Assigned reading in English: Compliance, comprehension and preparedness among Swedish students

Abstract

This study investigates Swedish university students’ engagement with academic reading in English, with a focus on reading compliance, perceived comprehension, and preparedness. Based on a nationwide survey (N = 1,000), the study offers a representative account of students’ academic reading practices and experiences. While a majority of students report reading most or all assigned English texts and generally find them comprehensible, a substantial minority read selectively/not at all and struggle with understanding. Many students also feel underprepared for the demands of academic reading in English. These challenges are unevenly distributed and show systematic variation across demographic groups (gender, age, level of education and academic discipline). Overall, the study highlights that academic reading in English is not merely a linguistic challenge but a socially and institutionally shaped practice. The findings call for more coordinated support across educational levels, including stronger alignment between pre-tertiary and tertiary education, and targeted interventions to support students’ developing academic reading literacy. This study contributes to the growing literature on academic reading in non-Anglophone higher education contexts.