Reading in Graduate School: Students’ Perceptions and Practices

Graduate students must become purposeful, critical, and proficient readers. The academy and their chosen fields require mastery of disciplinary discourse, delivered in increasing textual complexity and quantity throughout the graduate curriculum. However, the processes by which graduate learners negotiate academic reading are afforded little attention. I am currently exploring the act of reading as it is perceived and practiced by masters of music students enrolled in a research methods course. My inquiry is guided by two questions: What are students’ perceptions of graduate-level reading? and How do students manage graduate-level reading? I will provide narrative examples gathered from interviews, focus groups, and writing prompts to illustrate preliminary study findings. In this session, I aim to encourage our reconsideration of academic reading from graduate students’ perspectives, using the framework of my investigation into reading as an essential graduate literacy. I will invite participants to discuss their understandings of graduate students’ approaches to reading, and together we will turn our pedagogical lenses inward to explore our own expectations, perceptions, and practices