Student Reading Comprehension
Reading is a commonly assigned activity to introduce students to new or existing ideas, scaffold the learning process, and practice analytic skills. Ideally, students enter our classes with the ability to make meaning of texts, summarize arguments, and form unique responses. In reality, more and more students struggle to meet reading competency expectations.
There are many reason why students face challenges in reading. Students likely have varying levels of preparation for the kind of reading that is expected in college versus what they encountered in high school, including their exposure to digital literacy. Similarly students may struggle with college reading because they of unknown disciplinary discourse. Moreover, we cannot assume students understand the relevance of reading to the class or their lives. In fact, many mistake the role reading plays in a course, or in certain disciplines. For instance, engineering students may only associate reading with the humanities, and therefore be resistant to completing reading tasks in STEM classes.
To better understand these challenges we need to consider assumptions about the role and value of reading in our class context.
Assumptions about Reading
Faculty Assumptions in Course Design and Delivery
- Do students need to read to be successful in the course? Why?
- Are we including reading because that's what was passed down to us / how it's always been taught?
- Are we choosing a reading it models effective writing practices we want our students to emulate?
- Are we choosing a reading because of the content it covers?
Student Assumptions about reading use are connected to positive and negative outcome expectancies that impact what they value (Ambrose et al. 2010).
(+ Outcome Expectancy) = Students read the textbook chapter because they think it will help them ace the quiz.
(- Outcome Expectancy) = Students don't read a 30-page article because they think it will take too much time and not be discussed in class.
Each discipline has its own way of reading that instructors practice without thinking. Faculty need to teach students how to do this kind of reading. That is, teach them about the genre conventions of each text.
Strategies for Supporting Student Reading Competency
Acknowledge the crisis
- Discuss the data about literacy in America
- Consider assigning a think-piece about Gen Z
Normalize not knowing
It is often easier for students to admit they're not good at subjects like math or science, but fewer admit they may struggle with reading. Faculty can help normalize not knowing through a growth mindset.
- Make reading social. Try the question game as a warm up activity in class. Give students 2 minutes to pair up and list all the questions they have about the reading then share and discuss. This can help normalize not knowing and help students see reading a text as something you "get into"
- Use technology to help students identify what they don't know. For example, they could use Perusall or Hypothesis to identify unknown words, create a shared vocal list in Google Docs, or a list of words they don't know in a WordCloud.
Teach them how to analyze the text
- Engage them in a pre-reading analysis activity to answer the
follow the follow questions:
- Who is the audience?
- What is the purpose of the text?
- What is the context? (Is the text informed by any social/historical events? What do we know about the author(s)?)
- Why are we reading this text?
Operationalize the reading
Tell students what they should be able to do after completing the reading.
For example: After reading this chapter you should be able to summarize the story in Spanish.
Model your own reading strategies
Here you can think about how do people participate in your discipline's discourse community.
- Explain how you read in different genres. For instance, if you're reading a research article, do you skim the abstract first?
- Show examples of how you annotate readings
Provide parameters for how long a reading might take
Keep in mind that it's normal for students to take 3-4 longer than you do to read a text and each learner reads at a different speed.
Show them how to annotate the text
Lead a reading activity that invites students to write in the margins of the text to:
- Capture their reactions
- Note definitions / key terms
- Post questions
- Identify themes
Provide context for the reading to invoke interest
- Always explain why a reading is assigned. What do you want students to learn from it? Is it a text that provides vocabulary they'll need to know for the rest of the semester? Does the text model how you want them to write? What role will the reading play in the context of future class material / assignments?
- Highlight specific features/structures of the text that may be new to students and how they should be used (e.g. footnotes).
Discuss reading as an experience
When discussing a reading in class, avoid jumping straight into the content. Ask students:
- How did you do the reading? Were you sitting at your desk? Laying on the couch?
- What did you think about during the reading?
Additional Resources
Articles
Easterling, H. C., & Eliason, J. (n.d.). “Mind the Gap”: Investigating Faculty Reading Practices. In Reading Across the Disciplines (pp. 64–80). Indiana University Press.
Hobson, E. H. (2004). Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips. IDEA Anthology.
Rudenga, K. (2025, July 21). 4 Steps to Help Your Students Read Like Scientists. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Rhodes, L. A. (2013). When is Writing Also Reading? Across the Disciplines, 10(4), 1–9.
University of Michigan's Sweetland Center for Writing - "Motivating Students to Read and Write"
Books
Davies, L. J. (2017). Getting to the Root of the Problem: Teaching Reading as a Process in the Sciences. In What is College Reading? (pp. 161–182). University Press of Colorado.
Horning, A. S., Gollnitz, D.-L., & Haller, C. R. (Eds.). (2017). What is College Reading? University Press of Colorado.
Manarin, K. (Ed.). (2022). Reading across the Disciplines. Indiana University Press.
Websites
Annotation in Teaching and Learning—UVA Teaching Hub. (n.d.). Teaching Hub. Retrieved February 7, 2025, from https://teaching.virginia.edu/collections/annotation-in-teaching-and-learning
Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC's) Position Statement on the Role of Reading in College Writing Classrooms
"Effective Effective Academic Reading Practices" from the Macalester Academic Excellence Center at Macalester College.
Hypothesis. (n.d.). Hypothesis. Retrieved February 10, 2025, from https://web.hypothes.is/