DEVELOPING CRITICAL READING IN THE EFL CLASSROOM
Parlindungan Pardede
Universitas Kristen Indonesia
Abstract
Critical reading is a skill highly necessitated in both academic and everyday lives. A
critical reader is able to detect bias, prejudice, misleading opinion, and illogical
conclusions, in a text. As a reading skill which involves critical thinking competence,
critical reading can be defined as the process of understanding, questioning, and
evaluating a text, which is carried out actively and consciously, in order to well assess
the accuracy and validity of a writer’s ideas. As a skill, critical reading could be
developed through learning and practices.
Keywords: critical reading, critical thinking, fact, opinion, fallacious thinking, hasty
generalization, equivocation, name-calling, statistical slips.
Introduction
Some years ago while I was trying to provide the students who attend my reading classes
in the English Department of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training of the
Christian University of Indonesia Jakarta with up-to-date reading materials by selecting
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some texts from English newspapers and magazines, I realized that some of the
materials attempt to influence the reader’s thinking and behavior. This incident
reminded me that writers do not only aim to communicate information, experience, or
amusement. Some writers also use texts, such as editorials, opinion columns,
advertisements, propaganda bulletins, sermons, and political statement, as an
instrument of persuasion. In general, there’s nothing wrong to deal with persuasive
texts. It is only wrong if we allow ourselves to be unknowingly influenced just because
we passively absorb other people’s opinions without trying to find out whether they are
truly sound or not. For that reason, we should also help our students develop critical
reading skills, in addition to the literal and literary reading skills.
By mastering critical reading skills, for instance, they will be able to weigh public issues
and make intelligent choices among political candidates. Critical reading will also enable
them to detect misleading advertisement claims, recognize the best values, and avoid
spending their money foolishly. In short, it is an essential ability because we are living in
times of advanced technology and the widespread expansion of information, when each
individual needs to be a critical reader to uncover bias, prejudice, faulty reasoning,
misinformation, and illogical conclusions presented in texts. And since it is a skill, it can
be developed and refined with practice. This article aims to share my personal
experiences combined with some principal concepts of critical reading skills in order to
suggest some tips for helping our students develop critical reading skills.
What is Critical Reading?
‘Critical reading’ is basically a reading process which involves critical thinking. Thus, to
define critical reading necessitates an understanding of the meanings reading and
critical thinking. Recent theories view reading as a process of not just extracting
meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the
knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. Reading, in this sense, is “a dialogue
between the reader and the text” (Grabe, 1988: 56). It is seen as an active cognitive
process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of
meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Thus, reading is not a passive mechanical activity
but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the
reader.
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In literature various definitions of critical thinking exist, ranging from ones which
envisage critical thinking as a broad construct (Davidson and Dunham, 1997) which
concentrates primarily on reasonable and reflective thinking which is focused on what to
believe or do, to others which view it more narrowly or exclusively to a certain content
area (McPeck, 1981). For Marshall and Rowland (1998), critical thinking occurs when
students question their own beliefs or what they are told. In parallel with this, Kurland
(2000b) states that Critical thinking is a technique for evaluating information and ideas,
for deciding what to accept and believe. Scriven and Paul (1996) define critical thinking
as “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered from, or
generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a
guide to belief and action.” Others see critical thinking as the ability to distinguish
between facts and opinions, judgments and inferences, and objective and subjective
impressions. Synthesizing these definitions, we will see that critical thinking is the
intellectually disciplined process of actively analyzing, questioning, judging, and
evaluating information obtained from texts, experience, and reflection. A person with
adequate critical thinking will question, challenge, analyze, and evaluate any ideas or
opinions he gets. He will never passively absorb other people’s opinions without trying
to find out whether they are truly sound or not.
By combining the meaning of critical thinking with the meaning of reading, we can say
that critical reading is the application of critical thinking in a reading activity. In this
sense critical reading can be defined as an active and purposeful process of
comprehending, questioning and evaluating printed material and in order to react
intelligently to the writer’s ideas. According to Kurland (2000a), “Critical reading refers
to a careful, active, reflective, analytic reading” which involves reflecting on the validity
of what one has read in light of his prior knowledge and understanding of the world. To
illustrate, a critical reader will question and detect the use of overgeneralization in the
statement running: “Marriage just cannot survive these days. Three friends of mine who
got married last year are already divorced.” Although the writer provides a factual
statement to support his opinion, it is not enough. Three couples with marital problems
do not confirm that all marriages are doomed to failure. To take another example, a
critical reader will presumably find it easy to judge this: “John succeeded leading some
big money-making enterprises. There’s no doubt he will make our nation prosperous.
Vote for him in the general election.” The use of the propaganda technique called
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‘transfer’ in this statement is very clear. One’s success in leading companies doesn’t
guarantee his success to lead a nation.
