•CHAPTER 2

READING TEXTS
CRITICALLY
PONDER ON THIS
STATEMENT OF GARY
GOSHGARIAN: “CRITICAL
READING IS AN ACTIVE
PROCESS OF DISCOVERY.”
•What does it mean to read critically?
•Why did Goshgarian say that critical reading
is an active process of discovery?
 YOU CAN MAP OUT YOUR ANSWERS BY WRITING
WORDS/PHRASES THAT YOU ASSOCIATE WITH
CRITICAL READING, ACTIVE AND PROCESS OF
DISCOVERY. WRITE AS MANY WORDS AS YOU CAN

CRITICAL PROCESS OF
READING DISCOVERY

ACTIVE

Based on your word association. Explain why critical reading is an active

process of discovery. Form a group and compare and discuss your
answers with your classmates.
WHAT IS CRITICAL READING

Imagine that you are reading a magazine and you

see the following statements
 Girls most likely do well in academics during
high school years but boys get ahead of them
in college
 Female teenagers are more concerned with
their physical appearance that male teenagers
 Do you believe and agree with the
statements after reading them? Would you
question their veracity? How would you react
after reading the statements?

If you question their validity of the

statements by asking the person to give the
basis for his/her assertions, then you are
one step closer to becoming a critical reader.
 Critical reading Involves scrutinizing any
information that you read or hear. Critical
reading means not easily believing information
offered to you by a text . “ Read not to
contradict and confute; nor to believe and take
for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but
to weigh and consider” as Francis Bacon stated
in the Essays:
 Critical reading is an active process of
discovery because when you read critically, you
are just receiving information but also making
an interaction with the writer. The interaction
happens when you question the writer’s claims
and assertions and when you comment on the
writer’s ideas.
 Ramage, Bean and Johnson (2006) identified
the following requirements in critical thinking:
 The ability to pose problematic questions

 The ability to analyze a problem in all its

dimensions- to define its key terms, determine its
causes, understand its history, appreciate its
human dimension and its connection to one’s own
personal experience, and appreciate what makes
it problematic or complex
 The ability to find, gather and interpret data,
facts, and other information relevant to the
problem

 The ability to imagine alternative solutions to

the problem, to see different ways in which the
question might be answered and different
perspectives for viewing it
 The ability to analyze competing approaches
and answers, to construct arguments for and
against alternatives, and to choose the best
solution in the light values, objectives and other
criteria that you determine and articulate

 The ability to write an effective argument

justifying your choice while acknowledging
counter-arguments
The following are some suggested ways to help
you become a critical reader:
1. Annotate what you read. One of the ways to
interact with the writer is to write on the text. You
can underline, circle or highlight words, phrases,
or sentences that contain important details, or you
can write marginal notes asking questions or
commenting on the ides of the writer. There are no
clear and definite guidelines to annotating a text;
you can create your own style. For instance, you
can circle unfamiliar words or underline ideas that
you think are questionable.
2. Outline the text. In order to fully engage in a
dialogue with the text or with the writer of the
text, you need to identify the main points of the
writer and list them down so you can also
identify the ideas that the writer has raised to
support his/her stand. You don’t neccesarily
have to write a structured sentence or topic
outline for this purpose; you can just write in
bullet or in numbers.
3. Summarize the text. Aside from outlining, you
can also get the main points of the text you are
reading and write its gist in your own words.
This will test how much you have understood
the text and will help you evaluate it critically. A
summary is usually one paragraph long.
4. Evaluate the text. The most challenging part in
critical reading is the process of evaluating what
you are reading. This is the point where the other
three techniques- annotating, outlining,
summarizing – will be helpful. When you evaluate
a text, you question the author’s purpose and
intentions, as well as his/her assumptions in the
claims. You also check if the arguments are
supported by evidence and if the evidence are
valid and are from and are from credible sources.
 The four suggested ways in reading critically
are not isolated processes that are
independent of each other; they are
overlapping processes that you can use
simultaneously as you engage in a dialogue
with the writer of the text.
 Moreover, there is another important skill
that a critical reader must learn, that is, how to
spot flaws in reasoning. Reread the two
statements in the How Well Do You Know It
section. What do you think is the problem in
those statements in terms of logic and
reasoning?
 Apparently , both statements are
unqualified generalizations. Arriving at a hasty
generalization without considering evidence is
fallacy. What is a fallacy? You will find out after
reading the story that follows