Developing critical reading skills for first year students in English department, college of foreign languages, Vietnam national university, Hanoi

explaining about required skills, the procedure or the benefits, the students can be considered learning with their eyes closed. They do not know what they are doing and why they are doing it. That fact leads to a need to adopt an explicit approach to develop critical reading skills in which students and teachers must know what they are doing, how they are doing and what benefits they can get. Only by doing that students and teachers will be conscious of and value what they do. Critical reading in the classroom The data of this part are taken from both the interview and the observation. They focus mainly on the method that teachers use in reading class and students’ reactions to the method. Precisely, they are about the stages that teachers may have in each of their reading lessons, the way they instruct the lessons, the way teachers and students interact with each other. Mainly, this kind of data will serve the adaptation, adjustment or reformation of the syllabus. Figure 9 – The use of all three stages in reading class of the teachers The figure presents the percentage of the teachers who never, rarely, sometimes, usually and always use all the three reading stages in reading lessons. 80% of the teachers say that they usually use all the three stages because they understand the advantages they can get when applying all the stages. Yet, the activities used are quite monotonous. What they ask the students to do is to discuss in groups or in pairs. Though sometimes the teachers design other activities such as listening to songs or writing summaries, they do not think there is real efficiency. None of the teachers who says they never use all the three stages seems to be a prospective sign. However, 10% of the teachers who sometimes use all the stages still shows the fact that some teachers are not fully aware of the importance of gradual steps to develop critical reading skills. The researcher also witnesses some other facts during the time of observation. The number of teachers who help students learn to be confident and independent in the classroom stops at number seven out of ten. Three other teachers make the following mistakes when instructing students in reading class: + make fuzzy instructions or give students little time to read the instructions of the reading tasks + impose their ideas by using such commanding words as ‘must’, ‘have to’, ‘must not’ (to show their respect to students’ own values and perceptions, teachers should use other milder forms such as ‘should’, ‘might’, ‘may’ or ‘I suggest …’) + correct the mistakes immediately and rudely intervene after students have made a mistake. This action embarrasses students and prevents them from trying something new. + be too helpful. A teacher from 07.1.E2 is so eager to help students in giving out the explanations of answers and is too willingly expressing her ideas in stead of asking students to think about and discuss them. + be so strict that the students are scared. A teacher claims that first year students should be trained to be more disciplined so they will behave better when they are senior. She applies some harsh punishments in class if students do not obey the course rules such as asking students to go out if they do not finish homework, giving students mark zero if they answer the questions incorrectly, yelling at them if they do not satisfy her requirements. Those kinds of punishments prevent students from freely and comfortably expressing their ideas which indirectly might lead to a passive, dependent way of thinking. 2. Discussion of major findings After analyzing the data, the researcher has arrived at the following major findings: - All teachers are aware of the importance and significance of critical thinking and critical reading. However, they are not motivated to develop these skills for students because of the existing constraints concerning course’s aims, the material, the lack of training and class time. This suggests the adaptation and changes in objectives, syllabus and materials. Especially, the criteria to develop a critical reading curriculum should be taken into serious consideration. - The students who are key players in learning process do not understand fully about critical thinking and critical reading. Many of them even think it is too soon to develop critical reading skills and the first year should be the time for other reading skills to be mastered. This idea can lead to some disadvantages later when passive reading becomes habitual to students. - If the researcher were to alter the situation, immediate actions over the teachers, the students, the materials as well as the curriculum should be taken. Below is the actions of experiment and the evaluation of this experiment. The actions To conduct the research, the following actions have been taken: a. Raising students’ awareness towards critical thinking and critical reading by orienting students to change their attitude toward critical reading. Students should understand that critical reading skills as well as critical thinking skills must be developed gradually in a long period of time and the sooner they start practicing the skills, the better because if they wait until becoming older, some thinking habits will be fixed and impossible to change. Therefore, a short orientation session is conducted in the first week of the second semester. The researcher gives a short talk about benefits of critical thinking and critical reading and lets students discuss about general reading skills and critical reading skills and gives students chances to play some cognitive games with which students can be inspired by the interest and fun of thinking activities (for the procedure and activities of the orientation, see Appendix 7). b. Using explicit