Getting the Most from Reading Assignments

1. Getting the Most from Reading Assignments Valarie Lee Department of Language, Literacy, and Special Education

2. Top Reasons for Students Not Reading (Non-compliance) • Laziness • Dislike of reading • Lack of interest • Schedule too busy • Lack of strategies for tackling increasingly difficult and diverse content text

3. Common reasons my student cite for not reading : • My professor rarely references the textbook. • I can learn enough information by attending lectures to do well on the exam. I don’t need to read. • The textbook is so poorly written, I can’t stand reading it. • I read, but I get through a page and can’t remember what I read. • It’s frustrating trying to guess what the professor is looking for in the reading. Everything seems important. -Reading Autobiographies Teaching Literacy

4. Reasons I have been able to infer from their reading autobiographies • Difficulty reading in the past • Adept at “fake reading” • Negative attitudes towards reading • Lack of self-efficacy for reading “I’m just no good at it.” • Many competing interests • Lack of stamina for reading • (Average number of pages in a college week: 324 pages)

5. College Confidential Website • I do all the assigned readings and diligently take notes on them up until the first test, after which I can decide whether or not the reading was really necessary. Usually about half the time it's not, and I can get by looking at the power points or just listening in class. • LoonLake, Indiana University The absence of regular in-class exercises and homework assignments involving journal articles provided by instructors may also contribute to students devaluing reading assignments (Sappington, 2002).

6. Constraint on Reading: Being Busy • 83% of the survey respondents reported that they were employed • over two-thirds reported working 10 or more hours per week in addition to taking a full course load and engaging in outside class activities Students in the focus group also noted that professors’ efforts to provide students with additional learning resources (such as web-based exercises, tutorials, and so on) have the unintended effect of overwhelming them and may in fact be counter-productive.

7. 2008 from undergraduate students enrolled in finance courses in 10 different course sections across three universities. The faculty member may assume that students know how to use the textbook and various supporting materials to be successful in their respective class. Various resources supplementing the textbook can be overwhelming Goal of providing ancillary material is to enhance the learning environment, but it may have the opposite effect

8. Study: surveys of 230 undergraduates in an introductory psychology course at a Midwestern university • Three factors best predicted whether students would spend more time with the textbook: • gender of the students • the quality of visuals and the photographs in the books • extent to which professors link assigned textbook sections to lectures and other in-class work • the study found that unless faculty members are explicit about the importance of students reading the text, many won't do so. Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/20/texts#ixzz1oOVJxFLI

9. Clear reading expectations • How many hours a week should your students expect to spend reading for your course? • How many pages a week on average will they read for this class? • How will the text be used in the course? • Resource • Exams and quizzes • Discussions • Papers

10. What are your expectations and beliefs? • Some instructors believe that students at the college level are responsible for their own learning. • As long as reading requirements are specifically outlined in the course syllabus, the instructors' obligations have been fulfilled (Sappington, et al. 2002). • Some instructors believe that part of their job description includes motivating students to read and that it is not the sole responsibility of the student (Tuckman, 1991)

11. Strategy: Previewing the Textbook • Textbooks are highly predictable in structure • Beginning of semester, preview the text features and how readers can make best use of them to read and study • How would you read this textbook? What do the author(s) provide to guide the reader? What could be problematic for a first-time reader of the text? What are the critical areas in which to focus their reading?

12. Not everything in the text is of equal importance. Students need direction and guidance as to where and how to focus their efforts—that is, help in determining what material the professor truly felt was key to their success rather than supportive or merely of interest.

13. Strategy: Anticipation Guide Identify critical points in a reading create statements (make some true, some false) • Before reading: Students discuss statements (activate schema) • During reading: Author’s perspective (supported by text examples) • After reading: Small group discussions

15. Strategy: Learning Logs Carney et al. (2008) studied the impact of using Monte Carlo Quizzes, learning logs, or non-random quizzes to increase student completion of assigned reading and preparedness for class. Their results suggested that all three methods increased the frequency with which students completed reading assignments. In particular, the students using the learning log method were more motivated to complete readings and felt better able to contribute to class discussions than students in classes that used the other methods.

16. Learning Logs or Response Logs • 3 column notes • Blogging • Journals I have had most success when I read and comment on their responses. Disadvantage: Takes time to read all logs Solution: I collect them strategically and occasionally

17. Strategy: Jigsaw • Take a larger piece of text or multiple texts • Students read and become “experts” on their text • Meet in expert groups: clarify, discuss, analyze • Meet in jigsaw groups: teach information to others STUDENT CONTROL, CHOICE, FEEDBACK LEAD TO GREATER MOTIVATION TO COMPLETE A TASK

18. Strategy: Quizzes • Research suggests that students need additional incentives to do the reading, such as giving quizzes to motivate them (Ryan, 2006) • Allowing students to fix incorrect responses, and understand what instructors are looking for on quizzes and exams can increase reading compliance among college students.

19. Strategy: Activating Schema • Background knowledge they need • Important and unfamiliar vocabulary they will face

20. Schema Example What schema or background do you need to comprehend this article? For a freshman-level course, what might we do to activate schema before they read the article?

21. SQ4R • Scan • Question • Read • Respond • Review • Record

22. Strategy: Marking the Text • Helps students to slow down and think. The physical act of writing helps them retain the information. Students should be thinking of questions and looking for answers in the text—almost as if they are talking to the author. • Working Memory deficiencies: Students read through text, focusing so much on reading the words that they cannot retain what they read • Active reading strategies can help these students: • Sticky notes • Annotating in the margins • Reader Response Logs • Diagrams I will periodically collect these from students to assess their comprehension: Spot checks help them to be more accountable.

23. Strategy: Debriefing onReading Strategies Leads to greater independent use of the reading strategy EXAMPLES: • How did the reading log help you to connect more to the text? • How would you read differently now that you have taken the first quiz? • Did marking the text aid you in comprehending or slow you down? What would you do to change the approach?

24. References • Berry, Thomas; Cook, Lori; Hill, Nancy; Stevens, Kevin. An Exploratory Analysis of Textbook Usage and Study Habits: Misperceptions and Barriers to Success.College Teaching, January/March 2011, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p31-39 • Ryan, T. (2006). Motivating novice students to read their textbooks. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33(2), 135-140.Read more: http://readperiodicals.com/201006/2054008771.html#ixzz1oPBcH0Uz • Sappington, J., Kinsey, K., & Munsayac, K. (2002). Two studies of reading compliance among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 29(4), 272-274.Read more: • Tuckman, B. (1991). Motivating college students: A model based on empirical evidence. Innovative Higher Education, 15(2), 167-176.Read more: