Critical Reading What Is It? Where Is It?

Critical Reading What Is It? Where Is It?Author(s): Catherine S. BoyanSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 25, No. 6 (Mar., 1972), pp. 517-522Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20193030 .

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Critical reading What is it?

Where is it?

CATHERINE S. BOYAN

Catherine S. Boyan has

teaching experience ranging from urban ghetto to suburban

middle class schools, in Illinois

and Pennsylvania, and from

preschool Head Start to the

intermediate grades. This

article is a reflection of her

interest in application of innovative techniques for

teaching critical reading in

grades four through six.

'T'HERE are almost as many A definitions of critical reading,

interpretive reading, or evaluative

reading as there are people writ

ing about it. Gray and Reese

(1957) make a distinction between

informational reading and recrea

tory (or critical) reading; informa

tional reading being that which is

used to discover facts and to de

cide whether the information read

is reliable or not. Recreatory read

ing, on the other hand, is that

used in interpreting what is read

and in making esthetic or literary

judgments on it, based on the in

dividual's experiential background. Heilman (1967) gives a much

simpler definition: "Critical read

ing is the ability to arrive at the author's main ideas." Yet this abil

ity, he says, also implies processes of evaluation and the reader's ex

periential background. Betts' (1957) definition states

that critical reading "is done

when the reader analyzes the

material which he reads and ques tions the validity of inferences

drawn." The selection-rejection

process is suggested by Carter's definition (1953), "Reading of the

predominantly critical type empha sizes the higher thought processes

having to do with selection-rejec tion of ideas, the relationships be tween ideas, and the organization of information."

Spache points out that most peo ple agree that critical reading in volves reaction or opinion plus the

thought processes of analysis and

reasoning. His definition (1963) states that critical reading involves "interaction between the author and the reader." The author sup

517



plies the facts and the reader pro vides the insights, interpretation, and understanding.

Huus (1965) says, "Critical

reading requires the evaluation of the material, comparing it with known standards and norms, and

concluding or acting upon the

judgment." "Critical readers are

developed," according to Gans

(1963), "through experience after

experience in assessing readings in terms of fitness or appropriate

ness for acceptance." This sam

pling of definitions does support

Spache's observation about the

general agreement among writers as to what critical reading entails.

Usefulness and importance

Hardly anyone could question the importance of critical reading. It is needed to achieve in aca

demic subjects not to mention its value after graduation in read

ing the newspaper, if in nothing else. Harris has said (1970), "One of the most important aspects of

critical reading is the ability to de tect and resist the influence of

undesirable propaganda. In recent

years, the molding of public opin ion has become tremendously im

portant in political and social

affairs." Schools must help stu

dents to detect such propaganda. The usefulness of critical read

ing in the handling of academic

subjects is evident in the following list of skills needed for dealing

with and understanding history. The starred topics especially in

volve application of critical read

ing.

* 1. Understanding the organi zation of content

2. Orienting to events remote in time

3. Remembering names and dates accurately

4. Reasoning from cause to effect

5. Tracing effects back to causes

* 6. Dealing impartially with controversial issues

7. Understanding a great range of vocabulary in gov ernment, politics, econom

ics, law, sociology * 8. Discriminating between fact

and opinion

9. Understanding abstract terms such as "democracy,"

"civilization"

* 10. Recognizing classifications in current events magazines

* 11. Applying checklists to help detect propaganda

12. Reading carefully to retain statistical facts

* 13. Dealing with many refer ences about one topic

* 14. Appreciating the point of

political cartoons and of

political anecdotes

Involved in the process of criti cal reading are some important skills :

1. Getting main idea from read

ing selections

2. Differentiating what is im

portant from what is less

important

3. Understanding inferred

meanings

4. Relating experience to con

tent 5. Analyzing critically what is

read

518 The Reading Teacher March 1972



6. Understanding subtleties

7. Recognizing one's own preju

dices and biases, as well as

those of author

8. Appreciating conceptual pres entations

These skills must be learned and

the teacher plays a key role.

To go beyond workbook type drill, the teacher will have to be resourceful and plan exercises on

her own which will challenge her students. She must remember that she is trying to stimulate analyti cal reading and thinking, not to

convey one viewpoint. Gray adds that the teacher should enjoy read

ing and teaching reading. And Carter places prime importance on

reading in the licensing of teach ers. "Expertness in reading should be the sine qua non in licensing teachers. They should be readers of a high order regardless of their field or their special interest." There is no way to measure the

impact a teacher of reading has on her students, but if she's good, her students' attitudes and achieve ment in reading should improve. If she's not good, then results

might be different.

