Hello. My name is Hisanori. I always study and research English for a living. Today, I would like to talk about “3 ways to enjoy reading academic books.
I think that academic books are often associated with the image of being “boring,” “difficult,” or “uninteresting to read.
I am a linguistics researcher, but even so, not all linguistics books are “enjoyable” (I’ll just tell you between you and me that some of them are boring, lol).
But still, as long as I am doing research, I cannot discover new academic knowledge without reading academic books that, at first glance, seem boring, difficult, and tedious to read. So today, I would like to introduce three ways to “read academic books for fun.
I hope everyone who reads this will think that academic books are interesting after reading them! I will be very happy if, after reading this, you think that academic books are fun!
Table of Contents
- what is an academic book anyway?
- advantages of reading academic books – e.g. in the case of education
- how to enjoy reading academic books 1 – interview reading
- how to enjoy reading academic books 2 – Predictive reading
- how to read academic books enjoyably 3. in-depth reading
- summary
An academic book is what is called a “book of research findings” and is usually written by a scholar. Especially in the world of linguistics, academic books are considered to be as important as theses. This depends on the field, from where papers are evaluated and books are not so much the subject of researchers’ evaluation, to some disciplines where books are the main subject of evaluation.
After all, academic books are written by researchers, and academic books are difficult to write. Especially when I had just started my research, I had a hard time understanding the contents of academic books unless I looked them up on the Internet. I had to search the Internet to find out what was written in the book….
2. Merits of reading academic books – e.g., in the case of education
One of the advantages of reading academic books – even if the writing and content are indeed difficult – is that you can get a bird’s eye view of what has been discussed in the academic world in the last few years. For example, if we talk about linguistics, the changing paradigm of linguistics has actually changed the way we teach English.
For example, when a branch of linguistics called cognitive linguistics emerged in the 1980s, its findings were applied to language teaching.
For example, those who teach English have probably told their students at least once that “polysemy has a core meaning” and “attack from the original meaning.
It is a method that was popularized in the tea room by a Japanese researcher who named it “core theory” after a theory proposed by a linguist named Bolinger around 1975.
I have just given a specific example in the field of education, but I think that understanding what is being discussed in the academic world in such a concrete way can serve as a guideline in the field of practice. I think it is also an excellent job of a language teacher to know how to apply language theory in the field of practice.
In addition to that, I am sure that many readers would like to challenge themselves with difficult books.
At that time, academic books are quite a hurdle. Especially if you want to buy books in paper form, you may have to go to a large bookstore in a big city to buy them. Still, nowadays, it is much easier to read a book on a kindle or other e-books (this is especially true for foreign books).
3. how to enjoy reading academic books #1 – Interview reading
The first method is to read as if you are interviewing the author.
As I mentioned earlier, an academic book is “a compilation of new findings,” so you should try to read it “as if you were asking the author” what the new findings are, how he/she discovered the findings, and what his/her hypothesis was.
In that case, you do not have to read from the first page. You can read backwards from the point you want to know.
Especially for an anthology (a collection of various papers that have been compiled into one academic book), it is a good idea to proceed with the coverage in the following manner. For your reference.
(1) What is the title and conclusion?
(If you can see the end, you will be more motivated to read the book.
(2) What is the purpose of this research?
Every paper has a purpose.
(3)What is the purpose of this research?
This is what is called a “research question.
(4) What is the key point of the experimental method?
We look for something new in the method.
(5) How did you interpret the results and findings of the experiment?
I think it’s the results of the experiment and the discussion.
4. How to enjoy reading academic books 2 – Predictive reading
This is a method that is used in many books, but it is a method of “reading while predicting what will come afterwards.
In this case, I recommend reading from the beginning. However, this predictive reading will be quite a hurdle. This is because it is impossible to predict what will happen without prior knowledge.
So, I would recommend reading various books in the same field to finally be able to do predictive reading.
Incidentally, this is again a story in the field of English education, but in the case of English education, there are quite a few papers.
Well, it may be the same in any field, but when you read them, you can see certain regularities in experimental patterns, discussions, and so on. I am insensitive, so I noticed it after reading around 100 papers. I hope to write about that later.
Back to the topic at hand, when you have accumulated a certain amount of knowledge, it might be a good idea to try reading while making predictions. Even though it is an academic book, it is a book, so you don’t have to read everything. You can read from the part you want to read. However, if you cannot read the part you want to read, reading the book will just be boring. So, when you are not used to reading academic books, it is better to read from the beginning.
5、How to read academic books with pleasure 3 – plunging into the book
This is a method where you literally plunge into the book as you read it. You may say, “Oh, that’s interesting,” “I wonder why that’s the case? “Wow, I didn’t know that was possible! By just reading the book with a little bit of effort, you can make the black-and-white academic book a little more colorful.
I used to read in this way in my first year of college, when I didn’t even know the “g” word in academia.
Anyway, I made various efforts to read academic books like general books. Actually, I think this is similar to “interview reading” in some ways, but anyway, it’s good if you read and just plunge into it.
6, Summary
How was it? Please try to devise various ways to read in this way.
I was able to do it in the order of “plunging reading” – “interview reading” – “predictive reading”. Video media are all the rage these days, but that doesn’t mean the future of the book will be in decline.
I believe that the future of books is bright. I myself think how happy I would be if I could live my life drawing books. That is how much I love books.
I hope one day to have a partner with whom I can talk about many things over an academic book on linguistics.