The definition and illustrations above present us five important features of critical
reading. First, the first obligation of a critical reader is to understand the author’s
message. To achieve it, he must approach the reading with an open mind and a
willingness to accept new ideas or another point of view. Although he has some doubts
about the material before he begins reading it, he must give the writer an opportunity to
present his position. He must avoid letting his personal biases or prejudices interfere
with clear thinking and objectivity. Having understood the message, he then questions
it, reflects it, and reacts to it in terms of his own knowledge and experience. It is in this
stage that he interacts with the writer. Cautiously, he detects any unsupported
assumptions, contrived relationships, faulty reasoning, illogical conclusions, the
author’s competence, point of view, and prejudices. At the same time he also should be
alert to his own prejudice as he judges the material he is reading.
Second, critical reading is a high-level of comprehension skills, because a good critical
reader is able to go beyond the literal interpretation of what he reads. In other words, he
reads between the lines to determine what the author means by what he is saying. He
knows how to question, analyze, and form judgments. He sorts facts from opinions,
searches for causes, and considers the author’s qualifications and purpose. His mind is
alert to unfounded assumptions, fallacious reasoning, and illogical conclusions. By
thinking for himself, he does not necessarily accept the biased viewpoints and
propaganda of writers who are trying to influence him.
Third, unlike basic literal comprehension, critical reading requires the reader to interact
with the writer. The reader must understand the writer’s message, question it, and react
to it in terms of his own knowledge and experience. He is probing, comparing, and
reflecting as he thinks along with the writer about the ideas that have been set forth.
Because of this interaction, the reader has not only absorbed the writer’s thoughts, but
also adapted them in light of his own background to fit his purposes.
Fourth, critical reading requires wide knowledge. The more experiences and
information a critical reader has concerning a subject, the better qualified he is to read it
critically. One cannot think about nothing: one must have knowledge of what he is going
to criticize. When a reader is familiar with a topic, he can recognize misleading
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statements, make intelligent comparisons, and be aware of significant omissions. He
finds that the material either expands the concepts he already has or fails to harmonize
with what he has experienced.
The Process of Critical Reading
As a process of questioning and evaluating printed material by involving one’s ability to
think critically and to react intelligently to the writer’s ideas, critical reading is carried
out by asking oneself certain questions as he is reading in order to interpret the author’s
ideas critically. Thus, critical reading is basically not more than keeping on asking
relevant critical questions towards the text one is facing. And since different kinds of
text may demand a different type of thinking or reaction on the part of the reader, a
fixed procedure for critical reading cannot be formulated. However, based on my several
years experience in teaching critical reading, the process of critical reading can be
described in the following steps:
1.
Identifying facts, in which the reader tries to clearly recognize what the author is
saying. Examining the source, during which the reader critically looks at the
author and his or her competence, reliability, and probable viewpoints or biases.
2. Analyzing the material by examining the author’s assumptions and the logic and
accuracy of these assumptions and conclusions; recognizing the inferences that
the reader is supposed to make.
3. Detecting the implications present in the author’s diction, style, or tone; and by
recognizing the author’s use of propaganda tricks, fallacious thinking, statistical
slips and emotional appeals.
4. Comparing a selection with other sources that may present conflicting
viewpoints. This fourth step is especially necessary in college assignments and
profitable in such area as political science, sociology, psychology, history, law,
journalism, as well as in literary critics, essays, biography, and much expository
material.
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The Components (Sub-Skills) of Critical Reading
Based on the steps of critical reading described above, it is clear that critical reading
basically covers the activities of consciously asking some critical questions towards the
texts one is facing. The following critical questions, adapted and compiled from Sparks
and Johnson’s (1980), Kurland (2000a), and Spache and Berg’s (1994), are suitable for
most kinds of printed matter: (1) Are the statements fact or opinion? (2) What is the
author’s purpose or motif in writing this material? (3) What is the author bias? (4) How
is the author qualified to write this particular material? (5) How recently was the
material written? (6) What do I know about the publication of this material? (7) Who is
the target reader? (8) Do I accept, reject, or defer judgment on the author’s material? (9)
How has the author organized his material? (10) Does the writer employ emotionally
toned words? (11) What is the relationship, if any, of the author’s ideas to my own
experience? (12) What analogies exist in the reading? (13) What are the cause-and-effect
relationships, if any? (14) What, if anything, is irrelevant in the reading? (15) Is there
any fallacious reasoning or misuse of statistics in the reading? (16) What comparison
can I make of present reading with previous reading? (17) What inference might I draw
from knowledge I have gained?
