Perceptions Of Reading Assignments: A Comparison Of Business Students And Professors

Abstract

How do the perceptions of reading assignments of students and professors differ?  This study surveyed undergraduate business students and professors to address this question.  A review of literature indicated that professors believe that reading assignments are an important part of the learning process while students view reading as less important.  Two questionnaires were developed; one for professors and one for students.  One hundred four students and twenty-two professors participated in the study.  Cluster sampling was used to select student participants and all business school professors were polled. The results will assist with the understanding of college teaching and the development of teaching methods.

The findings of this survey are that professors and students have similar perceptions concerning textbook requirements, the percentage of students who buy textbooks, and the number of pages required for weekly readings.  The results indicate that 95% of professors and 93% of the students say that a textbook is required for business courses.  The professors believe that 70% of the students buy textbooks and 77% of the students indicated that they actually did buy their books.  The perception of professors and students concerning the number of pages assigned were similar with 69.9% of the students and 73.9% of the professors indicating that from one to fifty pages was the average weekly assignment.

The findings also suggest that professors and students differ in their perceptions of the importance of reading the textbook to course grades, the percentage of examination questions derived from the textbook, student understanding of reading materials, and whether a student can earn an “A” in a course without reading the textbook.  Ninety-five percent of the Professors compared to 52.4% of the students believe that reading the textbook is important or very important to course grades.  When asked where examination questions came from 78.1% of the professors and only 32.7% of the students said that 60% or more of the test questions come from textbooks.  A total of 82.6% of the professors and 48.1% of the students indicated that students often or always understand textbook readings without explanation.  This results in 51.9% of the students stating that they understand the textbook only sometimes, rarely or never without explanation.  Thirty-four percent of the students agreed or strongly agreed that it is easy to make an A or B in a course without reading the textbook and only 4.3% of the professors believed that a student could make an A or B in the classes they teach without reading the textbook.