ABSTRACT

A major criticism against the school education system across the world, emerging
from every quarter of the society is that it fails to produce reflective, critical
learners even after 10-12 years of schooling. Various studies suggest that while
most of the students can read the text and locate information; hardly some
students can infer and evaluate a text and can give an informed, critical judgment
on a written piece. As Wallace (2003) points out, the problem lies in the
dominant models of reading practices which are eventually reductive in nature.
The most preferred model of reading at basic level is decoding texts and
practicing language structure alienating the reader and the text from the social
context. While at the higher level reading is treated as a comprehension building
process, it still treats text as a monolithic object with no room for interpretation:
Reading remains a ritualised process bereft of any reflection on the content being
read. This leads to the making of a community of activated recipients; individuals
who are seemingly active but are actually the depository and recipient of the
dominant ideology and in return are the carrier and reproducer of the same
ideology.

Hence, this study is an attempt to bring a change in students’ approach towards

reading and harness their reading practices with critical lens: To develop critical
reading among students; to enable them to question texts, interrogate stereotypes
and resist and critique the imposed reader positioning. The study argues that it is
possible to ensure greater involvement of students in reading process if they are
made aware of their own agency in learning. They will then learn to regard text
not as a final product but as a continuum where they can also actively contribute
in the production of a wider text.

Considering the importance of critical reading, there is an effort across the globe
to bring such strategies that can facilitate students’ critical faculties and help
them in reading text with critical lens and attitude. One such approach that is

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being used in various educational settings in many countries is Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA). Studies show that CDA based interventions have been
successful in developing students’ critical reading and has also a positive impact
on their motivation for reading (Darweesh and Ghayad, 2017, Abbasian and
Malaee, 2016, Nimasari, 2016). This study, therefore, demonstrates that Critical
Discourse Analysis as a pedagogical tool can sharpen their critical abilities and
make them better and empowered readers.

This study besides exploring how far the students possess ability to do critical
reading, or how far they read any text critically, aims to give them a fair and
explicit guidance in doing critical reading, so that they can make their own
choices as to what kind of stance to adopt towards a text, based on the purpose
they have while reading it, thereby ensuring the expansion of other capabilities.

Bearing in mind the prominence critical reading holds in a person’s lives, the
study formulates following objectives:

Objective:

1. To explore reading and critical reading among high school ESL learners
2. To examine the proficiency level of high school ESL learners in English
3. To explore reading habits of high school ESL learners
4. To design, develop and implement a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
based pedagogic intervention for developing critical reading among high
school ESL learners
5. To investigate the impact of CDA based pedagogic intervention on
students’ reading and critical reading in English, proficiency in English,
motivation for reading, reading self concept, metacognitive awareness for
reading strategies and gender role belief
6. To assess the relation between reading, critical reading and students’
proficiency in English, motivation for reading, metacognitive awareness
of reading strategies, reading self concept and gender role belief

To attain the objectives mentioned above, a qualitative-quantitative approach was

adopted. Data was collected through a number of study tools, namely proficiency
test, questionnaire, inventory, observation, written scripts and oral discussion.

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Using the purposive sampling technique, 62 students from a Government run
school were selected. The data collection was done for six months and comprised
three phases. The first phase examined reading and critical reading performance
of the students. It also assessed their proficiency level in English. Further, their
reading habits, motivation for reading, metacognitive awareness of reading
strategies, reading self concept and their gender role belief was also explored.

The second phase was devoted to a four month pedagogic intervention for the
students to develop a critical consciousness in their reading practices. The
intervention concentrated on disrupting students’ common sense related to gender
performance and instigated them to question, interrogate and critique gender
stereotypes and ideology naturalized and legitimatized in the texts. The text type
was basically literary, although different genres- fiction, autobiography and
mythology- were included for reading and discussion. The transactional course of
the intervention was dialogic but for the data purposes, the students were asked to
write their responses before and after the discussions. Along with the dialogic,
since CDA based pedagogy considers reading as a social process, reading of the
texts were done in three forms- individual, peer and group- to bring the students’
attention towards text as a social practice-how the same text might mean different
to their peers since the social reality is not same for everyone.

The third phase was the re-administration of the study tools related to the
different aspects of the study and to investigate any change in students’ response
on the selected variables.

The analysis of the data showed that the students’ reading and critical reading
increased after the intervention. The analysis of the students’ performance in the
pre-test and the post test confirms a marked difference in their critical reading
performance as the students not only understood what the text was about but also
what the text was trying to do by positioning the readers. Their responses show
their development from a reader reproducing the textual chunks to a reader who
offered opinion and elaboration of their views. Their answers not only
demonstrate their ability to recognize stereotypes and ideology being permeated
through texts but also their fervor to challenge power structure functioning
through the texts. Students’ alternate versions to the given texts clearly illustrate

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their ability to reread the texts in a new paradigm, a change in their horizon of
expectations.

Further, the study also suggests a significant impact of intervention on students’

motivation for reading, metacognitive awareness for reading strategies, reading
self concept and also gender role belief. Besides, the study also points towards
the significant positive correlation among reading, critical reading and the various
aspects of this study although a negative correlation was found between reading,
critical reading and gender role belief. The negative correlation between critical
reading and gender role belief points towards the success of the intervention in
bringing an egalitarian view among the students on gender aspect, since more the
students are critically aware, less stereotyped are their gender beliefs.

The findings of the study have implications at various levels- policy makers,
material producers, teacher-trainer and teacher trainees, in-service teachers and
students.

Present thesis comprises seven chapters. Given below is a short description of

each chapter:

Chapter 1: This chapter discusses and problematises the current status of

reading practices in English at secondary level in India. The chapter also
enlists research questions that this study strives to answer. Further, this
chapter also discusses different theories and practices that have emerged
over time for enabling the learners to read text critically and formulates
the conceptual framework for the present study.

Chapter 2: This chapter is devoted to present the review of the works done
in the areas related to reading, critical reading, and the select variables of
this study. Major works have been elaborated, their findings discussed
and gaps have been identified which has become the base for the present
study.

Chapter 3: This chapter is an attempt to provide the blueprint of this

study. Hence, the design of the study has been discussed in detail and the
data analysis techniques have been elaborated.

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 Chapter 4: A significant part of data for this study has been obtained from
the classroom discussion and observations. Hence, this chapter is an
attempt to provide a thick description of the intervention. To this end, the
design, development and tasks for the intervention have been described
and explained. Further, details and rationality of material selection for the
intervention have also been discussed. Moreover, the students’ discussion
and written responses on each of the texts used during the intervention
have also been analysed and reported.

Chapter 5: The chapter gives a detailed presentation and analysis of the

students’ reading and critical reading behavior. Hence, their responses to
proficiency test in reading and pre-test and post test have only been
elaborated, discussed and presented in this chapter. The chapter attempts
to analyse students responses to pre-test and post test through two
analytical methods: quantitative and qualitative. CDA and thematic
analysis have been used as two qualitative techniques to analyse students’
responses. Hence, wherever discourses emerge from children’s written
and oral discussions, it has been reported in verbatim and elaborated.

Chapter 6: This chapter is devoted to present the results and analysis of

students’ response to the selected variables. The data have been mainly
analysed quantitatively, however, the results have been supported with the
researcher’s own observation also.

Chapter 7: The chapter discusses the major findings of the study and
suggests certain measures for different stakeholders in the area of ESL
reading. It also discusses the limitations and scope for the further studies.

The thesis ends with an extensive list of books and articles consulted and cited in
the study. Besides, it also provides a copy of the study tools used during the data
collection process.

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