Techniques to Promote Critical Reading
To be able to effectively put the questions into practice, students need to master the
conceptions from which they are originated. Thus, the first step we should do to help
students to read critically is to make them familiar with critical reading sub-skills and
assign them to recognize these sub-skills in actual texts. Based on an analysis on the
seventeen questions above, I found eight groups necessary critical reading sub-skills
students need to master in order to be a critical reader. I usually include explanations
and practice on these sub-skills in my critical reading classes.
1. Distinguishing Fact from Opinion
In general, the texts we read combine statements of opinion with statements of fact.
Statements of opinion express a person’s individual response to the surrounding world.
In contrast, statements of fact describe the world without interpreting it. Unlike
statements of opinion, statements of fact can be tested for accuracy through your own
personal observation or through examining historical records and scientific reports.
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The ability to distinguish statements of fact from statements opinion is a very necessary
skill to develop since it helps readers decide whether an author’s opinions are justified
or unjustified. An opinion is justified if the author provides a number of convincing facts
to support his or her personal belief. Such opinion is worthy of serious consideration.
readers may even want to make it their own. On the other hand, reader should beware of
the statements of opinion that lack of factual support–called unjustified opinions, and
they should be treated with skepticism. readers certainly do not want to take them
seriously without doing further reading on the subject.
2. Interpreting Connotations of Words
In many texts, especially those aimed for persuasion, authors often deliberately use the
connotation associated with certain words to make their writing persuasive or
convincing. In their trials to appeal to emotions in order to make their ideas acceptable
and believable, or to influence their readers’ thinking, writers always use highly
connotative language. They are aware of the truth in the principle that it is not always
what we say but how we say it that influences people. Thus, while reading, readers
would do well to think about the connotations of the words used. If they do, they will be
less likely to be influenced without being aware of it. To see the high importance the
ability to interpret connotations, let’s take the following two reviews of the same book:
(1) The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas is a highly imaginative novel; reading it, I entered
into a dream world, filled with the most extraordinary and unique fantasies.
(2) The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas is a highly unrealistic novel, filled with the most
extraordinary and eccentric fantasies. Reading it, I felt as if I were having a weird
nightmare.
In the first description, phrases like highly imaginative and unique fantasies are used
because they have positive associations that might persuade someone to buy the book.
In the second description, the author has a very different intention in mind and
therefore employs phrases like highly unrealistic and eccentric fantasies because they
usually have negative connotations.
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3. Discovering the Author’s Point Of View
In many writings, writers often try to persuade readers to accept their beliefs. To achieve
it, in addition to the use of unjustified opinions and connotative meanings, they can also
use a ‘special’ point of view, or the point through which the author considers, presents
or communicates his messages or ideas. Due to the fact that someone’s perception and
consideration are highly influenced by his political inclinations, religion, sex,
nationality, or geographic background, some writers are apt to be biased. That is why
recognizing the writer’s point of view is crucial for readers in order to detect his
purposes or biases. By understanding their point of views, for instance, readers will not
find it difficult to understand why most Indonesian educators see the inclusion of
religion into the public school curriculum essential whereas American educators see it
unessential.
4. Recognizing twisted and Fallacious Thinking
The development of critical reading skills entails the advancement of a clear and
perceptive out-look, and the advancement of a clear and perceptive outlook necessitates
the ability to think logically and to recognize and analyze instances of crooked and
fallacious thinking. Much human misunderstanding and blunder arises because many
people are not aware of the fact that their trends of thoughts, and thus their
communication processes, are frequently muddled, illogical and fallacious. Although
such innocent, though troublesome, blunders may well be good-humouredly regarded as
part of human weaknesses, we should be aware some people sometimes consciously take
advantage of general ignorance and weaknesses of others. In persuasions and
discourses, such people subtly use crooked tricks of argument to insidiously influence
their readers or listeners. In reading, it would therefore be wise to consider common
forms of crooked and fallacious trends of thought.
To help students to read critically, I think they need to be familiar with the following
twelve common crooked and fallacious thinking. So, any time they find any of them in
texts, they will not be easily deceived.
(a)
Hasty or Over-Generalizations
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(b)
Attack on The Person
(c)
Appeal to The Emotions
(d)
Circular Argument
(e)
False Analogy
(f)
Equivocation
(g)
Either-or Assumption
(h)
Talking ‘What is’ to Be ‘What Ought’
(i)
Jumping From a Non-Inclusive Proposition to an Inclusive Conclusion
(j)
Supposing the Whole to Be Like the Parts
(k)
Asking False Questions
(l)
Taking What are Mere Coincidences to Be the Causes (Non-Sequitur)
5. Detecting Propaganda Devices
Encyclopædia Britannica (2008) defines propaganda as “the more or less systematic
effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols
(words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on
coins and postage stamps, and so forth).” A propagandist usually wants others to take a
certain attitude or make a certain decision; he intends to influence them so that they act
in a manner desired by him; and he tries to achieve his purpose by the use of suggestion
and spurious arguments. The predetermined goal which the propagandist tries to
achieve may be either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Whatever the end, propaganda devices may be
employed in its realization, and the same devices may serve the most divergent
purposes.
