Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide, for L1 and L2 reading and writing teachers, a brief overview of the literature about critical reading and higher level thinking skills. The teaching of these skills is still neglected in some language classes in Brazil, be it in L1 or in L2 classes. Thus, this paper may also serve as a resource guide for L1 and/or L2 reading and writing teachers who want to incorporate critical reading and thinking into their classes. In modern society, even in everyday life people frequently need to deal with complicated public and political issues, make decisions, and solve problems. In order to do this efficiently and effectively, citizens must be able to evaluate critically what they see, hear, and read. Also, with the huge amount of printed material available in all areas in this age of “information explosion” it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But often the information piled up on people’s desks and in their minds is of no use due to the enormous amount of it.
Highlights
The purpose of this paper is to provide, for L1 and L2 reading and writing teachers, a brief overview of the literature about critical reading and higher level thinking skills
The listing of definitions of critical thinking and of critical reading could go on, but if we examine those few listed above, we may perceive the close similarity between what is said about critical reading and what is said about critical thinking
The need for teaching critical literacy has been a deep concern of theoreticians, researchers, and teachers in the areas of reading and writing
Summary
The purpose of this paper is to provide, for L1 and L2 reading and writing teachers, a brief overview of the literature about critical reading and higher level thinking skills. Thompson and Frager (l984), present guidelines for teachers to prepare their own lessons to teach critical thinking in reading and in the content areas They present a model lesson illustrating the five guidelines: (1) stimulate personal interest; (2) generate active/ interactive participation by all students; (3) use prior student knowledge and experience; (4) facilitate and encourage skill transfer; and (5) extend comprehension instruction beyond the 50-minute class period. The authors list a number of different ways to use magazines in content classes, and present useful examples of activities to develop critical reading skills, such as to evaluate the author’s credentials, separate fact from opinion, distinguish between prejudice and reason, identify propaganda, analyze opposing points of view, predict outcomes, summarize information, and synthesize information from various sources. She states in the end of her article: “Combining the elements from two separate disciplines turns critical reading from a reactive to an active process” (p.668)
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