Useable techniques

Many books and articles exist which extol the virtues of critical

reading, yet offer very little in the

way of direct help for the new

teacher. From all these sources,

the teacher must draw the most

useable techniques, some of which are listed here, and devise some

original techniques as well. To be

gin with, the atmosphere in the classroom lies within the teacher's domain. The class should feel re

laxed and free to ask questions

without feeling ridiculed, embar

rassed, or "put down." The way the teacher handles questions and class discussions is also a vital

part of developing critical readers. In addition to a relaxed classroom

atmosphere, simple "yes" "no"

questions should be passed over in

favor of open-ended "why" ques tions, more conducive to thought and discussion.

A good variety of questioning

techniques is important for the

teacher to possess. Of course, all

questions asked should be worth

answering or children will lose in

terest in finding answers. Gray and

Reese list many skills that can be

sharpened by proper questioning: memory, evaluation, comparison,

recall, reasoning, summary, discus

sion, analysis, decision, outline, il

lustration, and reflection. Gray

gives several examples of good and

bad teachers' questions:

1. for thought BAD: "How many tickets

were sold by the

boys?"

GOOD: "When did you get the first hint that the circus would be a success?"

2. for motivating students

BAD: "Read to find out what

happened at the end of the story."

GOOD: "Read to find out IF the young cowboy

was able to keep all 2000 cattle from

stampeding."

Gans has developed a list of

prerequisites for developing critical readers. Among them are :

1. Having a thinking teacher who is also a critical reader

BOYAN: Critical reading 519



2. Having a teacher who recog

nizes the importance of

guided discussion and has the

abilities to guide discussions in a way which develops

mature comprehenders

3. Having the right to think

honestly, not being afraid of

making mistakes, realizing adults make mistakes too

4. Learning how to challenge and differ tactfully and skill

fully ?

encouraging inde

pendent thought

5. Increasing the child's respect for himself?he must feel he

is listened to

6. Learning self-control in dis

cussion?sharing and plan

ning curricular activities in

which there is discussion of

reading references offers im

portant opportunities for

stimulating careful thinking

The Gans list contains crucial

points concerning not only a re

laxed classroom atmosphere but also the importance of open dis cussion and the child's right to be heard and listened to.

In discussions, it is important for the teacher to begin on a level

where the class is comfortable and understands the issues. She must also keep in mind that opinions from classmates might very well have more impact on the students than anything the teacher might

have to say.

Use of discussion

Several techniques for teach

ing critical reading are centered around the use of discussion.

Spache suggests the teacher choose a controversial subject suitable to

the class' grade-interest level and allow the class to debate and dis cuss it. This technique is useful in motivating students to research a topic before they are qualified to

have an opinion.

A captivating technique suggest ed to Spache in a paper by Jeraldine Hill capitalizes on inter

mediate graders' interest in family life. Here, the students read as

many books about families as pos sible and wind up at the end of the alloted time span with a dis cussion of the families' various standards of living, ideas of disci

pline, and other observable interre

lationships. Both Gans and Spache suggest making comparisons be tween similar stories in basal texts or versions of stories. Another

technique suggested by Spache plays on intermediate graders' fas cination with biography. Interested students are encouraged to read

several biographies about the same

person and then compare their

representation.

Of course, good use can be made of current events. Various news

paper, magazine, television, or

radio accounts of the same inci

dents provide an excellent opportu nity for critical reading. The stu dent should be encouraged to

distinguish between truth and

legend, as well as between fact and opinion. Besides utilizing newspapers as a platform for this

distinction, the class might be interested in writing its own news

paper?including articles, editor

ials and other features, and per haps a "book reviews" section. A

field trip to the local newspaper office should be included in this

project.

A different angle to pursue might be comparing styles of pres entation of the same topic. How

might a newspaper story differ




from a TV news presentation of

the same item? How would a

magazine article differ? Does the

class understand the difference be tween an essay and an editorial?

Sharpening critical abilities

Another facet of critical reading is that of understanding one au

thor well. Spache suggests having the class or a small group follow

the writings of a certain author to

discover his interests, viewpoints, and prejudices. This could also be

done with newspaper columnists.

Both Spache and Harvison men

tion another technique for interest

ing the class in books and in

critical reading. They suggest ob

taining stories about the authors

and/or illustrators of children's

books to help students understand

why they write or illustrate the

way they do. Critical listening is also a tech

nique for sharpening alert minds.

Ask students to listen to TV and

radio messages and to pick up

faulty or persuasive arguments in

newscasts. Words that offer clues

can be used to sharpen young readers' critical abilities. Students should be encouraged to pick out

words which indirectly describe a

situation.

