Critical Reading Skills at Tertiary Level

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngu Mee Seng ◽  
Zaidah Zainal

This study investigated critical reading skills among tertiary level students. Ten undergraduate students from the Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) participated in this research. They were required to read a text regarding an oil crisis and respond to a question given in a form of a written protocol. A Critical Reading Categorization Scheme, adapted from the strategy profile developed by Sugirin’s (1999) was used to analyse the written protocol data. It was found that a number of sub-skills were used by the students, among them which were consistently used include extracting information from reading text, using examples to support argument, stating opinion regarding the topic discussed, stating personal viewpoint on the issue discussed and providing explanations for opinion stated. Overall, the results showed that the students were able to moderately respond critically to the text they read.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108
Author(s):  
Andira Abdallah

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of parallel reading text (English and Arabic) on English as a Foreign language (EFL) Intermediate II level students’ at Birzeit University in terms of reading comprehension, vocabulary retention, and sentence structure awareness. The sample for this study is 38 undergraduate students of the aforementioned level in two class sections during the fall semester of 2019-2020. One reading text from the course textbook was selected for this experimental study. The controlled group was instructed with an English only reading text while the experimental group used a parallel text of the same reading passage. A pretest on the reading text was used as an instrument to measure the reading skills of vocabulary, reading comprehension, and sentence structure prior to teaching the text for both sections. Six weeks later, a post-test was administered to both groups to assess the impact of parallel reading text in comparison to monolingual English text on students’ reading skills. Results of the post-test showed an increase in the average scores of both groups. There was a noticeable increase of the average scores in the vocabulary section and sentence structure awareness of the post-test among students of the experimental group compared to the average scores of their peers in the controlled group. Nevertheless, the results did not reveal a significant difference between using the two techniques in regard to reading comprehension and sentence structure awareness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-29
Author(s):  
Jana Javorčíková ◽  
Mária Badinská ◽  
Lenka Ližbetinová ◽  
David Brett

Abstract Based on recent research (Alderson, 2005; Khalifa and Weir, 2009), this study focuses on three areas of reading comprehension necessary for a successful academic career: general L2 EFL reading skills, more specific academic reading skills and critical thinking and reading. The study presents an analysis of quantitative research conducted in 2020, based on a sample of Slovak undergraduate students reading an academic text in English as L2 in EFL CLIL-formatted classes in humanities. The respondents’ general reading skills were analysed in the context of their critical reading skills and academic preparedness. When tested for general reading skills, respondents were asked to identify implicit and explicit information and the gist of the text. Academic abilities were tested via the ability to identify the attributes of an academic text, such as the system of references, rational and logical language and causeeffect type of argumentation, which indicated the author and genre of the text. In order to evaluate participants’ critical skills with a focus on the social aspects of the text, respondents were asked to identify the importance of the text for themselves and for their community and life. The participants’ mean scores and differences in their performances on each task type were compared using descriptive statistics, and multiple analysis of variance. The results suggest that the general reading skills of university undergraduates in Slovakia are adequate, however, more difficulty was encountered with implicit, rather than explicit, tasks. Students also need to improve their critical reading skills and reading for academic purposes. The research outcomes highlight the need to hone the education of future linguists to the new needs of a more text-based society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (71) ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
SULTAN . ◽  
Ahmad ROFIUDDIN ◽  
NURHADI . ◽  
Endah Tri PRIYATNI

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fathurrahman Imran ◽  
Heri Hidayatullah

The demand of a new model of syllabus and materials were implicitly required through the launching of KKNI-based Curriculum in Indonesia. Due to, finding the students’ needs and learning characteristic as the main consideration in developing them became the purpose of this current research. A qualitative research had been conducted to get the data needed by which two kinds of questionnaires were administered then analyzed qualitatively (Likert scale). the respondents involved were 132 students and the results dealt with the learning characteristics showed that the audio was 19.69%, the visual was 50.75%, and khinesthetics was 29.54%. In relation to the students’ needs (four aspects), 1) necessities on topic interest like education (72%), culture (63%), and social life (45%); 2) background knowledge was categorized into good (57.25%), very good (28%),  and not good (14.75%); 3) critical reading goals for both core and sub-skills very agree (42.71%), agree (30.14%), and not agree (27.14%); and 4) learning model tended the cooperative (27.25 very agree), (35.5 agree), (37.25 not agree). Thus, it could be concluded that the students’ learning style dominantly in visual way with cooperative learning model. In addition, the students were eager to have critical reading skills with sufficient prior knowledge but the topic is mostly in the area of education. It is recommended that in developing the syllabus and materials, the lecturers should consider both students’ characteristics and needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardus Par

This study aims to explore the difference between the field independent (FI) and field dependent (FD) learners in the area of EFL critical reading skills. To this end, 60 undergraduate EFL students who had taken and passed the Critical Reading course involved as the subjects. The Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) was administered to classify the students’ cognitive styles into FI and FD groups. Furthermore, to measure the students’ critical reading skills, the critical reading comprehension test (CRCT) in the form of multiple choice questions was developed and administered. The test items were focused on assessing students’ analytical and inferential skills of reading texts, specifically on determining the main idea, the purpose, the tone, making an inference and taking conclusion. The findings indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in the critical reading skills between FI and FD students. More specifically, the differences are in determining the main idea, determining the purpose, making an inference, and taking the conclusion of the texts in the CRCT. Pedagogically, selecting appropriate reading texts to be used in Critical Reading course practice for developing the students’ critical reading skills will be beneficial for both of FI and FD students.


Author(s):  
Mark McMahon

While reading skills are an accepted key skill both for life and study, the capacity to read critically and apply reading concepts to solve problems and develop higher order conceptual understandings requires a high level of cognitive self-regulation that students do not always have. This chapter describes the development of and research into an environment, Mark-UP, designed to promote the self-monitoring inherent in regulating reading comprehension. The environment consists of a range of tools to assist learners in monitoring their comprehension through annotation, discussion, problem-solving and so on. The tool was applied to a class of undergraduate students in Interface and Information Design at an Australian university. The research involved questionnaires of the whole cohort as well as case studies of a number of student experiences with the environment, using interview and analysis of the students’ portfolios. The study found that, concerning students with weak academic skills, Mark-UP provided some support for their learning, but for stronger students it replicated cognitive strategies that they had already developed. The product was most effective for those students with moderate existing academic skills as it articulated and modeled strategies for reading that they could apply and go beyond to develop their own cognitive regulatory strategies for reading.


1983 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 406 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Patching ◽  
Edward Kameenui ◽  
Douglas Carnine ◽  
Russell Gersten ◽  
Geoff Colvin

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