion. The main pedagogical implication of the results concerns the need for introducing cooperative grouping as an alternative to a typical university-level foreign language classroom, allowing teachers to organize an effective, interactive context for reading academic texts in English.

Investigating Language Learning Strategies Used Among Afghan Post Graduate TESL Students When Reading Academic Texts

This study aims at investigating the language learning strategies used among afghan Post Graduate Students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM when reading academic texts. Oxford's (1990) strategy inventory language learning questionnaire has been used to collect the data. The respondents of the study are thirty Afghan Post Graduate Students from Teaching English as a Second Language TESL program, including twenty eight male and two female students from the first, second, third and fourth semesters. The finding of the research indicated that Afghan TESL Post Graduate Students are high users of language learning strategies, and their most preferable strategies are metacognitive, social, cognitive affective compensation, and memory strategies.

The reader's way: student process guiding library practice

PurposeThis paper explores the academic reading behaviors of first-year students in an attempt to understand their experiences and develop potential reading interventions to support undergraduate students.Design/methodology/approachResearchers used qualitative research methods to elicit in-depth findings regarding reading behaviors. They interviewed fifteen first-year students who had completed a required writing course regarding their reading habits and used open coding to analyze interviews.FindingsInvestigators discovered that the narrative from national media that students do not read discounts the volume and variety of texts that students regularly interact with in a variety of contexts. Several themes emerged from the interviews: (1) Students like to read in a variety of designated spaces at any time of the day or night, (2) Students prefer reading in print, but mostly read online, and (3) Students reported difficult vocabulary as the most significant challenge in reading academic texts, but also reported emotional concerns regarding reading.Originality/valueWhile previous studies have focused on factors such as format preference and time limitations that influence reading behaviors, this study contributes to the body of research looking at the reading behaviors of college students more holistically, providing new insights informing a range of library interventions to support student success in academic reading. In its use of student interviews, this study offers a student-centered contribution to the literature on student reading behaviors and considers the implications of these behaviors on librarian practice.

Strategy use and self-perception in L2 academic reading

This article reports the main results of a think-aloud protocol study inquiring into reading strategy use and self-perception of first-year English studies and teacher trainee majors when reading academic texts in their L2. The verbal protocol was combined with a short follow-up interview and the SORS test to identify the findings and highlight any possible correlations between the three datasets. The results suggest that students have a general preference for metacognitive strategies, and the findings appear to show a certain degree of consistency across different types of data. The most frequently used and reported strategies included guessing from context, re-reading, use of external resources, and self-evaluation.

The Text Is Too Long: Assisting University Students with Reading Academic Texts in a Foreign Language

University studies rely primarily on written sources, which have to be read, comprehended and then discussed by students and teachers in class to become a part of an expanding knowledge system. For several years, the author has been teaching an introductory course on second language acquisition to first year BA English Philology students in Poland. She has noticed that throughout the years, the students have had more and more problems with comprehending the basic course-related texts and passing course tests. To help them, the author decided to change the way of working with the texts by implementing a support reading strategy based on generating questions to the texts by the students themselves. This intervention resulted in better text comprehension, which contributed to a development of knowledge, as evidenced by test results and reported by students in a post-course survey. Making text-based questions, the students worked in groups which supported their self-confidence and the feeling of success.

Student perceptions of reading digital texts for university study

An increasingly important aspect of undergraduate study is the ability to deal with reading academic texts digitally. Whilst the literature suggests that students prefer reading print texts (Foasberg, 2014; Mizrachi, 2015) and often have a deeper level of engagement with texts in this medium (Mangen et al., 2013; Delgado et al., 2018), the reality is that, for most students, digital texts are the norm. Study guides often focus on reading strategies that are considered broadly applicable to both digital and print formats. However, the differences between the two mediums are likely to impact on the strategies used, with students developing their own approaches as they gain more experience. In this paper, we present findings from a study exploring students’ perspectives and practices in relation to digital reading. We carried out focus group interviews with 20 students in their second or final year of undergraduate degree programmes. Our analysis reveals that reading texts digitally does indeed form the bulk of students’ reading activity, with ease and speed of accessibility, cost, and environmental considerations influencing this choice, and in some cases, precluding reading in print. However, despite the prominence of digital reading, some aspects of print reading – in particular the scope for more sustained focus, detailed reading and enjoyment of the experience – were highly valued by the students. Students’ approaches to reading digital texts varied depending on reading purpose, but, in general, students had developed a range of techniques to help them navigate digital reading.

Approaches to simplifying academic texts in English: English teachers’ views and practices

Reading academic and specialised texts in a foreign language is a difficult process, and support for making materials more linguistically accessible is scarce. Approaches used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching could inform responses to this, as in EFL academic texts are routinely simplified to make them more comprehensible. However, there is a lack of research on the most used method of making texts more accessible – intuitive text simplification. In this study, 24 experienced EFL teachers with Spanish, Chinese and Russian language backgrounds were asked to simplify two academic texts in an online task and then to explain their rationale for each change in a follow-up stimulated recall interview. The study showed that despite the reliance on subjective approximations of comprehensibility in intuitive simplification, there is a shared understanding among teachers as to what constitutes a more accessible academic text in English. The study creates a clearer conceptualisation of the processes involved in intuitive text simplification and suggests a set of pedagogical guidelines that can be used in language teacher training for both general and specific English teaching purposes, as well as in training and support of English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers.

