Academic Reading Demands
What is academic reading? ​
Academic reading is the most essential tool for academic learning. It requires learners to not only understand the text, but to also use it. Learners must be aware of their reading purpose, comprehension, fluency, proficiency level, and text interpretations in order to effectively use the text. Learners read so that they can use the text to . . .
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gather information
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gain knowldge
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preform academic tasks
These tasks require more than simple comprehension, as learners to use their understanding to summarize, synthesize, and critically analyze. For a complete list of academic tasks click here.
Why is academic reading difficult for ESL learners?
Many ESL learners find reading in college much more difficult than they expected. This difficulty comes from the learners lack of knowledge and practice with academic tasks—especially tasks related to synthesizing, summarizing, and critically analyzing—before they arrive on campus. In addition to this lack of knowledge and experience, many learners struggle with lack of metacognitive awareness, limited or low reading fluency, limited vocabulary, and difficulty understanding text organization. For a complete list of ESL academic reading difficulties click here.
The goal of this website is to provide teachers with resources which will help their learners become fluent and critical readers. These resources were selected specifically to help meet the demands and difficulties faced by second language (L2) learners. However, this site is not meant to be all inclusive. Teachers MUST help their learners intensively practice these strategies in order to see the maximum benefit. As your learners practice and apply these strategies, they will become a fluent, critical, and integrated reader able to meet the academic demands.