approach during the time of experiment. Before each of the tasks, the researcher explains the structures, purposes, and ways to fulfill it. The awareness may bring about opportunities for students to understand more about critical reading skills and evaluate their action. c. Making some changes to the syllabus by re-dividing the work in class and tasks at home of teachers and students. The current reading syllabus was adapted and added with more appropriate activities and exercises so that students would have more chances to practice and develop critical reading skills. This new syllabus was applied in one class called experimental class by the researcher in seven weeks from Week one to Week seven of the second semester. The researcher also designs brand new reading texts for each of the weeks so that instead of/ or in addition to doing and correcting the exercises in ‘Practice your reading skills’, teachers and students have new and motivating activities to do. In-class time is devoted to class-reading activities (within one period) and home reading correction (within one period). The new texts and tasks are arranged from simple to more complicated level . ‘Practice your reading skills’ is now just a home-reading material which will be used during the time of correcting homework. One last period is used as tutorial time where teachers can give assistance to students if they need to or give them further exercises or simply exchange ideas about any of the learning and teaching issues. The time gives both teachers and students to recognize and alter their perception, biases, assumption and belief. To test the appropriateness and validity of the adjustment, observation is continuously kept from the beginning to the end of the implementation. d. Adding one more critical activity into a syllabus. The researcher chooses reading reflection as it offers lots of advantages of which the major one is extending students’ experience with the words, language, and ideas in different readings by interactively reading them every day. e. Providing teachers with a set of teachers’ manual and strategies which accompany them to get to a successful critical reading development. With a critical teachers’ manual, both teachers and students can get the benefits. First and foremost, with a book where step-by-step notes and answers for every exercise can be found, teachers do not waste time finding the answers to the questions and tasks in the student’s book. The time should be spent more effectively designing more integrated tasks and exercises. Next, the suggested activities for each stage of teaching and learning in the teacher’s manual provide teachers and students a right way to focus on personal engagement, both intellectual and emotional. Last but by no means least, a good teacher’s manual ensures that the teachers will never lose sight of effective language teaching and learning methods. The book is to direct the teachers not to get out of the right way in language teaching in general and critical thinking development in particular. f. Designing the activities for all the three stages with detailed steps, suggestions and directions. The three stages of reading involve teaching students to delve into text. The Pre-reading stage provides a scaffold for new concepts and vocabulary, promotes engagement and provides a means for prediction. The second stage, While-reading, allows students to integrate the knowledge and information they bring to the text with ‘new’ information in the text. The last stage, Post-reading, allows students to articulate and process their understanding of what they have read and to think critically about the validity of the text. The evaluation of the experiment To explore changes in learners' critical reading ability, a series of standardized tests were administered. Before the adapted material was used, there had been a Pre-test for students from both classes to check their reading skills in general and critical reading skills in particular. The score of the test would be recorded and analyzed so the result of the procedure could be tried out. After Week seven, the experimental and control classes had the same overall test (an achievement test) and the results of the test would be markedly taken into consideration. The mid-term test was used as this Post Test. After seven weeks of implementing the given tools, the results are very optimistic. Comparing the result of the Pre-test with the Post-test (table 8) done by twenty five students in the experimental group and comparing those results with ones of twenty five students in control group (table 9), the positiveness can be seen as follows: Range of marks 5 < 5 - 6 7 - 8 9 - 10 Total Pre-test Number of students 6 11 7 1 25 Post-test Number of students 2 5 15 3 25 Table 8 - The number of students in experimental group getting each range of marks in Pre test (before the action implemented) and Post test (after the action implemented) Range of marks 5 < 5 - 6 7 - 8 9 - 10 Total Pre-test number of students 6 12 5 2 25 Post-test Number of students 4 11 7 3 25 Table 9 - The number of students in control group getting each range of marks in the Pre test (before the action implemented) and Post test (after the action implemented) From the table eight, the figures show the progress that students in experimental group have made after the action is implemented. The number of students who get mark below 5, marks 5 and 6 reduces and the number of the students getting marks 7 and 8 increases sharply. Mean while, though the marks are almost similar from the beginning, the progress that students in control group get after seven weeks seem to remain limited. Some doubtful people may claim that higher marks that students in experimental group have can be the result of seven weeks of normal hard work, i.e., if the action had not been activated, after seven weeks students could still have been