1. The Art of Teaching Reading to Learn
Bella Cohen
Steve Koppany

2. Critical Reading Why Critical Reading?
Reading to Extract Information vs. Reading Critically
Different goals
Different types of discipline
Different types of mental activity
Different results
Different degree of understanding required
Eventual Goal: Synoptic or Syntopic Reading
(Also distinguished as Surface reading vs deep reading)
Surface reading Surface reading is the tacit acceptance of information contained in the text, which leads to superficial retention of materials for examinations and does not promote understanding or long-term retention of knowledge and information. Deep reading A deep approach to reading is an approach where the reader uses higher-order cognitive skills such as the ability to analyse, synthesize, solve problems, and thinks meta-cognitively in order to negotiate meanings with the author and to construct new meaning from the text. The deep reader focuses on the author's message, on the ideas she is trying to convey, the line of argument, and the structure of the argument. The reader makes connections to already known concepts and principles and uses this understanding for problem solving in new contexts.
They have different goals. When students read to extract information, usually they seek facts and presume the source is accurate. No argument is required. On the other hand, when students read critically, they try to determine the quality of the argument. The reader must be open-minded and skeptical all at once, constantly adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay's arguments.
They require different types of discipline. If students read for the purpose of learning raw data, the most efficient way to learn is repetition. For instance, in grade-school, when youngsters memorize the multiplication and division tables, they read and recite them over and over again. On the other hand, if students read critically, the most effective technique may be to break the essay up into logical subdivisions and analyze each section's argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to expand upon or question the findings.
They require different types of mental activity. If a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of absorption, memorization and passivity is necessary. (We can't memorize the multiplication charts effectively if we waste time questioning whether eight times three really does equal twenty-four.) If a student is engaged in reading critically, however, that student must be active, active, active! He or she must be prepared to preread the essay, then read it closely for content, and reread it if it isn't clear how the author reached the conclusion to the argument. The critical reader must take the time to consider the argument from numerous angles including logical, rhetorical, historical, ethical, social, and personal perspectives. In short, critical readings means actually thinking about the subject, moving beyond what the original essay concluded to the point of how the author reached that conclusion and the degree to which that conclusion is accurate.
They create different results. Passive reading to absorb information can create a student who (if not precisely well-read) has read a great many books. It results in someone who has, in the closet of the mind, a staggering number of facts to call to memory at any moment. It creates what many call "book-smarts." However, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking. It creates a person who intentionally and habitually reads with the mental habit of reflection, intellectual honesty, perceptivity to the text, subtlety in thought, and originality in insight. Each method of reading has its place, but critical reading is too often supplanted by reading for information.
They differ in the degree of understanding they require. Reading for information is the more basic, and thus more fundamental, of the two reading skills. If one cannot make out the meaning of individual words, it is pointless to try and evaluate their importance. However, reading critically is the more advanced of the two, because only critical reading equates with full understanding. To illustrate the difference, imagine the following situation. If a worker were watching the monitors at a nuclear power plant, it would take little brainpower to "read" the dials and determine that "The Geiger counter reads 150 rads." That is one type of understanding, the understanding of fact. The worker has read every word on that gauge, and can repeat it word for word. A far more important type of understanding is the ability to discern what that statement means for the reader in practical terms, i.e., what the implications are. Does it mean the nuclear power plant is running within normal parameters? That it is leaking toxic waste? That the villagers below the plant are all going to die because of cancerous tumors? That the reactor vents should be shut? This type of understanding, the ability to take the statement, think through the implications, and put the fact into a meaningful context for oneself and one's community, is central to critical reading.
Synoptic or Syntopic Reading (Putting the author's argument in a larger context by considering a synopsis of that reading or argument in conjunction with synopses of other readings or arguments)

