This study investigated aspects of critical reading in two countries. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as instruments with a research population which consisted of 160 students from Indian and Malaysian ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms.
The results suggest that more students from India as compared to Malaysia prefer to select their own reading material. The majority of the respondents in both countries attached great value to critical thinking while reading. According to the respondents, a critical thinker/reader should be curious, logical, self-critical and have the ability to identify problems and their solutions and distinguish between facts and opinions. A significant number were of the view that their teachers do embed critical thinking in different activities; however, a large number were not convinced by the teachers’ assessment of critical thinking. In the Indian context, there appeared to be more emphasis on creative expression in post-reading tasks as compared to the Malaysian context.
See Cirocki, A., M. K. David, D. Gupta & G. Dalal. (2015). Critical Thinking in the Malaysian and Indian ESL Reading Classroom. Interdisciplinary Journal of Linguistics, 8, 90-116.
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