able to gain the same result. Yet, when examining closely the tests done by the students, one can easily realize that the considerable progress made is not only on vocabulary and general reading skills such as skimming and scanning but also critical reading skills like comparing, contrasting and summarizing. The example below can be taken for illustration. In the pre test, the students are asked to read the following text and choose the correct answer. Americans consume about 11 billion bananas each year. Most people think they are eating the fruit of a tree, but the banana plant has neither the woody trunk nor the boughs that a tree has. It is actually a giant stem at the top of which a large bud appears. The leaves of the bud roll back to reveal clusters of small flowers. These develop into bananas. The height of the plant, 8 to 30 feet, is what creates the confusion. In many tropical countries, the leaves of some kinds of banana plants are also useful. Because they contain fibers, the leaves can be used to make baskets, bags, mats, and even roofs for houses. What do you learn from this paragraph that is NOT actually stated? A. Growing bananas can be a big business. B. Banana plants grow as tall as many trees. C. The banana is a fruit. This type of exercise requires students to understand the main idea and the organization of the text. It also demands students’ inferring and referring ability. Almost every student chooses A when just a small number of students choose B as the correct answer. Though the text mentions ‘eleven billion bananas consumed by Americans each year’, it is not about business. It is about the physical features of banana trees. Those who get correct answer understand correctly the main idea. In post test, students are also adjured to do the same task with a different text: People all over the world eat onions. One country that grows a lot of onions is Switzerland. In Switzerland, most of the onions are gathered in early November. The Swiss have a festival in honor of selling their onions. Men dress up in funny costumes. They wear masks shaped like onions with funny faces painted on them. Children laugh and call them onion heads. Everyone in Switzerland loves onion season. What do you learn from this paragraph that is NOT actually stated? A. The onion harvest is an important social event for the Swiss. B. Onions are almost as important to the Swiss as cheese.C. Onions are a major crop for the Swiss. This time, all the students get A as the correct answer. That result reflects not only a deeper understanding about the text but also the ability to generalize points in the text. Choosing A means students know how to conclude many small ideas into a big one. The onion harvest is an important social event for the Swiss because there is ‘a festival in honor of selling their onions.’ And in the festival, the people have lots of activities and do things that they never do in everyday life. Overall, the results of the tests demonstrate that the attempts in developing critical reading skills have moderate efficacy. Though the results have not revealed the strong evidence for the suitability and validity of all actions taken, the students’ making progress proves that if teachers follow the path with further research, little changes or adaptation, the outcome of the teaching and learning critical reading skills will be much improved. 3. Recommendations As mentioned in the previous part and elsewhere in this study, the most essential elements affecting the efficiency of teaching and learning of any language course are the syllabus (which also includes the material), the teachers and the students themselves. Therefore, recommendations which are primarily based on the major findings of this research on how to develop critical thinking skills in general and critical reading skills in particular in teaching reading to first year students are categorized into three sections namely recommendations to the syllabus, recommendations to the teachers, and recommendations to the students. 3.1. Recommendations to the syllabus To help students form and develop their critical thinking and critical reading skills, the following adjustments should be made to the existing reading syllabus: Reconstructing the current material - Due to obvious weaknesses as already discussed in part b, 1.2.3, chapter 1 more types of activities should be added to the current material for encouraging the student to practice higher order thinking skills such as analyzing or making inferences. These activities will help build the students’ ability to not always look for the obvious answers, hence, are a good way to begin pushing them to “think out-of-the-box” and build upon what they have comprehended from the early points in the lessons. To serve this purpose, the core material can be supplemented by a reading package which consists of texts related to the chosen themes from various sources and of various text types being prepared by teachers or self- prepared by students in accordance with teachers’ instructions. The following text which has been added to the reading section of the topic “Famous people” can be taken as an example of a reading text which contains inference questions Thomas Alva Edison lit up the world with his invention of the electric light. Without him, the world might still be a dark place. However, the electric light was not his only invention. He also invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and over 1,200 other things. About every two weeks he created something new. Thomas A. