ENGLISH FOR

ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL
PURPOSES
 LESSON OBJECTIVES

• Define what Critical Reading is.

• Analyze passages using Critical Reading.
• Evaluate a passage using Critical thinking and
reading.
 What is Critical Reading?
Critical reading means engaging in what
you read by asking yourself questions such
as, ‘what is the author trying to say?’
or ‘what is the main argument being
presented?’
 Critical reading involves presenting a
reasoned argument that evaluates and
analyses what you have read.  Being
critical, therefore - in an academic sense -
means advancing your understanding, not
dismissing and therefore closing off
learning.
 As a Critical Reader you
should reflect on:
• What the text says:  after critically reading a piece you should be
able to take notes, paraphrasing - in your own words - the key
points.
• What the text describes: you should be confident that you have
understood the text sufficiently to be able to use your own
examples and compare and contrast with other writing on the
subject in hand.
• Interpretation of the text: this means that you should be able to
fully analyse the text and state a meaning for the text as a whole.
 Critical reading means being able to
reflect on what a text says, what it describes
and what it means by scrutinising the style
and structure of the writing, the language
used as well as the content.
 WHY DO WE NEED TO CRITICALLY
READ?
1. It is because you will not read the books you
read for leisure or pleasure– you will read texts
that are academic in nature; more often than
non. Academic texts need to be chewed and
savoured for a long time before their meanings
can be fully digested.
2. Since you will read academic literature, you must
evaluate the arguments in the text using critical reading.
You need to distinguish fact from opinion, and look at
arguments given for and against the various claims. This
also means being aware of your opinions and assumptions
(positive and negative) of the text you are reading so you
can evaluate it honestly. It is also important to be aware
of the writer's background, assumptions and purposes.
All writers have a reason for writing and will emphasize
details which support their reason for writing and ignore
details that do not.
3. Using Critical Thinking and Creative
Thinking precisely lead us to practical
judgments, evaluations, and decisions;
furthermore, it proves useful in discovering the
bigger picture in what we are reading, thus,
putting us in a position of research-oriented
character before finalizing a conclusion.
 GENERALIZATION
Critical reading goes further than just being
satisfied with what a text says, it also involves
reflecting on what the text describes, and
analysing what the text actually means, in the
context of your studies.
Activity 1-Direction: Using critical reading, read
the passages below and answer the questions based
on your understanding. (5 points each)
1. Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, 238
The message to Congress revealed Lincoln’s thinking at a crucial moment of
transition. He clung to a proposal he had been promoting for a year with no
success, yet pleaded with Americans to abandon the ‘dogmas’ of the past. He
again endorsed colonization, yet referred to prospective emigrants as ‘free
Americans of African descent’ rather than alien members of some other
nationality, and argued that the nation had nothing to fear if former slaves
remained in the United States.
Questions:
1. What is the passage all about?
2. What do you think is the main point of the
author?
3. State the evidences of your answer in item 1 and
explain.
4. Do you agree with the author’s statement?
 2.Michael Sherry, The Rise of American Air
Power, 55
The planners’ vacillation about whether the final objective would
be the morale of the population or its war-making capacity was a
critical weakness of their doctrine. A 1926 text asserted that
“complete destruction of vital parts of the enemy’s sources of
supply” would lead “eventually . . . to the collapse of the whole
system.” In the masterful evasion of Muir Fairchild, an important
tactical school instructor who wrote in the wake of Poland’s
defeat in 1939:
The industrial mechanisms which provide the means of
war to the armed forces, and those that provide the means
of sustaining a normal life to the civil population, are not
separate, disconnected entities. They are joined at many
vital points. If not electrical power, then the destruction
of some other common element, will render them both
inoperative at a single blow. The nationwide reaction to
the stunning discovery that the sources of the country’s
power to resist and sustain itself, are being relentlessly
destroyed, can hardly fail to be decisive.
This was a disturbing mixture of confidence about
success and evasion about how to achieve it. Admittedly,
Fairchild finally considered the enemy’s will as the
ultimate objective, and distinctions between will and the
capacity to wage war can be arbitrary. Yet it made a great
difference, in strategy and in the lives of the attackers
and defenders, which objective was singled out. For
Fairchild, apparently, one objective was as good as
another. As was often the case in strategic thinking, belief
in success encouraged imprecision about how to achieve
it.
Questions:
1. What is the passage all about?
2. What do you think is the main point of the author?
3. State the evidences of your answer in item 2 and
explain.
4. Do you agree with the author’s statement?
THANK YOU FOR PATICIPATING!