Exploring Students’ Responses to Reading Assignments in First-year University Mathematics Courses

ABSTRACT Although reading homework is common in university courses, compliance rates vary. Using interviews, this study explored how five students responded to reading assignments in their introductory college mathematics classes and how they viewed reading and reading-related activities relative to their academic successes. Qualitative content analysis of the interview data and resultant case studies revealed that the participants completed their readings and undertook associated activities to produce gains in confidence, preparedness, mastery, achievement, and self-responsibility. This research offers an in-depth view of students’ reading and reading-related practices, highlights the importance they attributed to these behaviors, reveals how their mathematics comfort levels influenced their approaches to reading assignments, exposes complicating factors that impacted their academic achievements, and points to the value of using pedagogic interventions to encourage reading in math courses.