Student Compliance with Assigned Reading: A Case Study.

Educators value reading as an academic practice and express frustration with student noncompliance with assigned reading. Some research has addressed this issue and recommends multiple strategies for overcoming the problem of student noncompliance. Much of this research, however, treats the problem as exclusively student-centered. This paper presents a small case study designed to engage explanations for student noncompliance and to reflect on strategies used by faculty to incorporate reading assignments into their course design. This study suggests that more attention be placed on the reciprocal nature of the problem and how faculty behavior can contribute to reading apathy. How faculty members conceive, integrate and utilize assigned reading in the classroom does affect how students respond and take responsibility for the practice.