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11, 1847. His family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, when he was seven years old. Surprisingly, he attended school for only two months. His mother, a former teacher, taught him a few things, but Thomas was mostly self-educated. His natural curiosity led him to start experimenting at a young age with electrical and mechanical things at home. When he was 12 years old, he got his first job. He became a newsboy on a train that ran between Port Huron and Detroit. He set up a laboratory in a baggage care of the train so that he could continue his experiments in his spare time. Unfortunately, his first work experience did not end well. Thomas was fired when he accidentally set fire to the floor of the baggage car. Thomas then worked for five years as a telegraph operator, but he continued to spend much of his time on the job conducting experiments. He got his first patent in 1868 for a vote recorder run by electricity. However, the vote recorder was not a success. In 1870, he sold another invention, a stock-ticker, for $40,000. A stock-ticker is a machine that automatically prints stock prices on a tape. He was then able to build his first shop in Newark, New Jersey. Thomas Edison was totally deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other, but thought of his deafness as a blessing in many ways. It kept conversations short, so that he could have more time for work. He called himself a "two-shift man" because he worked 16 out of every 24 hours. Sometimes he worked so intensely that his wife had to remind him to sleep and eat. Thomas Edison died at the age of 84 on October 18, 1931, at his estate in West Orange, New Jersey. He left numerous inventions that improved the quality of life all over the world. 1. Thomas Edison did things in this order __________. A. he became a telegraph operator, a newsboy, and then got his first patent B. he became a newsboy, got his first patent, and then became a telegraph operator C. he got a patent, became a telegraph operator, and then became a newsboy D. he became a newsboy, a telegraph operator, and then got a patent -> This is sequence question. The answer is plainly stated in the passage, students just need to figure out the order in which Edison did these things. The third paragraph says that he got his first job as a newsboy on a train. He then got fired from that job. The fourth paragraph says that he ‘then worked for five years as a telegraph operator.’ After that, it says that he ‘got his first patent.’ If students read looking only for the details that relate to the question, it becomes clear that the answer is D. 2. Edison considered his deafness __________. A. a disadvantage B. a blessing C. something from a priest D. a necessity This is a detailed question. The answer is given directly in the text, students just need to be skilled enough readers to find it. The answer is in the fifth paragraph. It says that Edison was deaf, but that he ‘thought of his deafness as a blessing.’ It then goes on to describe in detail the reasons why Edison considered his deafness a blessing. 3. Of all the inventions, __________ was probably the most important for civilization. A. the vote recorder B. the stock ticker C. the light bulb D. the motion picture camera This is an inference question. The answer is not directly given in the passage, but students can infer (or assume) which is the best answer from the information given. For the answer they should look at the first couple of sentences of the first paragraph. It explains that Edison ‘lit up the world with his invention of the electric light,’ or light bulb. ‘The world might still be a dark place’ if it weren’t for his invention. These sentences indicate that his invention of the light bulb had a deep impact on the world. There are no statements about any of his other inventions that make such a bold claim. For questions like these, students should also use their own common sense. Think about the inventions mentioned. Look around to see if they are probably sitting in a place that is using many different light bulbs. There is probably not a stock ticker, a vote recorder, or a movie camera in the room. This simple fact indicates that the light bulb had a more widespread impact on the world than any of his other inventions. 4. The main idea of this passage is __________. A. Thomas Edison was always interested in science and inventions, and he invented many important things. B. Thomas Edison could not keep a job. C. Thomas Edison worked day and night on his experiments. D. Deaf people make good inventors because they can focus without the distraction of spoken conversation. To figure out the main idea of the reading, readers are supposed to figure out which answer best summarizes the passage. Before picking an answer, readers need to ask themselves what theme or idea is consistent throughout the passage. Of all the four options, answers C and A seem to be both correct. Yet, answer C is not really the main focus of the text. To figure out that the best answer, therefore, is A, readers need to understand clearly about the text, evaluate different points in each of the options as well as the ability to be the topic sentence for the passage of A. - The material should also include lessons that will teach and encourage the students to make valid arguments. Therefore, standardized texts with good arguments must be well chosen for students lo learn and follow as examples. Analyzing the model arguments, weighing the evidence and learning how to choose details to support the given topics are what students have to involve themselves in their reading process. The follow-up activity such as debating about topics that are based on the information from the original lesson is a helpful one since it gives students the chance to practice making more valid points and reasonable arguments to reflect their true understanding of the material. Two typical sorts of questions which require students to make arguments are ‘compare and contrast questions’ and ‘questions about the attitudes of the author or the reader’. Adding more task-based activities to the syllabus If the syllabus is now theme-based, it is quite significant to add more