The Effect of Teaching Critical Reading Strategies on Making Advanced Iranian EFL Learners the Critical Readers

Abstract. The focus of this study was to investigate whether teaching critical reading strategies had any significant effect on making advanced Iranian EFL learners the critical readers. To fulfil the purpose, 96 language learners from Mehr Mahan Gostar English institute in Sari were invited to participate in a paper-based TOEFL test. Lastly, 48 of them whom regarded as a homogenous sample of advanced EFL learners were selected to participate in the study. The instrument employed in the study included five critical reading comprehension texts selected from Critical Reading Workbook for the SAT (2006) by Green and Weiner and one supplementary material from Cambridge IELTS7. After the pretest had been administered, advanced EFL learners had 8 sessions of explicit teaching and practicing the critical reading strategies such as annotating, questioning, summarizing, and inferencing. Then, they had their posttest and finally the mean scores of critical reading pre and post-tests were compared through Paired samples t-test which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Thus, teaching critical reading strategies proved to have a significant effect on making advanced Iranian EFL learners the critical learners.

Keywords:

Critical Thinking, Critical Reading Critical Reading Strategies, Critical Reader,

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