Work

Assigned reading in English: Compliance, comprehension and preparedness among Swedish students

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study investigates Swedish university students’ engagement with academic reading in English, with a focus on reading compliance, perceived comprehension, and preparedness. Based on a nationwide survey (N = 1,000), the study offers a representative account of students’ academic reading practices and experiences. While a majority of students report reading most or all assigned English texts and generally find them comprehensible, a substantial minority read selectively/not at all and struggle with understanding. Many students also feel underprepared for the demands of academic reading in English. These challenges are unevenly distributed and show systematic variation across demographic groups (gender, age, level of education and academic discipline). Overall, the study highlights that academic reading in English is not merely a linguistic challenge but a socially and institutionally shaped practice. The findings call for more coordinated support across educational levels, including stronger alignment between pre-tertiary and tertiary education, and targeted interventions to support students’ developing academic reading literacy. This study contributes to the growing literature on academic reading in non-Anglophone higher education contexts.

Source: Education Inquiry

DOI: 10.1080/20004508.2025.2590887

Authors: Hans Malmström, Linda Eriksson, Christian Stöhr

Institutions: Chalmers University of Technology, Örebro University

Language: English

Topic: EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Åke Wiberg Stiftelse