In recent years, "contextualization" has emerged as a buzzword in higher education, and, in community college developmental education contexts in particular. However, it is important to note that contextualization is more than an innovation that is specific to the current developmental education reform movement, as iterations of this concept abound. In this manuscript, we provide an in-depth analysis of the current movement toward contextualization as it has evolved over many years in college reading and study strategy contexts. We begin by providing an overview of the historical background on the construct, as well as contemporary conceptualizations of what is now referred to as "contextualization." Next, we describe an extensive integrative literature review on the topic of contextualization of college reading and study strategies, including the results of that review. We close with possible contributions of this review for higher education professionals designing contextualized learning environments.