CRITICAL

READING AND
THINKING IN
THE
LANGUAGE
• Critical reading is evaluating written material –
comparing the ideas discovered in the material
with known standards and drawing conclusions
about their accuracy , appropriateness , and
timeliness . The critical reader must be an
active reader questioning , searching for facts,
and suspending judgement until he or she
consider all of the material. Critical reading
depends upon literal comprehension and
interpreting compression ; grasping implied
ideas is especially important.
• If people are to make intelligent
decision based upon the materials that
they read , such as which political
candidate to support, which products
to buy , which movies to attend , which
television programs to watch , and so
on, they must read critically . Since
children are faced with many of these
decisions early in life , they should
receive instruction in critical reading
early.
• Teachers can begin promoting critical
reading as early in the first grade , or even in
the kindergarten , by encouraging critical
thinking . When reading a story to the class ,
they can ask : “Do you think this story is
real ? Or make – believe ?” Why do you
think so ?” If children have difficulty in
answering imaginative questions , teachers
can always help them understand how to
judge the reality or fantasy in a story .
 EXAMPLES OF THIS WILL BE LIKE ASKING
THE FOLLOWING:
• 1. Could the things in this story really
happened?
• 2. Do you know of ay children who can fly ?
• 3. Have you heard of anyone who stayed the
same age of all the time ?
• 4. Have you heard anyone who stayed the
same age all of the time?
• 5. Do all people grow up after enough years
have passed ?
 EXAMPLES OF THIS WILL BE LIKE ASKING
THE FOLLOWING:
• 6. Can animals really talk ?
• 7. Have you ever heard of an animal talking ?
• 8. Cite some examples of great movies with
talking animals.
• 9. Discuss those movies with your classmates.
– Critical thinking can also be promoted at an early
stage through critical reading of pictures . If they
have seen pictures that contain inaccuracies , they
need to learn to judge what information is or is not
significant . They do not need to struggle with
insignificant information . Critical thinking is often
important to the interpretation of humour ;
therefore humorous literature can be enjoyable
vehicle for teaching critical reading skills . It is
specially good for determining the author’s purpose
(which) is often to entertain , but sometimes also to
convince through humour , and for evaluating
content ( especially in distinguishing fact from
fantasy and recognising assumptions.
 MATURE CRITICAL READERS MUST CONSIDER AND
EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING FOR CRITICAL READING AND
THINKING PURPOSE :
– 1. AUTHOR’S PURPOSE - Critical readers will try to
determine whether the author wrote the material to
inform , to entertain , to persuade , or for some other
purposes . This is an interpretative reading skill.
– 2. AUTHOR’S POINT OF VIEW – Critical readers will want
to know if the writer belonged to a group , live in an
area n, or held strong view that we tend to bias any
opinions about subject in one way or another. Two
accounts of the Philippine war might be very different if
the reader reads it like the Spanish – American War
(1898 ) and the Japanese War (1945).
 MATURE CRITICAL READERS MUST CONSIDER AND
EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING FOR CRITICAL READING AND
THINKING PURPOSE :
– 1. Author’s Style and Technique in Writing.
– The author’s style is the manner in which he or she uses vocabulary
( vividness , precision , use of emotional word, use of figurative
language ). Special attention should be given to use of figurative
language , expression that are not meant to be taken literally , and
use of emotional words , which do much to sway the reader toward or
away from a point of view or attitude.
– On the other hand , being critical in any academic inquiry means
“adopting an attitude of skepticism; habitually questioning the quality
of your owns and other’s specific claims to knowledge about the
field ; scrutinizing claims whether values underlying prescriptions for
improving practice are acceptable ; respecting others as people at all
times ; and being open minded and being costructive.
 LANGUAGE AS DEVELOPMENT AND
SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
– Language is the principal means whereby we conduct our
social lives when it is used in contexts of communication , it
is bound up with culture and multiple and complex ways.
– Language is social in a second way ; it is part of changing
human T.S. Eliot suggested that each time a new literary
text joins the Tradition , it shifts and alerts how we read all
that has come before ( Eliot , 1964) Eliot also redefines
good reading as “class “ reading. A good reader could
detect the elegant , self – contained system of images and
meanings with a work. Analysis and insights are the
grounds for personal response and evaluation.
 LANGUAGE AS DEVELOPMENT AND
SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
– To begin with the personal words people utter refer to
common experience. They express facts , ideas or events that
are communicable because they refer to stock knowledge
about the world that other people share. Words also reflect
their authors’ attitudes and beliefs , their point of views that
are also those of others . In both cases, language expresses
culture reality.
– Finally , language is a system of signs that is seen as having
itself a cultural value. Speakers identify themselves and
others through their use of language as a symbol of their
social identity. The prohibition of its use is often perceived by
its speakers as a rejection of their group and their culture.
Thus, we can say that language symbolizes cultural reality.
THANK YOU SO
MUCH
AND GOD
BLESS….
 Dear Lord, Thank you that you promise us That
when two or more come together in Your name
You are with us. Thank you Lord that you have
been with us throughout this lesson And that
you are with us right now. Inspire us as we leave
this place To love and serve You always.
Thank you for our school and everybody who works
and studies in it. We are so grateful for all the things we
have learnt today. Be with us now as we journey home.
Please keep us safe and watch over all our families and
friends.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen