Contemporary Challenges in Academic Reading and Writing at University Level: A Phenomenological Qualitative Analysis at the Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi-Ecuador

Abstract

Academic reading and writing sit at the heart of how university knowledge gets built — yet in Ecuador, persistent gaps in students' preparation continue to block access to the specialized discourse genres that higher education demands. This study set out to understand, through a phenomenological lens and in students' own terms, the specific challenges they faced in reading and writing at the Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi (UPEC), against a backdrop of rapid digitalization and the growing presence of artificial intelligence tools in academic life. Rather than treating the problem as one of individual skill deficits, the research was grounded in the premise that academic acculturation the process of entering an unfamiliar discursive culture lies at its core. The theoretical framework drew on the academic literacies model (Lea & Street, 1998), the cognitive process theory of writing (Flower & Hayes, 1981), and Latin American scholarship on academic literacy (Carlino, 2017; Navarro, 2021). An intentional sample of 42 students from different degree programs participated, and data was gathered through an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Three interpretive categories emerged from the data: an asymmetric sense of reading readiness that breaks down before specialized scientific genres; writing experienced as a normative burden imposed from outside, without systematic pedagogical support; and an ambivalent relationship with digital technologies and AI, shaped by a nascent critical awareness. The study concludes that academic literacy must be treated as a shared institutional responsibility across all disciplines and that students are already constructing reflective, critical stances toward AI that call for deliberate, situated pedagogical responses.