INTRODUCTION

TO
CRITICAL READING
Parlindungan Pardede
Universitas Kristen Indonesia
2009
What is Critical Reading?
Critical =
1. crucial, significant, serious
2. faultfinding, censorious

Critic=
1. One who forms and expresses judgments of the merits, faults,
value, or truth of a matter.
2. One who specializes especially professionally in the evaluation
and appreciation of literary or artistic works: a film critic; a
dance critic.
3. One who tends to make harsh or carping judgments; a
faultfinder.
What is Critical Reading?
Literal reading entails the ability to recognize words
accurately; to identify topic, main ideas, and
AFFE supporting details; to understand sequence of
CTIV
EE
events; to recognize cause and effect relationships; to
interpret directions; and to understand
organizational patterns used in various types of
reading matter.
CRITICAL
Critical reading is the process of
questioning and evaluating printed
material to determine its accuracy, depth,
relevance and credibility.
LITERAL

Affective reading fuses the reader’s

intellectual and emotional responses to
what he read.
 What are CR for?
 To enable someone to realize why he/she is
influenced or not influenced by certain issues.
 To enable someone to weigh public issues and
make intelligent choices among political
candidates.
 To enable someone to detect misleading
advertisement claims, recognize the best values,
and avoid spending his money foolishly.
 Consider the followings!
 I asked six of my friends what they thought of the three presidential
candidates and they agreed that SBY-Budiono is the best. SBY-Budiono is
undoubtely the best for Indonesian president and vice-president.

 You can tell that Alice is a lot smarter than her brother. She wears those
thick glasses and has a high forehead.

 "I took an aspirin and prayed to God, and my headache disappeared. So

God cured me of the headache.“

 I've met four Sundanese girls so far, and they were both very pretty. So, all
Sundanese girls are very pretty.

 Well, it's time for a decision. Will you contribute $10 to our environmental
fund, or are you on the side of environmental destruction?
 INTERDEPENDENCE OF CRITICAL
READING AND CRITICAL THINKING

Critical reading is the manifestation of

critical thinking, i.e. the use of mental
ability as a tool of inquiry for making
purposeful, self-regulatory judgment
which results in interpretation, analysis,
evaluation, and inference, as well as
explanation of the evidential,
conceptual, methodological,
criteriological, or contextual
considerations upon which that
judgment is based, in reading.
 Steps of CR
1) Identifying facts, in which the reader tries to clearly recognize
what the author is saying.
2) Examining the source, during which the reader critically looks at
the author and his or her competence, reliability, and probable
viewpoints or biases.
3) Analyzing the material by examining the author’s assumptions
and the logic and accuracy of these assumptions and
conclusions; recognizing the inferences that the reader is
supposed to make; detecting the implications present in the
author’s diction, style, or tone; and by recognizing the author’s
use of propaganda tricks and emotional appeals.
4) Comparing a selection with other sources that may present
conflicting viewpoints (especially necessary in college
assignments)
 CRITICAL READING SKILLS
 DISTINGUISHING FACT FROM OPINION
 INTERPRETING CONNOTATION OF WORDS

 DISCOVERING THE AUTHOR’S POINT OF VIEW

 RECOGNIZING CROOKED AND FALLACIOUS

THINKING
 DETECTING PROPAGANDA

 RECOGNIZING STATISTICAL SLIPS

 MAKING INFERENCES

 DISCOVERING THE AUTHOR’S COMPETENCE,

INTENTION, ATTITUDE, AUTHOR’S BIAS, TIME OF
PUBLICATION, & TARGET READERS
More Examples for Critical Reading!

 "I did not murder my mother and father with an axe! Please
don't find me guilty; I'm suffering enough through being an
orphan.“
 "You are studying at a rich college. Therefore you must be
rich."
 I've met four Sundanese girls so far, and they were both very
pretty. So, all Sundanese girls are very pretty.
 "Since Egyptians did so much excavation to construct the
pyramids, they were well versed in paleontology."
THAT’S
ALL
&
THANK