Researchers have confirmed that male students at all academic levels often struggle while engaging in self-reflection, reading, and writing activities for reasons such as incompatible pedagogical strategy, poor choice of reading materials, and lack of belief in success for students. In conjunction with the growing popularity of online learning, an exploration of male college student perceptions of reflective practices in content area online courses, such as an English reading course, was warranted before stating that the use of reflective practices brings about male college student success. Through 13 in-depth face-to-face interviews with guided open-ended questions, this phenomenological study involved the exploration of the lived experiences and perceptions of reflective practices among a sample of male college students. The male students were recruited through five online English reading courses in fall 2012 at Glendale Community College. The data collected were examined and analyzed using Moustakas' phenomenological research method to uncover and develop categories and themes for explaining the meaning of lived experiences of males and their perceptions of reflective practices. The findings revealed 10 themes, of which a high percentage of the participants experienced six themes, such as the inappropriate selection of classroom materials, more mixed genders in-group work is needed, more time-on-task to reflect is desired, anonymity makes reflection easier in online settings, graded work is taken more seriously, and impersonal communication makes reflection more difficult in an online setting. Recommendations for future research included: 1) explore the experiences of college female perceptions of reflective practices in online and face-to-face English reading courses; 2) explore the experiences of college male perceptions of reflective practices in face-to-face English reading courses; 3) and, explore the experiences of high school male perceptions of reflective practices in online and face-to-face English reading courses. These insights, when compared and contrasted with the insights of males and females in other studies, might illuminate the differences behind male and female perceptions of reflective practices and might help close the gender gap in national reading achievement and test scores. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]