The reports in this narrative were written by undergraduate students enrolled in a university course on reading popular texts. The focus was on popular culture and everyday reading practices in Edmonton. The course opened with a look at definitions of popular culture and approaches to reading. The students then learned about and completed their own investigations of what people read, how they do so, and to what purposes. The second assignment asked students to report on their own reading practices. Relevant questions included: When do you read? Where do you read? How do time and space impact your reading practices? How have such things changed over time?

• Reading on a Typical Day
• Purposeful Reading
• Connecting and Disconnecting through Reading
• Reading in the Queue
• Reading Practices of an English Major
• Reading for Life
• Balancing Work, School, and Reading
• Motivated to Read

The first assignment for the course on reading popular texts from which these reports evolved asked students to report on the reading practices of others. In most cases, this involved interviewing friends or family members, which pointed to similarities and differences in individual and community reading practices. The task seemed to pose few problems for most students, in part because the behaviour of others could be kept at arm's length. However, when asked to consider their own reading practices, at least several students seemed not to know how to proceed. I suspect this was due in part to the fact that the exercise is not common to literature courses, but also because self-reporting is more personal. There is something revelatory, possibly even risky, about describing one's reading practices to others. Reading is a form of subjectivity; it is, in relation, also an important means of representing oneself to others. As several students readily admitted, they were inclined, knowingly or unconsciously, to describe their reading habits to others in flattering terms. More specifically, they tended to rely upon a selective list of reading materials and formats that would be more fitting for the university classroom than, say, the bedroom or the bus. Through their investigations, students also found that time of day or year, physical or social spaces, personal relationships, and community expectations impacted both public and private aspects of their reading practices. In short, the assignment revealed much about the many ways these students, and readers more generally, use print and reading to make meaning relevant to their lives.

David Buchanan

Last Updated: Apr 2, 2018

The reports in this narrative were written by undergraduate students enrolled in a university course on reading popular texts. The...