3. Critical Reading (cont)
Critical Reading v. Critical Thinking
CR: Discovering information and ideas
CT: Evaluating information for deciding what to accept and believe
The two go hand-in-hand
Facts vs. Interpretation – Not just what it says, but how it is portrayed
Beyond what the Text Says
Getting at aspects of the discussion
Interpreting what the text means
Facts v. Interpretation
To non -critical readers, texts provide facts.  Readers gain knowledge by memorizing the statements within a text. To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts, one individual’s “take” on the subject matter. Critical readers thus recognize not only what a text says, but also how that text portrays the subject matter.  They recognize the various ways in which each and every text is the unique creation of a unique author.
A non-critical reader might read a history book to learn the facts of the situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. A critical reader might read the same work to appreciate how a particular perspective on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to particular understanding.
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Critical reading goes two steps further.  Having recognized what a text  says , it reflects on what the text  does  by making such remarks.  Is it offering examples?  Arguing?  Appealing for sympathy?  Making a contrast to clarify a point? Finally, critical readers then infer what the text, as a whole,   means , based on the earlier analysis.
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Goals of Critical Reading
Textbooks on critical reading commonly ask students to accomplish certain goals: to recognize an author’s purpose           
to understand tone and persuasive elements
to recognize bias
Notice that none of these goals actually refers to something on the page. Each requires inferences from evidence within the text: recognizing purpose involves inferring a basis for choices of content and language
recognizing tone and persuasive elements involves classifying the nature of language choices
recognizing bias involves classifying the nature of patterns of choice of content and language 
Critical reading is not simply close and careful reading. To read critically, one must actively recognize and analyze evidence upon the page.
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4. “Multiculturalism is a sham, says Angela Merkel” – by Rick Noack
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy has attracted praise from all over the world. Time magazine and the Financial Times newspaper recently named her Person of the Year, and delegates applauded her for so long at her party's convention on Monday that she had to stop them.
The speech that followed, however, may have surprised supporters of her policies: Multiculturalism remains a sham, she said, before adding that Germany may be reaching its limits in terms of accepting more refugees. "The challenge is immense," she said. "We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably."
Although those remarks may seem uncharacteristic of Merkel, she probably would insist that she was not contradicting herself. In fact, she was only repeating a sentiment she first voiced several years ago when she said multiculturalism in Germany had "utterly failed."
"Of course the tendency had been to say, 'Let's adopt the multicultural concept and live happily side by side, and be happy to be living with each other.' But this concept has failed, and failed utterly," she said in 2010.
Repeating those ideas on Monday was meant to calm her supporters who have grown increasingly weary of the influx of refugees. Newcomers, Merkel stressed, should assimilate to German values and culture, and respect the country's laws.

5. The Washington Post, 14 Dec 2015
Merkel emphasized that despite her commitment to limit the influx of refugees, she was standing by her decision to open the borders earlier this fall. “It is a historical test for Europe,” she said, and emphasized that other countries in Europe should accept more refugees to take some of the burden off Germany.
Refugees in need should be helped, she said, but she also suggested that not everyone who has come to Germany fulfilled that criteria. German authorities are expected to ramp up deportations in the coming months.
Merkel's party overwhelmingly voted to back her refugee policy, with only two out of about 1,000 delegates voting against it.
Merkel's comments may also reflect a particular understanding of assimilation. Many Germans expect immigrants to quickly learn the German language and to contribute to their communities and work life.
The Washington Post, 14 Dec 2015

6. Critical Reading (cont.)
Goals
Recognize author’s purpose
Understand tone, persuasive elements
Recognize bias
The Tools:
Analyze: What aspects control the meaning?
Infer: How to think about what you find?
The Reader:
Beware of one’s own biases
Determine one’s own limitations of understanding and awareness
Facts v. Interpretation
To non -critical readers, texts provide facts.  Readers gain knowledge by memorizing the statements within a text. To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts, one individual’s “take” on the subject matter. Critical readers thus recognize not only what a text says, but also how that text portrays the subject matter.  They recognize the various ways in which each and every text is the unique creation of a unique author.
A non-critical reader might read a history book to learn the facts of the situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. A critical reader might read the same work to appreciate how a particular perspective on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to particular understanding.
__________________________________
Critical reading goes two steps further.  Having recognized what a text  says , it reflects on what the text  does  by making such remarks.  Is it offering examples?  Arguing?  Appealing for sympathy?  Making a contrast to clarify a point? Finally, critical readers then infer what the text, as a whole,   means , based on the earlier analysis.
____________________________
Goals of Critical Reading
Textbooks on critical reading commonly ask students to accomplish certain goals: to recognize an author’s purpose           
to understand tone and persuasive elements
to recognize bias
Notice that none of these goals actually refers to something on the page. Each requires inferences from evidence within the text: recognizing purpose involves inferring a basis for choices of content and language
recognizing tone and persuasive elements involves classifying the nature of language choices
recognizing bias involves classifying the nature of patterns of choice of content and language 
Critical reading is not simply close and careful reading. To read critically, one must actively recognize and analyze evidence upon the page.
____________________________________

7. Critical Reading (cont.)
The Author and Context:
Authority: Experience, research, scholarly accomplishments?
Motive: Propaganda, self-justification, dissemination of information?
Whom was the work originally intended for?
Biases assumed on the part of the original audience?
Context of the author’s historical period?