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Readers are fooled by propaganda chiefly because they appeal to their emotions rather
than to their reason. They make them believe and do something they would not believe
or do. And since it appeal more to readers’ emotions; they often don’t recognize it when
they see it. However, they can more easily recognize propaganda when they see it if they
are familiar with the following seven common propaganda devices:
(a)
Glittering Generalities
(b)
Name Calling
(c)
Transfer
(d)
Testimonial
(e)
Plain Folks
(f)
Card Stacking
(g)
Band Wagon.
6. Recognizing Statistical Slips
At present days, many people seem to be bothered by the reading of facts presented in
mathematical form. This ignorance of mathematical terms and concepts is quite
widespread. As a result, those who present facts to the public through mathematics can
easily deceive the average reader. Statistics and charts are manipulated to prove almost
anything to the naïve consumer. Unless readers learn to read mathematical materials
critically, they also will be easily deceived by the unscrupulous statistician or chart
maker. The followings are the most common statistical slips readers need to know in
order to guard themselves against being misled by misused statistics.
(a)
deceptive sample
(b)
misleading average
(c)
plausible charts and graphs
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7. Making Inference
Inferencing is a mental process by which we reach a conclusion based on specific
evidence. It is very crucial in reading because readers get much of what they understand
through a text indirectly, or by inferencing. A text does not contain a meaning. Readers
construct meaning by what they take the words to mean and how they process sentences
to find meaning. Readers draw on their knowledge of the language and of conventions of
social communication. They also draw on other factors, such as knowledge of the
author, the occasion, or the audience. They infer unstated meanings based on social
conventions, shared knowledge, shared experience, and shared values. They make sense
of remarks by recognizing implications and drawing conclusions.
8. Other Factors of Critical Reading
In addition to the aforesaid sub-skills mentioned, critical reading also necessitates the
readers’ ability to discover the author’s competence, intention, attitude, and bias; to
figure out the time and policies of publication; and to identify the target readers. The
readers’ realization on these factors will enable them to decide whether a text is worth
reading or not. For instance, a textbook printed fifty years ago should practically be
ignored for it must have been out-of-date. To give another example, a book about
practical guide to child rearing written by a person who has had children is more reliable
than one written by a person who has never had children.
When the conception of each factors or sub-skills is familiar enough to the students,
they are then assigned to read texts designed to empower them to detect and consider
any connotative meanings, fallacious thinking, propaganda techniques, etc.
incorporated in the text. This is the second stage we should do to help students to read
critically. The incorporation of the elements of critical thinking into material will
encourage learners to question texts and add linguistic value to the textbook and
classroom (Paran, 2003). (As a sample, some items of exercise I use in my critical
reading classes are provided in appendix section). When they finish doing it, they can
discuss what they have got with their classmates. Such activity will instill the habit of
involving critical thinking in reading.
Finishing the second step, students are then assigned to read authentic texts which
contain various biases, prejudices, faulty reasoning, misinformation, and illogical
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conclusions. When they have finished reading the texts, they are assigned to answer Whquestions dealing with the materials they have read. Such questions, rather than the
close or yes/no questions, require students to think deeply and use complex language to
respond, and thus promote the students’ critical thinking.
In order to promote the students’ critical thinking in discovering the author’s
competence, intention, attitude, and bias; they could be provided with two texts that
present totally different views on the same matter and invite students to discuss and
debate the issue. When selecting the texts, the teacher has to pay attention to the
content to ensure that it corresponds with topics that students are genuinely interested
in. The teacher can also find texts that contain a foreign perspective about the students’
country or culture, so that they can see themselves through the eyes of others.
Conclusion
Since critical reading is a complex process due to the great number of sub-skills and
factors getting involved in it, developing it can be time-consuming and difficult for EFL
students. Despite this fact, like other language skills, it can be accomplished with
practice, and it is worth the effort. To help students master it, the teacher should start by
familiarizing them with critical reading sub-skills and assigning them to recognize these
sub-skills in actual texts. When the students have mastered these sub-skills, they are
then assigned to read texts purposively devised to detect and consider any connotative
meanings, fallacious thinking, propaganda techniques, statistical slips, and illogical
conclusion in existence. Finally, after successfully finishing the second stage, students
are then assigned to read authentic texts containing various biases, prejudices, faulty
reasoning, misinformation, and illogical conclusions. This reading activity is then
followed by assigning them to answer Wh-questions dealing with the materials they
have read. Such activity will promote the students’ critical thinking because Whquestions usually trigger the students to think deeply and use complex language to
respond.
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