Success at the university level mainly depends on existing pre-entry
college attributes, including the mastery of some fundamental academic skills
(Tinto, 1993). These include – reading, writing, critical thinking, oral
presentation, and media literacy. Despite the importance of these skills for
academic success, professors seldom teach them (Bean, 1996). They generally
take them forgranted, as they tend to presuppose that all students already
acquired these skills either as part of their secondary education or elsewhere
in college (Erickson, Peters, & Strommer, 2006). The reality is that most
first-year students lack academic reading skills, especially because
University-level reading greatly differs from High School reading. Thus, most
students employ non-university strategies to read academic texts, which
results in students taking a surface approach to reading.
The objective of this paper is to discuss some strategies, examples, and
resources aimed at promoting students to take a deep approach to reading.
The major tenet of this article is that if teachers explicitly teach students how
to read academic texts in aligned courses where students have ample
opportunities to engage in reading activities throughout the term, students
are more likely to adopt a deep approach to reading.
This paper begins with a discussion of the difference between a surface
and a deep approach to reading. I then recount an action research study that
I conducted to analyze whether explicitly teaching academic reading skills,
coupled with the introduction of teaching and learning activities designed to
encourage students to actively engage in deep reading in aligned courses,
makes a difference in the approach students take to reading. Then, I explore
the categories of analysis needed to read academic texts and the importance
of aligning courses. Finally, I share some of the teaching and learning
activities aimed at fostering students’ adoption of a deep approach to reading