task-based activities which are organized around tasks. Task-based activities help resolve the matter of boredom. Through tasks, the students are asked to explore all aspects of the reading texts including ideas, arguments in addition to lexis, grammar and discourse elements. As a result, the interaction between students themselves as well as between teachers and students is also improved. Assigning reading reflection as homework Reading reflection should used as a reading assignment because of the advantages of it offers in helping students to develop critical reading skills. Doing reading reflection, students have to read a lot then analyze and evaluate what they have read. Besides, reading reflection also encourages students to develop all-grounded arguments. To complete this kind of assignment students must answer many ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions which ultimately provokes their ability of thinking and expressing ideas. Following are the brief guidelines for reading reflection assignment (for the detailed guidelines, see Appendix 8) Students are to collect reading materials every week and to build up a Reading portfolio. Reading texts can be taken from all accessible sources: books, stories, newspapers, magazines , internet, etc. The reading text in each week must be relevant to the theme indicated in the syllabus, 300 word long at least and 800 word long at most. It can be a cohesive reading text, or the combination of several separate small texts. The text should be authentic. In reading the text, students are to recognize interesting words/phrases, or expressions/structures that are connected to the theme in question, and then make up sentences containing the word/phrase. They are also expected to do the accompanied exercise(s) if there are any. After reading, students are to write a short reflection paragraph (no more than 200 words). Students must indicate sources from which the reading text has been taken. In the course of experimenting this action, the researcher also provides controlled tasks along with the log (a storage space of the ideas initiated by Brown (2001:132 - 138) - a set of sample questions and instructions that the researcher asks the students to follow. The reason for this is this is the first time reading reflection is introduced to first year students as an assignment so they should be clear about what and how to do it. (For sample questions and tasks, see Appendix 9) 3.2. Recommendations to the teachers Being a key element in the process of promoting students’ critical thinking and critical reading skills, teachers should Be critical To teach students to be critical, teachers must be critical first. By making their own thought processes explicit in class — explaining their reasoning, evaluating evidence for a claim, probing the credibility of a source, or even describing what has confused them — the teachers provide a powerful, influential example to students. Through communicating about what the teachers value and supporting students’ contributions and efforts to think critically, teachers can increase confidence, and motivate students to continue building up their thinking skills. Being critical also means being flexible. Teachers can be flexible and adaptable in each of the situations by choosing more than just one way to conduct the lesson. As well, flexible classroom management is concerned with knowing learners, their learning styles and abilities being fundamental to the success of any individual language teacher. Learning about student’s ability takes the root from the student-centered approach and is able to help teachers maximize student productivity, knowledge acquisition, skills augmentation and development of personal and professional abilities. Knowing the style and abilities of students helps the teachers to make wise choices of a variety of instructional tools and methods, as well as flexible arrangements of time and place. Be friendly It is true that students can learn more and are more motivated to learn in a more friendly learning atmosphere. This is particularly true for classrooms in which learners are encouraged to be critical thinkers and critical readers. In this sense, teachers can create a friendly, open climate where students feel free and comfortable in analyzing, making their judgments or offering solutions to a problem without fearing to be punished for giving the wrong answers. Regarding the language of instructions, teachers should not use ‘you must’ or ‘you have to’ too often as these expressions show teachers’ impositions and prevent students from being free and creative. Teachers may also show their support to students’ efforts by keeping a relaxing face, nodding or giving positive, encouraging comments. In addition, teachers should not always be hasty in giving answers to the students. It is factual that a critical teacher knows how to enhance their students’ ability in the learning process by giving them enough time to think and when is the best time to interrupt for assistance. Be explicit In language pedagogy, there are two kinds of approaches: explicit and implicit. With the implicit approach, students develop the skills and get knowledge unconsciously. They do what the teachers or the book tell them to without knowing about the skills they are practicing and the reasons why and ways to practice them. However, most teachers and students prefer the latter because according to this approach all the purposes, reasons, strategies of the learning process are introduced. Obviously, it is really difficult to ask students to read critically when they do not know what critical reading and its strategies are. Therefore, before the course, the teachers need to explain the concept ‘critical reading’ and in each lesson, it is important to characterize briefly the strategies used to do each of reading tasks. Find out about students’ interests