Reading is learning acquired from an early age. The ability to read and understand is the capacity to decode written speech. But, is it enough to read academic texts?
As pointed by Mar Mateos (2009), the fluency of reading mechanics (recognize written words) is a way. The purpose or goal of reading is to understand: be able to interpret the content transmitted through texts.
This is particularly relevant for academic reading, since the demands of reading in this genre require mastery of reading comprehension that goes beyond a mere reproduction of what the text says, in the words of the author.
In activities such as designing a research project, the development of a scientific article or theoretical framework, we need to consult various sources that address key issues of our research or article, and to be able, through these readings, to distinguish various positions, to value, and to build new understandings that integrate multiple perspectives. That is the novelty of a proposal, which is essential to talk about scientific knowledge: the creation of new knowledge.
In this part, we first describe a general framework about the level of understanding of a text. The objective is to distinguish types or tones of readings, such as, a reading oriented to reproduce a text and a reading that is focused on reading comprehension, taken into consideration that when reading is not about “all or nothing”.
In a second section, we offer some recommendations for reading comprehension, aimed at a reader in training.
We thought we had learned to read in Primary school, but experience shows that this is just the beginning. Getting into a disciplinary field of knowledge, demands the development of various strategies for reading academic texts. Those are strategies not learned when we are children, and often is not even encouraged in university’s context.
1. Reproducing/understanding a text: beyond the all or nothing
We have discussed difference between reproduction and deep character of reading comprehension. But from one level to other, there are several ways to read an academic text.
Below is a summary table based on Mar Mateos (2009) proposal, which shows different levels of comprehension of written texts:
The table allows us to see different reading levels, which have a dichotomous posture of all or nothing. It is also not that a level is more accurate or relevant than other, per se. The usefulness of implementing one or another depends on nature of task to be accomplished by reading. Thus, by demands or tasks posed to reproduce manual contents, or a standardized clarification, local reading can be successful.
Do not think that these levels are mutually exclusive. In many cases strategies are combined. Yes, it is true that competence that is put in practice to do a critical reading involves an effort and training or previous training, unlike those that we need for local reading.
In many tasks that are given to us in primary learning (and even secondary) we can get away with, or even be successful, only by applying local or global reading comprehension strategies. Now, comprehension of academic texts demands a degree of undergraduate and graduate studies to properly handle reading strategies involving elaborative and critical levels.
This highlights the importance of being aware of the different ways we can understanding a written text and specific strategies we can implement to achieve one or other type of reading.
2. Tips for reading academic texts
Here is some advice, which is useful for reading academic texts:
- Updating prior knowledge on the text topic. One may ask one-self: What do I know about main subject of text I am about to read? This is an essential strategy for critical reading.
- Skim the reading. This is a complete reading which allows you to place yourself in the text as a whole or globally.
- Locate the specific text in a broader context. If you read a section of a book, it is recommended at least to check index to identify issues associated or related categories. It is very likely that those categories are necessary to understand specific text one is interested on reading. Sometimes it takes you back to previous sections of the book and widens the material for review.
- Inquire about work’s author. Getting to know author’s academic path, theoretical approaches, methodological approaches, and the topics they usually address1.
- Identify the author’s position in the text.
- Balance the author’s position according to the reasons he/she offers to support it.
- Recognize the positions and arguments of other quoted authors.
- Identify the controversy established between one position and the others.
- Link with other previously read texts to a set of mentioned perspectives.
- Infer implications in the reading for other contexts, beyond the context in which the text is located, for example, on the reader’s professional practice, etc.
- Take note when reading. This involves recording not only the quotes that seem relevant or enlightening on the subject that is being read. Taking notes also develops one’s own ideas about what is read: comments, what those quotes makes us think, what is understood and what is not, what issues would have to be investigated further, etc.
| 1. All background may be indicative to better understand from where it comes in the texts we read, which often take for granted explicit or implicit aspects are key to follow the storyline of the statements, thesis or working hypothesis. |
3. Bibliographic References
[1] Carlino, P. “Leer textos científicos y académicos en la educación superior: obstáculos y bienvenidas a una cultura nueva”. En: http://estatico.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/ educacion/bibleduc/pdf/paula_carlino.pdf
[2] Hernández Sampieri, R., Fernández Collado, C. y Baptista, P. (2003). Metodología de la investigación. México: McGraw-Hill.
[3] Mateos, M. (2009). Aprender a leer textos académicos. Más allá de la lectura reproductiva. En: Juan Ignacio Pozo Municio, María Puy Pérez Echeverría (coords.). Psicología del aprendizaje universitario: la formación en competencias. ISBN 978-84- 7112-598-9, pp.106-119.