Perspectives on the difficulties of university level reading: divergent views of students and instructors

Abstract

This article focuses on students' difficulties reading at the university level. After summarizing the limited literature on the subject and outlining its links with the literature on academic literacy, our contribution presents an empirical study conducted in the humanities department at a university in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The study focuses on the difficulties of university level reading as they are perceived by students, on the one hand, and by instructors, on the other. The results indicate that the instructors perceive more difficulties than students, whether these difficulties are considered as a whole or are examined individually. Given the sparse existing literature on the topic, this large discrepancy suggests that further studies as well as a standardization of definitions and methodologies are necessary.