less attention paid to academic reading ( Baker et al ., 2019 ; Morley , 2020 ). With assessments often focusing on written outcomes , it is understandable that there is an emphasis for both staff and students to develop writingrelated practices . However , academic reading is arguably the foundation of achieving this written academic success , by acting as a “ gateway to other academic practices ” ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 , p . 1 ). Moreover , through deeper engagement with academic materials , students will see modelling of academic writing which in turn could help to improve their own written work ( Miller and Merdian , 2020 ). This intrinsic link between academic reading and academic writing reveals the importance of offering guided instruction in both practices .
Understanding the challenges related to academic reading is difficult to ascertain . Learning Development embraces a studentcentred approach , and yet much of the literature on academic reading does not offer student perspectives on this issue , as found in the scoping study undertaken by Baker et al . ( 2019 ). There is , however , some consensus that academic material is often perceived to be inaccessible due to the language used ( Baker et al ., 2019 ; Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 ), as well as “ difficult , frustrating , perplexing or simply ‘ boring ’” ( Rhead , 2019 , pp . 1-2 ). This creates a challenge for Learning Developers to produce resources that can break down or counter these narratives .
At degree level , students ’ competence in reading is often assumed ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 ) yet there is growing evidence that students entering undergraduate degree programmes do not have the academic reading skills required to study at degree level ( Miller and Merdian , 2020 ). Reading is mostly carried out in private ( Rhead , 2019 ), and without witnessing the activity in practice , it can be difficult to identify where appropriate support is needed , unless explicitly stated by the student ( s ). Therefore , it is helpful to introduce a scaffolded approach , which can help to build students ’ self-efficacy ( Abegglen et al ., 2020 ; Nguyen and Henderson , 2020 ). With reading “ inherent in all academic activities ” ( Morley , 2020 , p . 15 ), the importance of supporting students with their academic reading cannot be underestimated .
Creating the resource
The idea for creating an academic reading resource was inspired by a conversation with a colleague who had raised concerns about student engagement with academic texts . As a Learning Developer , my intention is not to tell students what to do ( Morley , 2020 ), but rather to open a dialogue about how to approach the topic in question and to offer some guidance and strategies that could help students navigate the academic environment . It has been suggested that a “ playful , activitybased approach ” ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 , p . 10 ) that is “ creative and diverse ” ( Abegglen et al . 2020 , p . 4 ) is preferable for the teaching of academic reading . As someone with a keen interest in playful learning , I wanted to embrace this and find a way to engage students in an activity that was interesting as well as useful .
Abegglen et al . ( 2020 ) argue that it is preferable to use texts that relate to a cohort ’ s area of study , however , my Learning Development workshops are open to all students across the School of Area Studies , History , Politics and Literature ( SASHPL ), and so content is not subject-specific . This meant that any material used during the workshop would need to be accessible to a range of students across multiple subject areas . Initially , I was tempted to find a journal article about academic reading to use as an example text , but was concerned that a long , unfamiliar academic text could be overwhelming ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 ). I did not want to create a situation where students felt uncomfortable reading a long text in front of others as this could impact engagement with the activity . Therefore , I decided to use a fairy tale , believing this to be a “ more readily accessible genre ” ( Cleto and Warman , 2019 , p . 113 ) and likely to be familiar to most students ( Cleto and Warman , 2019 ; Davis , 2009 ). Whilst Cleto and Warman ( 2019 ) and Davis ( 2009 ) have used fairy tales in different contexts to me , the principle of using the familiar to facilitate a dialogue is echoed in my approach to creating this resource .
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