Critical Literacy: Performance and Reactions

Abstract

This study examined how the socio-political and socio-cultural backgrounds of Lebanese university students affected their critical engagement with texts and how these students reacted to critical reading. It also investigated the effect of critical reading instruction on the participants’ performance in critical text analysis. It was a part of a broader research that employed the mixed research method. Twenty one participants majoring in Teaching English to Elementary Students at a university in Lebanon received instruction based on a critical reading model for three months. All the participants filled out a questionnaire. Eleven participants were interviewed, before which they filled out a survey. Also some class interaction was documented. Moreover, the One-group, Posttest Pretest design was employed. The data showed how the participants’ socio-political and religious backgrounds affected their critical engagement with texts. Some participants were less critical or more critical depending on their ideological positions towards the topics of the texts. Interestingly, most participants said that they enjoyed questioning the texts’ assumptions although it annoyed them that this questioning made them contemplate their long-held beliefs. In addition, T-test and Mann-whitney test showed a significant improvement in critical text analysis at the end of the course. However, a few participants resisted critical reading.