An important part of college learning is the ability to comprehend complex texts. Research indicates that epistemic beliefs—views about what knowledge is like and how people come to know—may guide readers' goals and behaviors. Metaphor is a tool for uncovering individual's beliefs. This article reports on a study examining 90 beginning university students' conceptualizations—broad‐based understandings and views—of academic reading through collecting metaphors and explanations. Through metaphor analysis, collective patterns of three themes emerged: consumption, obligation, and destination. Threaded across themes was the notion of compliance. Implications center on how college faculty who teach beginning college students might support students' learning in college through (re)examining intentionality of reading in their courses, providing purposeful, specific assignments to accompany reading, and using metaphors to communicate the purposes of reading. Findings from this study, overlayed with previous research, present a need to emphasize the purpose of academic reading tasks in college reading and learning.

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This forum piece discusses the relevance of insights from the field of developmental education in terms of the disruption of face-to-face learning and the important implications on the notions of college readiness for those whose educational experiences have been altered unexpectedly. The concept of college readiness, now more than ever, should be reconceptualized as student readiness. We provide four insights from the wellestablished field of developmental education to help guide institutions in their responses to these unprecedented life circumstances for students.

The authors report on a think‐aloud study of college students placed into developmental reading courses as they learned and implemented a new strategy device. The purpose was to investigate the device's potential utility for students, especially given the current practical trends in the field to move away from strategy instruction. Findings suggest that while reading textbook chapters in biology and history, the participants drew on existing text knowledge, awareness of disciplinary text differences, and awareness of metacognitive processes. The participants demonstrated that they were aware of their reliance on prior knowledge (of text structure and organization, of disciplinary differences, and of content knowledge) and also of gaps in their prior knowledge. This speaks to the need for empirical research on strategy devices, such as PILLAR, for new‐to‐college learners.

This forum reviews a mix of resources to inform pedagogy and related educational practices that foreground representations of youths and their literacy practices within and outside of school.