Analysis of Student Reading Interests During Learning from Home in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Learning activities from home impacts changing students' lifestyles, especially reading activities. This study aimed to describe and explain reading interest among undergraduate students of the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program (S-1 PBSI) of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) while learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was qualitative research with a descriptive survey method. The sampling technique was designed for S-1 PBSI UNS who are still active in the Academic Year 2021/2022. The data collection technique in this study employed a questionnaire consisting of five categories:1) attitudes toward reading, 2) reading preferences, 3) reading frequency, 4) reading sources, and 5) types of reading materials during learning from home. The following conclusions are reached as the research results and discussion. First, students still had an enthusiastic attitude towards reading activities while learning from home and reading anything, including books or academic material. Second, students preferred to read online with the fiction reading type in the form of novels rather than literary texts. Third, students' reading frequencies during learning from home were 30 minutes to 1 hour for 3–6 days a week. Students could read for more than one hour for fun, but only 30 minutes to 1 hour to read academic texts. Additionally, they could read 4–6 books in one semester. Fourth, students received online learning resources, mostly websites, and offline learning sources, primarily textbooks. Smartphones were the most commonly used reading media. Fifth, the majority types of student reading were novels.

Undergraduate Students’ Perceived Self-Efficacy in Academic Reading

Reading academic materials is necessary for acquiring knowledge and new insights to perform well in all academic demands. Nevertheless, many students were still struggling in understanding academic texts due to their high level of complexity and so avoided reading. Thus, self-efficacy as a motivating force and continuous effort in the reading process must be activated. This study aimed to investigate the undergraduate students’ perception of their self-efficacy in handling the academic reading materials. One research question was proposed namely, to what extent do undergraduate students perceive their self-efficacy in reading academic texts? To answer this question, a mixed method was undertaken. The respondents consist of 35 undergraduate students from two private universities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings indicated that most undergraduate students prefer to read academic texts as a process of constructing meaning. Moreover, to succeed in reading academic text, both external (effective strategies) and internal factors (self-efficacy) were required. One of the implications for teachers and lecturers, namely applying learning procedures that can equip undergraduate students with powerful reading strategies and more importantly stimulate their self-efficacy belief to a stable level which enables them to overcome various difficulties in reading academic texts, such as articles.

The Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Used by College Learners

This research investigated the overall tendency of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies used by college learners in reading academic texts in English. The samples of this research were 25 third semester students of English Study Program at IAIN Bengkulu 2020. Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) was used to assess adult ESL students’ metacognitive awareness of reading strategy in increasing their reading comprehension. The results showed that the students in this survey are high strategy users in reading. The overall tendency of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies used by college learners in reading academic texts in English was problem-solving strategy (PROB) followed by global reading strategies (GLOB) and the least was support reading strategies (SUP). In the context of EFL students, it showed that problem-solving strategy was the most frequently used strategy. It is proposed to understudies and other readers that they ought to adjust those methodologies in applying them in perusing and be relatively guided by teachers or instructors in utilizing different perusing procedures.

Improving the Competence in Using Punctuation Marks for English Majors through Reading Academic Texts

The aim of the present research is to investigate the effects of reading academic reading texts on improving the competence in using punctuations marks in English academic writing for third-year English majors at Thai Nguyen University of Education.

Reading Rate of Academic English Texts: Comparing L1 and Advanced L2 Users in Different Language Environments

Slower reading in a second language (L2) has been attributed to lower proficiency and/or to slower language processing. This study investigates the role of linguistic context in L1 and L2 academic reading speed among 295 undergraduate Psychology students who all read English language texts at university. The aim was to compare academic reading among students in a predominantly English-speaking environment (the UK) with those in a parallel language context where both English and the local language are used in teaching (Norway). Three groups were tested: Norwegian students in Norway, and both L1 and L2 English-users in the UK. Participants completed a timed academic reading task, followed by comprehension questions. Although all three groups achieved similar mean scores on the comprehension questions, the L1 and L2 English-speaking students in the UK read the text significantly faster than the Norwegian students. There was no significant difference between reading times for the L1 and L2 readers in the UK, indicating that the difference was not simply a consequence of L2 reading. Additionally, in contrast to previous research on groups with lower L2 proficiency, this study found no significant association between reported extramural English exposure and reading speed in either L2 group. The results indicate that advanced L2 readers in a parallel language environment may need more time to read academic texts in L2 compared to L1 readers and L2 readers in an immersion context, which has implications for the time and support needed by these students.

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.

Reading Strategies Used in Reading Academic Texts by Students of High and Intermediate Reading Proficiency Levels

In this study, the reading strategies used by students of high and intermediate reading proficiency levels were qualitatively examined. Reading strategies are important factors that affect someone's reading proficiency. In the development of education, reading strategies are continuously carried out to facilitate the learning process and sharpen students' reading skills. The purpose of this study is to discover the reading strategies used by the English Department students with high and intermediate reading proficiency levels in reading academic texts. This study uses reading strategies theory by Grabe (2009) combined with the interview questions by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) to examine the reading strategies of ten participants consisting of five people with high reading proficiency level and five other people with intermediate reading proficiency level. This study showed that students of high reading proficiency levels tend to use more reading strategies than students with intermediate reading proficiency level. The biggest difference is in the use of text-structure awareness and inferencing strategies. It indicates that the mastery of text structure is directly related to reading effectiveness. Without text structure awareness, other reading strategies such as summarizing, inferencing, and elaborative interrogation will be seriously disrupted. Keywords: Reading Strategies, Academic Text, High Reading Proficiency Level, Intermediate Reading Proficiency Level