Developing Critical Reading in the Efl Classroom

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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 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.

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 thinkingoccurs when students question theirown beliefs or what they are told. In parallel with this, Kurland (2000b) states that Critical thinking is a technique forevaluating 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 seecritical thinking as the ability to distinguishbetween 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 ‘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 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.

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.

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.

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

(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.