The invisibility of academic reading as social practice and its implications for equity in higher education: a scoping study

ABSTRACT

While the importance of academic language and literacies in students’ meaningful participation in higher education has been well-explored, studies have focused on writing rather than reading. There has been a significant silence in the literature around what constitutes reading in higher education, the sociocultural complexities of reader engagement with text, and contemporary understandings of situated experiences regarding reading practices in the disciplines, especially for traditionally under-represented student groups. Scholarly interest in academic literacies, and reading in particular, has significant implications for the equity and widening participation agenda. To this end this article critically engages with research examining reading in tertiary education and describes a scoping study of scholarly work at the intersection of three domains: academic literacies, reading studies, and widening participation and equity in higher education. In asking questions of these three overlapping fields of inquiry, we map trends in existing academic literature, and argue for a research agenda that examines the experiences, perceptions and enactments of academic reading in the context of South African and Australian efforts to widen participation to higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic reading
• academic literacies
• higher education
• equity
• widening participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Sally Baker http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9143-5816

Notes

1. Academic Literacies is capitalised throughout to signify a conceptual and methodological framework, as opposed to ‘academic literacies’, which denotes reading and writing practices.

2. The formally identified equity groups in Australia are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, women in non-traditional areas, differently abled peoples, those from socio-economically challenged backgrounds (‘low SES’), and people from rural locations.