Crucial to critical reading and

listening is an understanding of the use of "color words," mislead

ing words upon which the entire

meaning of an article hinges. Propaganda, political rhetoric, and

advertisements usually depend on

color words for their influence. A

good technique in teaching critical

reading is to have the class prac tice spotting color words. They can

play a game of collecting para

graphs from the Weekly Reader

in which the entire meaning hinges on one or two words. Or,

students can have fun writing their own color word paragraphs, and testing classmates' critical

reading skills. The class might also

enjoy collecting newspaper and

magazine advertisements which

make use of the color word device.

Lessons can be taught on other

devices or techniques used in ad

vertising and in propaganda. Such

tricks include:

1. Shifty word fallacy ? the

same word used in two dif

ferent contexts for different

meanings

2. Loaded word fallacy?similar to color words?sometimes

depend on emotion and trick

ery

3. False analogy ?

relating to

things that are not really comparable

4. False authority?using some

one who is not an expert in

that particular area to adver

tise a product

5. Bold appeal ?

associating a

product with a positive con

cept

6. Lies or half-truths

7. Bandwagon approach?"nine out of ten doctors . . ."

Lists can be kept, placing adver tisements into the above or other

categories. Intermediate graders also enjoy playing detective. The teacher could hand out paragraphs

with a few clues that require de ductive and inductive reasoning to

find the solutions.

Summary

Critical reading is a skill which can be developed in students in the intermediate grades with the aid of teachers who enjoy critical

BOYAN: Critical reading 521



reading themselves and who pro vide the proper setting and encour

agement for their pupils. Although the importance of critical reading is generally recognized, the meth

ods and techniques for fostering such skills have not been collected or tabulated in any orderly fashion. This paper has presented some of

the techniques for teaching criti

cal reading, culled from as many sources as possible, and arranged to aid, in particular, teachers who are new or who feel a need to try some new approaches in the teach

ing of reading.

References

Barbe, Walter B. Educator's Guide to Per sonalized Reading Instruction. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1961.

Barbe, Walter B., and Williams, The!ma E.

"Developing Creative Thinking and Gifted Children through the Reading Program." The Reading Teacher, 9, No. 4 (April 1956).

Betts, Emmett Albert. Foundations of Read

ing Instruction. New York: American Book, 1957.

Carter, Homer, and McGinnis, Dorothy. Learning to Read, A Handbook for Teach ers. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1953.

Center, Stella S. The Art of Book Reading. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

DeBoer, John, and Dallmann, Martha.

Teaching of Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960.

Gainsberg, Joseph C "Critical Reading Is Creative Reading and Needs Creative Teaching." The Reading Teacher, 6, No. 4 (March 1953).

Gan9, Roma. Common Sense in Teaching Reading. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill

Company, 1963. Gray, Lillian, and Reese, Dora. Teaching

Children to Read. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1957.

Harris, Albert J. How to Increase Reading Ability, 5th ed. New York: David McKay Co., Inc., 1970.

Harvison, Alan R. "Critical Reading for

Elementary Pupils." The Reading Teacher, 21, No. 3 (December 1967).

Heilman, Arthur W. Principles and Practices of Teaching Reading, 2nd ed. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., 1967.

Huus, Helen. "Critical and Creative Read ing." Reading and Inquiry. Newark, Dela

ware: International Reading Association, 1965, pp. 10, 115.

Spache, George. Toward Better Reading. Champaign, III.: The Garrard Press, 1963.

Tinker, Miles. Teaching Elementary Reading. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952.

Triggs, Frances Oralind. "Promoting Growth in Critical Reading." The Reading Teach

er, 12, No. 3 (February 1959).

IBY Handbook

Copies of International Book

Year, 1972: A Handbook for U.S. Participation are now

available from the U.S. Secre

tariat for IBY, 1972.

The forty-four page booklet

is divided into five sections:

Background Information

and Purpose of IBY

Functions of the IBY ad hoc Committee and the

U.S. Secretariat

Organizational Relation

ships and Techniques for

Planning IBY Activities

Program Planning: Re

sources, Publicity. Promo

tion

Appendix

The appendix is particularly interesting, as it contains a list

of films about "the book" for

adults, teenagers and children,

compiled by the New York Pub lic Library. It also contains a

bibliography of materials relat

ing to international book and

library programs, lists of book

related and resource organiza

tions, and special documents

pertaining to International Book

Year.

Prices for multiple copies of

the handbook: one to nine

copies, $1.25 each postpaid; ten

to nineteen copies, $1.00 each

postpaid, twenty to fifty copies,

seventy cents each postpaid;

more than fifty copies, sixty

cents each postpaid.

For further information, con

tact Christine Jacobson, Nation

al Book Committee, Inc., One

Park Avenue, New York, N.Y.

10016. (212) 689-8620.




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Critical Reading What Is It? Where Is It?