So where does this leave us? Anecdotal evidence from foreign universities suggests that Ecuadorian students do not read much in preparation for their classes in comparison to their peers abroad. One can make various assumptions as to why that might be the case. It could be that they are not accustomed to reading in general and have never done so. Recent data from the Ecuadorian Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas y Censos (National Census Bureau) suggest that only 50,3% of Ecuadorians dedicate 1 to 2 hours per week to reading (El Mecurio, 2013). It could be that they truly do not have time to read because they have so many class contact hours: when students are in class for 25-30 hours per week, with many of them working afterwards, there may indeed not be enough time for them to read all oftheir assignments. Another potential explanation might be that students are not asked or required to read in preparation for class because their professors do not assign them many readings. And that, in turn, might perhaps be related to the reading habits and behaviors of the professors themselves.
This study found that students do not feel overburdened by their reading assignments and that they see their value, both in terms of class preparation and in terms of larger, personal and professional development. For the most part, they felt their readings were interesting and up-to-date. A large majority of them considered them important to course content, class discussion and their grades.
A third message the students conveyed was that they needed to be stimulated to read, either positively or negatively. Negative stimulants they mentioned were lower grades, being called upon in class or being tested. Positive stimulants identified were reinforcement in classroom discussion and a stronger connection between the readings and the classroom.
Efforts to improve student reading behavior need to start with the professors: with students seeing the value and relevance of their readings there is room for professors to assign more readings (or any readings in case there are none) as part of their course requirements. If they provide better connectivity between course performance and reading assignments and if they follow up reading assignments with class discussions, students will read more. Students reading more will mean more time in class to discuss and teach higher level content. And that, in turn, will raise the educational bar for all.
As the literature on the topic suggests, Ecuadorian professors could consider using surprise quizzes, open-ended rather than multiple choice questions, graded reading assignments and online discussions to stimulate student reading compliance. Class discussions of readings stimulate compliance as well, yet only if they are summaries and used to present additional material. When class discussion repeats course readings word-for-word, students are inclined not to read their assignments. Finally, as the respondents indicated regular reminders of reading assignments in class and by e-mail also encourage them to read. Yet, for that to function well a culture of reading e-mails from professors needs to be prevalent among students.
To our knowledge, research on the topic of student reading behaviors and compliance has not been done in the South American setting. This article therefore not only hoped to make a small contribution to the existing body of knowledge in presenting a different cultural perspective, but also in corroborating some of the findings of research in other cultures and other academic environments. Based on these and other findings, there are numerous avenues for future research. The differences this study found in reading behaviors and perceptions of students in private and public universities could be investigated more in depth. A second possibility for future research is to look at cross-cultural differences and compare reading behaviors of students in other cultures/countries to those observed here. Finally, an interesting opportunity for future investigation lies in a study of the reading behaviors of professors that addresses such issues as how much they read, what they read, whether they read in Spanish and/or English, if they read literature in their fields of research interest, how much they expect their students to read as part of their course requirements and what their level of agreement is with the findings of this study.
Ecuador’s system of higher education is undergoing major and dramatic changes, intended to raise the level of teaching and research. Many in the system struggle with these changes and feel out of control because they are imposed from the outside. However, changing students’ reading behavior starts from the inside. As teaching loads for professors are reduced from twenty-four (or more) hours to sixteen-hours per week there will be more time for research, course preparation and quality improvement initiatives. Professors can and should expect more of their students as more is expected of them as well and they should teach to higher standards. As quality slowly takes over from quantity, improving student reading behavior is a small, yet important, step in improving the level of higher education, not only for students but for professors as well.