THE REALITY OF READING IN THE TERTIARY LEARNER’S WORLD

Abstract

Teaching literature at the tertiary level essentially involves facing the reality of students’ capabilities in terms of reading texts and consequently responding to their readings in writing. Encountering, more often than not, responses that regurgitate lecture notes at times coupled with well informed but barely discussed citations of blocks of paragraphs by critics, many often choosing to let the latter speak for themselves, one begins to comprehend that a majority of these students appear to be insufficiently equipped with the skills of recording and discussing their responses to the reading materials assigned to them. Yet one also significantly learns of the possibilities and impossibilities of the various reading and writing skills of learners in the tertiary classroom and these may be invariably linked to the reading and writing skills fostered in Malaysian schools. This paper will engage in a discussion of the reality of reading in the tertiary classroom by presenting a range of samples of writings by students and examining the reading skills they reflect. It will also discuss possible ways to guide readings with the aim of prodding and provoking independent responses to the texts assigned.