and help them set their own goals In the learner-centered teaching and learning approach, due attention is paid to meeting students’ needs. Thus, to investigate students’ needs and interests is the first step that teachers have to do as soon as a course has started. The given information can be gained through an orientation day in the first week of each semester. That is the time students can raise their voice and talk about things which are useful for teachers to formulate a plan for teaching and learning. During the orientation day, teachers can also help students define their own purposes and aims for their studying in accordance with the course objectives and requirements. These set goals allow teachers and students to check and monitor the progress. Promote cooperative learning Researchers have found that interaction and cooperation among students, in the form of well-structured group /pair work plays a central role in stimulating critical thinking in language learning. Examples of activities which require students to work together to formulate and test hypotheses, to practice asking meaningful questions, to analyze claims, to evaluate evidence, to explain and justify their reasoning etc. are group/ panel discussions or debates, case studies, problem-solving exercises, to name but a few. Follow three stages to teach reading To read critically, students also have to follow three stages. Being different from the three stages in general reading, the stages here contain some typical and unique steps. Dang (2004) lists the steps as following: - Pre-reading: + Considering the purpose of reading: The readers should define the purpose of his reading (looking for information, main ideas, completing comprehension or detailed analysis) + Previewing: Before reading, the readers should learn about the title, quotation, information about the authors, introduction, subheadings or/and headings to get preceding ideas and understand about the context of the text. The readers scan the piece to get an idea of what the text is about and what the main argument is. + Contextualizing: the reader may put the text in its history, biography and culture. Knowing about the context seems very important as the context itself creates the color and the features of the text. Hence, contextualizing helps readers to reduce their prejudices through the action of experience sharing. For that reason, the text will be more positively objectively read. - While-reading: + Recording thoughts, ideas and questions + Underlining, highlighting or circling important parts or points that you agree and disagree with or ideas requiring further study + Adding brief explanation or opinion to the points, parts or ideas. This activity is called annotating which helps the readers to remember and internalize the material they read. It also encourages the readers to reflect on the text, and come up with their own ideas, perhaps for future essays. - Post- reading: + Outlining and summarizing: Reflecting on challenges to your beliefs and values. The readers should look over the annotations they have made while reading to restate an overall idea of the text in their own words. They can choose to make outlines to have a general view on the text or to summarize to solidify their understanding. + Responding to the text: After having developed a clear sense of the author’s argument and line of reasoning, the readers develop their own ideas into an essay. In short, to make reading a real thinking, reflecting process, it is necessary for teachers to provide students with sufficient preparation and review time. Beside the while reading time when students can take the full advantage of critical reading development exercises and activities, they need time to assemble their thoughts and think about what they will read or have just read. The student preparation is a key stage and should not be rushed. This is the time the students set up for themselves evocative questions about the content of the text and the connection between their own prior experience and the knowledge they may meet in the text. As well, the after reading time is important while students are provided with the opportunities to turn input into output and think over what they have got from the reading. It is possible to claim that one feature that distinguishes critical reading from other types of reading is the effective uses of the pre stage and post stage. Encourage students to read extensively Reading extensively will help students improve their background knowledge and have more information about issues of concern from various perspectives which accordingly allows students to compare, contrast and decide what to believe. To make this work, teachers can give them a list of recommended readings which are available in the library or accessible from other sources. To check whether students have done this , teachers can ask them to do some of the tasks from the books in the recommended list or randomly use the tasks in the exam. More systematically, teachers can assign reading portfolio to check student’s homework. The portfolios which can be designed as a kind of report or summary, are possibly collected weekly or twice a week. Teachers can also ask students to share what they read with friends through presentations or small talks. Teach students to properly take notes The habit of using pens, pencils or highlighters is very significant to critical reading. Good note-taking skills help students to refer back to the content they need and push them toward independent thinking. During the time of reading, students need to underline, circle, take notes, write questions or remarks as they become involved in the text. Therefore, to prepare for class, students should always be advised to bring along with them pens, pencils, highlighters, paper, books with large margins. Also, modeling and a system of sample symbols should be