8. Comprehension expectations
Text selection: topic, level, genre
Expectation of Comprehension of “different genre” texts, containing super-authenticity
Vocabulary/Grammar
Discourse
Sociolinguistic implications
Sociocultural implications
Pragmatics

9. Factors That May Impact Comprehension
Smudged/Faded/Poor photo copy
Illegible
Long
Elaborate/Technical
Unfamiliar
Illogical/Incoherent/Uneducated/ Illiterate
Intimate/Informal/Vulgar
Non-Standard
Emotional/Agitated

10. Preparing text for Use in Class
Selecting texts
Identifying “learning points” at different levels of text analysis in different genre texts (types of text analysis)
Identifying linguistic issues in texts (“rainbowing”) – teaching moments
Processing “learning points” in the text
Bottom up
Top down (globally)

11. Preparing text for use in class, con’d
“Rainbowing” the text:
[ ] = critical information
[ ] = discrepancies
[ ] = author's presence/bias
[ ] = unique “handwriting”
[ ] = references/quotes
[ ] = recommendations
[ ] = opinions
[ ] = other…
3rd Quarter FY13

12. Native Speakers The Process of reading to learn: simpler tasks
Goal: to go to Hawaii on vacation under certain budget **
Obtaining information through reading (different genre texts):
Adds
Opinions
Articles…
Obtaining information through reading (types of tasks):
Sorting
Comparing
Asking/answering questions…
Reporting information/reflecting (e.g.: how was the vacations, what reading material was useful, misleading, etc.)**
Integration of skills/modalities

13. Native Speakers, con’t The Process of reading to learn: complex tasks
Goal: to prepare a graduate school level presentation on immigration***
Obtaining information through reading (different genre texts):
Political opinions (controversial)
Emotionally charged articles
Letters
Historical references…
Obtaining information through reading (types of tasks):
Identifying and avoiding bias
Analyzing pragmatic issues
Synthesizing information
Creating approaches to different issues…
Reporting information/reflecting (e.g.: participants’ evaluations, what reading material was useful, misleading, etc.)***
Integration of skills/modalities

14. Future Challenges for Our Students
Understanding the Job
Instantly recognize and accurately translate imperfect written and oral passages
Often little or no reference material, native help, or the speaker/writer present for clarification
Utilize analytical and deductive reasoning skills to predict/explain happenings or fill-in missing information
Deal quickly and effectively with random, disjointed, widely varied topics, culture specific references.
Often including profanity and “improper” speech
Perform at this level with no margin for error

15. Addressing Future Challenges:
Learning from natives (discussion with audience):
What can we borrow from the way native speakers read to learn:
Preparation/goal
Obtaining information through reading (different genre texts)…
Obtaining information through reading (different types of texts)…
Reporting information/reflecting
Supporting reading through integration of skills/modalities
Independent reading
Motivated reading
Responsible reading

16. Critical reading: students
Problem solving (analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
Predicting, making inferences, hypothesizing
Using background knowledge (schemata) for correct interpretation of input
Identifying abstract content and ideas
Sorting out multiple meanings
Determining the credibility of authors
Looking for inconsistencies, gaps in arguments
Determining appropriateness of textual or rhetorical organization
Identifying/Comparing different styles, registers
Differentiating between subjective and objective information
Both extensive and intensive reading

17. Critical Reading Checklist
Determine what you are reading for
Don’t rush
Re-read as necessary
Engage with the text (underline, highlight, make notes, etc.)
Ask yourself if you can explain both what the text says and what it does
Consider the source
Try to understand the author’s background and purpose
Constantly reflect on own strategies, beliefs, values

18. Example of Reading to Learn
Graphic EFA

19. Resources
- Dan Kurland, “How the Language Really Works: The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing,” critical reading.com
- Jeff Racham, “From Sight to Insight…,” Wadsworth Publishing; 7 edition (October 4, 2002)
- University of Minnesota’s “Student Writing Guide,” 2004, 9-11