Positioning Academic reading in higher education University teachers’ small stories about pedagogical design and practice

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to contribute to knowledge on academic literacy in higher education by examining how academic reading is positioned and approached in university teaching. Focusing on the Swedish Preschool Teacher Education programme, it analyses teachers’ expectations, instructional choices, and reflections on students’ engagement with texts encountered in academic settings, including how reading is made visible, navigated, or remains implicit in teaching. Theory: The study draws on a narrative framework combining the small stories perspective (Georgakopoulou, 2006; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008) and Bamberg’s (1997) theory of positioning to analyse how academic reading is positioned through teachers’ narratives, interactional stance, and institutional discourses. Method: The study is based in eight semi-structured interviews with university teachers in a Swedish Preschool Teacher Education programme. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, informed by narrative theory and positioning analysis. Results: The findings show that academic reading is positioned as a central yet problematic component of higher education. Teachers position reading as a developmental and rehearsed practice that is foundational for academic work, while at the same time unevenly engaged with by students. Student diversity is narrated through differences in orientations towards reading, rather than fixed abilities. Across the material, teachers position themselves as responsible professionals who balance academic standards, institutional constraints and pedagogical judgement when making academic reading visible, supporting it in practice and orchestrating it across courses and programme.