Why APRI?
Changing the Way Academic Reading is Taught and Tested
A Focus on Comprehension – instead of Translation
For well over a hundred years, the ability to read scholarly literature in another language was treated as a translation exercise. Yet, translation tests, and the courses taken to prepare for them, neither measure nor deliver the advanced reading comprehension skills scholars need in the real world.
In fact, translation courses and tests are often obstacles to graduate student progress. What individuals already engaged in academic or professional careers understand is that they don’t need to translate an article, chapter, or report – they need to read and comprehend it.
Redesigning the Coursework
APRI’s seminars have been specifically designed to teach the skills needed to read scholarly resources, in just a few weeks online. Participants with limited or no knowledge of a language can take Foundational Reading seminars to prepare themselves for Reading for Research seminars.
Seminar participants will be able to:
- Build on foundational knowledge of a given language
- Become successful readers of research by working intensively with academic texts in their own disciplines
- Analytically read texts and synthesize their key points, arguments, and evidence, then utilize this information in their own work
- Become familiar with journals and other key resources in their field
Transforming the Test
The design of the Academic Reading Comprehension AssessmentTM, or ARCA, was based on research that identified the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to read in a secondary research language. Texts are drawn from academic journals and other professional resources and reflect the level of reading comprehension expected for students and professionals working in those areas.
ARCA’s test tasks mimic the kinds of things one does with scholarly resources: reading, taking notes, summarizing, analyzing, synthesizing. Seminar participants are matched with texts from their own identified discipline. ARCA is the final exam for all Reading for Research seminars.
Why now?
AI and other machine translations aren’t up to the task
The critical task of understanding a resource written in another language cannot be delegated to technology alone. While AI can translate and summarize, it lacks the ability to synthesize information with the requisite rigor and nuance.
Nor can it assess its relevance to the research question at hand. AI cannot draw implicit inferences – so frequent in scholarly texts, nor can it grasp the nuances of an author’s intent.
English as the “lingua franca” is on the wane
Access and the ability to work with secondary literature in languages beyond English is a testament to academia’s unwavering dedication to rigorous inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge in the broadest sense.
The ability to understand and sometimes grapple with claims and points of view that are expressed in other languages and rooted in other cultures and societies is essential to be a scholar in a world that is ever more globally interconnected.
There is also growing evidence that monolingual English speakers (and readers) are less competitive than speakers of other languages who also function in English.
Applications for Summer 2025 are now open! Apply now