On September 26, 2017, the English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies Department will be hosting a presentation by Dr. Alice Horning on academic reading, entitled The "Don't, Won't, Can't" Problem: Students' Reading and How You Can Help. The session for faculty will be hosted in KSC Kirby Rafters, from 2:30 pm until 4:00 pm. All faculty in attendance are asked to bring a used book for an activity.
The national and Minnesota statistics on students' reading abilities do not offer a pretty picture, something most faculty already know. Every faculty member needs to be working with students on reading in order to achieve instructional goals, no matter what subject is being taught. Faculty who attend this session will leave with an understanding of the psycholinguistics of reading and strategies for helping students read more efficiently and effectively.
Dr. Horning is a professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Oakland University, where she holds a joint appointment in Linguistics. Her research over her entire career has focused on the intersection of reading and writing, focusing lately on the increasing evidence of students’ reading difficulties and how to address them in writing courses and across the disciplines. Her work has appeared in the major professional journals and in books published by Parlor Press and Hampton Press. Her most recent books include Reading, Writing, and Digitizing: Understanding Literacy in the Electronic Age published in 2012 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing and Reconnecting Reading and Writing co-edited with Beth Kraemer, published in 2013 by the WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press. Her forthcoming books are What is College Reading? co-edited with Cynthia Haller and Deborah-Lee Gollnitz, to be published by the WAC Clearinghouse, and Literacy Then and Now, to be published by Peter Lang.