introduced to students as the course begins. (for the sample of note-taking symbols, see Appendix 10) 3.3. Recommendations to the students To be successful in language learning and to become more critical learners in general and more critical readers in particular, students should … Be alert To live in the information-driven society today, students should always remain aware and attentive to the abundant sources of information which can be both a great advantage or a deep trouble. To avoid any of the unexpected problems, students should always be alert to make wise choices of what material to choose, how to use the information and why to use it. In other words, students should check for the origin and reliability of the sources. In certain cases, when they are unsure to decide that for themselves, they should seek consultancy from teachers or other mature, reliable people. Develop a sense of independence in learning through study diary writing One good way to be a more effective and independent learner as suggested by Nunan (1996) is to write study diaries. A study diary is a notebook students and teachers use on a regular basis. It is where they note their feelings about their studies. It can be a concrete, written link between students and teachers. The following points explain why a study diary is especially useful if someone wants to become an independent learner. First of all, the idea of a study diary is to encourage students to think about how they are learning and why they are learning. Secondly, it is for students to record what is going well on their course and areas they would like to improve. Besides, it is an opportunity for students to communicate with their teachers about the progress they are making, how they feel about the classes and areas they are having problems with. Also it is an invaluable means of personalizing their course. Through his diary the teachers will be able to get to know a student as an individual rather than merely part of a group. As for Vietnamese students learning English, a study diary is a way of expressing themselves and so they may find it more natural to do this in Vietnamese rather than in English. However, if students want to improve their language proficiency they can decide to choose to write in English. In the diaries, students should have half a page for their own comments or reflections and the other half for the teachers to write their comments in. The teachers’ comments may include advice on how to deal with problems the students encounter and find it hard to tackle themselves. The teachers may also correct serious errors in writing or suggest ways for students to correct themselves. To help students make the most of a study diary, the following questions could be suggested: - What did I enjoy about today’s lesson? - What did I learn? - What did I find difficult? - What activities did I find interesting/boring? - What did we do in class that I would like to do again? - Why couldn’t I catch some of the key words in today’s listening exercise? In fact, regular and effective diary writing does help students to increase their independence and responsibility for their own learning because this activity encourages the students to be critical to themselves, i.e., to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses for further adjustments of their learning methods. This attributes to their academic success at university. Learn to ask good questions A famous saying goes ‘a critical mind is a questioning mind.’ The key to powerful thinking is good questioning. Thinking can go in thousands of different directions, some of which are dead-ends. Questions, therefore, define the agenda of thinking and determine what information one is seeking. In learning to be critical readers, students should learn to ask good, meaningful questions , especially questions which intrigue and inspire thoughts and careful investigations for reasonable answers such as questions with ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘what if’ elements or types of questions based on Socratic manner (see page 14) Asking reflecting questions after reading is a good way to form the habit of asking questions. For instance, after reading a text, the reader should ask himself such questions as : - Does it make sense to me? - Why does the author say this/that? - Is the evidence convincing? If not, why? As questioning becomes more frequent, and more types of questions are regularly practiced, students’ questioning strategies will be improved. Their logical thinking, therefore, will be significantly strengthened. 4. Summary of the chapter Chapter three is considered the most important chapter which analyzes the data of the action implementation. From that analysis, significant facts are revealed among which many problems are actually hindering the development of critical reading skills of first year students. These problems include the negative attitudes of students as a result of the lack of knowledge, experience and training, and the difficulties in teaching and learning critical reading due to the shortage of teaching materials and the learning objective deviation. The recommendations which are based on the given facts are also given. Because the problems are rooted from three major aspects of the teaching and learning process concerning teachers, students and syllabus, the recommendations are also to improve the factual conditions of those three aspects. Some implicit and explicit suggestions are offered to the teachers, the students and the syllabus with an attempt to popularize the experimented ways to develop critical reading skills for first year students. Part 3 conclusions 1. Summary Critical thinking is now a very famous term. Some people even say that it is so popular that sometimes it becomes meaningless. A reason for that is the modern society seems to ignore and pick out people with inability to