Reading and writing skills in higher education

Reading Comprehension and Writing in Higher Education

The students' skills proficiency in specific content areas has always been a strong issue for Educational researchers in Higher Education. In fact, many studies have examined the specific performance rates of the students in Calculus, Physics, Chemistry and other scientific fields In order to determine transition asymmetries, competences and university success rates.

However, these approaches have only been concentrated on the results of such studies rather than on the deep causes for the several problems detected. Students' difficulties in the multiple courses and school years, their significant lack of integrated study methods and the lecturers’ lack of efficient pedagogical methods or motivational strategies are usually pointed out as the main causes for failure and university drop-out. In fact, direct diagnosis and intervention methodologies for the evaluation and remediation of academic skills have been the focus of many research works specially directed to educators, psychologists and to the research community (Upcraft 1989 ; Pascarella & Tertenzini 1991; Pauk 2001).

Instead of only focusing on such specific skills we aim to emphasize the role of some basic skills in the students’ daily academic tasks and learning process. Moreover, the development of essential intellectual and study skills namely Reading, Writing and Reasoning are stated to be the basics for the success of any college student (Fairbairn and Winch 1996). In fact, many problems and learning disabilities may have a deeper and underlying cause beyond teaching strategies and students' motivational degree.

Reading/Comprehension abilities allow students to access knowledge, understand and elaborate concepts always integrating information from lectures and reference books’ content. When lecturers are asked to refer to their students’ skills proficiency they frequently mention that students do not read analytically, can not distinguish between important and unimportant ideas, can not adjust their reading to the different materials they encounter, do not seem to enjoy reading and hence approach texts unenthusiastically. The ability to read well is no longer something which college instructors take for granted in their students. Students seem to have more and more trouble reading. Since reading is comprehension, students who cannot acceptably reconstruct the author’s main idea, supporting ideas and supporting facts as well as some critical evaluation of those things, cannot read for the purposes of their course, regardless of what types of material they read outside of class.

Besides understanding the content of textbooks, articles and essays, students must be able to criticize and evaluate ideas always in a critical reading and thinking learning attitude. Therefore, students must develop techniques for reading, understanding and remembering what was read, using concentration to deal with all types of reading assignments. This role is reinforced by Writing as a communicational tool used for conveying ideas, lecture note taking, studying outlining, summarizing, etc.

In fact, competences in both Reading and Writing but specially in writing have been considered to be of fundamental relevance to contemporary undergraduate education. However, as far as writing is concerned, when students have to write at a university level, there is a gap that has to be bridged because students’ problems are deeper than the surface level. They include difficulties in grammar, punctuation and style, in knowing what is expected from them and from the text because different subjects have different requirements. (Creme 2000).

There is a common incorrect belief that writing is writing and that if you are taught the basics, you are either good at it or you are not; that either you can do it or you cannot. The key for becoming a successful writer at university is associated with the comprehension of what is required and what is involved in the process of completing assignments. (Vardi, 2000) In all academic courses, students must write and all teachers should encourage them to do it well. Students must be conscious that their final grades will depend, not only on their knowledge and understanding of the subjects but also on how well they write. Some studies have indicated that if two students are equal in ability and intelligence, the one who is better at conveying thoughts effectively in writing will score the higher marks

When it comes to the stage of evaluation these two skills even play a more determinant role in understanding the aims and structure of tests (explanation of concepts and logical formulations and expression of critical thinking), in participating in class (sense of opportunity and speed and content correctness) and assignment taking and project developing (organization, pertinence and synthesis). (Bailey and Vardi, 1999).