employ techniques of critical thinking in everyday situations. Learning to think critically is important because within this complex society, individuals are constantly placed into situations where difficult choices must be made. An ability to analyze critically available alternatives increases the probability that wise choices - or at least informed choices - will be made. Educators can help students to improve their critical thinking skills by creating an atmosphere where students are free to ask questions, and by using methods of evaluation that are consistent with the principles of promoting critical thinking, etc. Among many aspects that have deep relationship with critical thinking, critical reading is so far so important. Critical reading is the base of other critical activities as it provides input for thoughts and thinking process. Learning to read critically is not easy especially for Vietnamese students who are too familiar with the passive way of learning in general and of reading in particular. This research, which is conducted to serve the purpose of studying about how to develop critical reading skills for first year students in English Department, CFL, VNU, is divided into three parts namely Introduction, Development and Conclusions. The Development which is the most important part consists of three chapters. The first chapter provides the literature review related to critical thinking and critical reading. These help find the theoretical basis for the research. The second chapter introduces the research methods which contain the overview of the participants, the instruments to collect data. The third chapter contains the data analysis, discussion of major finding and recommendations. From this chapter, it can be concluded that both target groups, teachers and students, are aware of the importance of critical reading in college education. However, the important rating varies from one group to another. It can also be inferred from the research that different strategies have been exploited in order to enhance critical reading skills of first year students. Yet, due to such problems as shortage of time, strict syllabus and workload of students, the frequency of employing critical strategies did not come up to students’ expectation. The result of this research also reveals that while teachers claimed that they applied critical reading strategies more often; students’ perception of the frequency of using the techniques is slightly lower. Also, at the level English from pre-intermediate to higher level students’ reading approach and effectiveness of their reading reflection do not come up to the researcher expectation when most of the first year students stop at evaluative level. Basing on the findings of the research, reliable recommendations have been proposed in the light of improving the process of teaching critical reading as well as taking full advantage of reading reflection. However, this research has failed to thoroughly investigate the effectiveness of separate techniques used in enhancing critical reading. As a result, the researcher cannot point out which techniques are most effective and give recommendations to better the use of those techniques. 2. Conclusions The given research is conducted to seek answers to three questions: 1. What are the students’ attitudes to critical thinking and critical reading skills? 2. What are the problems first year students face when developing critical thinking in general and critical reading in particular? 3. How do critical thinking and critical reading strategies help improve students’ ability of being critical? After putting in many considerable efforts, the researcher has fully answered these three questions. From the facts and figures taken from the research, the problems hindering the development of first year students have been uncovered. They include the negative attitudes toward critical thinking and critical reading of the teachers, students and even the managers, the lack of knowledge about these intellectual skills and the shortage of teaching materials. The most appropriate ways to build up and develop critical reading skills, therefore, are built up basing on the causes of those problems. Recommendations to improve reading syllabus, teaching and learning methods and especially the suggestions for the teachers and students to change their attitudes are carefully discussed. 3. Limitations and suggestions for further study The research has attained some remarkable results. It has investigated the reality of teaching and learning critical reading skills in Division 1, CFL, VNU. And though this research is planned to take initial step towards finding out first year students’ perception of critical reading, it is beneficial to any other research related to critical reading in general and enhancing critical reading skills in college education in particular. However, limitations are unavoidable. Firstly, the researcher’s recommendations for critical reading teaching and learning would be more convincing if the researcher could carry out a longer action. The author hopes that during the time of future teaching and learning, those techniques can be further analyzed and evaluated. Secondly, due to the limit of time and knowledge, the study can not cover all the factors effecting the development of critical reading skills such as the personal emotion and feelings, language aptitude, general intelligence of both teachers and students. These, in turn, will be reasons for those who are interested in the given area to research further. Hopefully, this study will contribute positively to not only the colleagues in the Division but also first year students in their teaching and learning critical reading skills. References Brown, H. D. (1994), Teaching by principles, New York: Addison-Wesley Duke, N. K. & Pearson, P. D. 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