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This case study aimed to examine ways Korean university students in an English critical reading class participated in educational action projects. For this purpose, the reading class was designed to enhance students' critical thinking skills and global citizenship as readers. Eighteen students in the class were taught by the teacher how to read texts in English using a critical perspective. The reading class was managed in a flexible mode with comprehension check-ups, critical dialoguing, and student-initiated action. Students were invited to connect what they discussed to action outcomes as a group project. Students in groups presented their understanding of readings and what they discussed in critical dialogues of the readings. They then reported what they did outside the classroom to foster themselves as truly active citizens in their local circumstances. Their group reports and project products were collected and analyzed into themes using qualitative methods. It was revealed that critical dialogue activities could help students come up with action-provoking questions on the readings, bring about a variety of action outcomes resulting from collaborations in groups, and help students become more active readers and citizens. Educational implications are also discussed.

The aim of this study is to examine the critical visual reading skills of secondary school students (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade) in terms of different variables (gender and grade level). Study sample consisted of 400 students of 4 schools located in the city center of Mus. A screening model was used in the research. Data were collected using the 5-point Likert-type Critical Visual Reading Scale 34-item developed by Söylemez (2015). The reliability of the scale was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.814). Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows 22.0 at a significance level of 0.05. Number, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive statistics of variables. T-test was used for analysis of quantitative continuous data in two independent groups while one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for analysis of quantitative continuous data in more than two independent groups. A Scheffe's test was used to to make posthoc comparisons between the groups to determine significant differences. Results show that secondary school students' critical visual reading skills differ significantly by grade level but do not differ by gender. Several suggestions were made based on the findings.

Since 2016, there has been a proliferation of discourse around what has come to be called "post-truth." Much of this discourse references critical literacies as a proposed means by which to disrupt post-truth across educational policy, pedagogy, and methodology. In this paper, I highlight the paradoxical degree of overlap between post-truth and the critical literacy approaches espoused to combat it. Left underexplored, these appropriated literacies may do more to embolden than to dismantle post-truth. I first typify three "first wave" responses to post-truth, exploring the affordances and limitations of each. I then provide recommendations for augmenting these responses through a renewed emphasis on power, domination, and liberation in critical literacies as a response to post-truth.

The hermeneutic methodology is an analytical and dialectical approach that is irreplaceable for the development of critical thinking. In the post-truth era, the traditional interpretation of text has given way to more complex interpretative instances in which audiovisual content is the basis of new narratives and new knowledge. Qualitative methodological research has always claimed socio-historical and temporal prominence in the analysis of social phenomena. Accepting this premise, hermeneutics is presented as a plausible methodological research strategy for analyzing the representation of a social fact. Specifically, the aim of this research is to show the potential of hermeneutic analysis by examining two opposing versions of the terrorist attack that took place at the headquarters of the satirical weekly magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," in 2015. To conduct this analysis the researcher has used the hermeneutic methodology of suspicion (Gadamer, 1960/2004). A main conclusion is that the Internet has become a catalyst for multiple truths in the post-truth era. The Internet is an exhaust pipeline where critical thinking is expounded. The Internet, in short, is a space of resistance where people are able to question the mainstream media's versions and interpretations of events as imposed by the elite Davos Class.

This study investigates the impact of cultural and politico-religious dominance on the practice of critical reading (CR) of texts by a group of Iranian postgraduate students in Australia. Four postgraduate students were interviewed individually four times (each time for reading one text) for critical understanding of two pairs of Persian texts, each with opposing viewpoints, on current socio-political and nationalistic debates of Iran. They were then involved in a focus group discussion for further critique of each other's viewpoints. Findings indicate two major Persian constructs that influence CR: "hefz-e zaaher" 'keeping up appearances' and "ta'sob/gheyrat," approximating to 'one's honor combined with prejudice and bigotry'. Findings also reveal that participants' CR is contributed by heavy emotional attachment to nationalistic views engendered by Persian poetry. Chafe (1982), too, found that emotional attachment in appraising text was true with American English speakers. Finally, the focus group discussion had a slight impact on encouraging CR. Overall, it seems that participants' repositioned journeys in Australia have influenced their perspective.

The purpose of this article is to provide a resource for school counselors to recognize key indicators of quality quantitative research and make informed decisions about incorporating scholarly works into school counseling practice and comprehensive program development. We describe quality indicators of quantitative research by walking readers through common sections of an article, including the literature review, method, results, and discussion sections, and considerations for critical, multicultural, and antiracist appraisal when reading quantitative research. We also address implications for school counseling practitioners, training programs, and students.

Characterizing a critically-thinker second language learner as well as the way such characteristics can be developed and implemented in instructed second language have received momentum in applied linguistics. As a novel practice, this mixed-methods study was designed to feature a critically-thinker reader in developing both her critical thinking and reading abilities in the light of two novel instructional mechanisms (i.e., Asynchronous Web-based Collaborative (AWC) vs. Question-Answer-Relationship (QAR) instructional approaches). To this end, a sample of 89 Iranian EFL learners (Pilot group) were interviewed based on which first the features of a critically-thinker reader were extracted, analyzed and modeled via MaxQDA. Then, three groups of 154 language learners (i.e., Control, QAR & AWC) were exposed to its specific type of instruction. In addition to the extraction of "argumentation", "judgment", "dispositions", "action", "social cognition", and "creativity" each with its sub-categories as the sub-traits of critically-thinker's conceptual model, ANOVAs were run to analyze the quantitative data. It was observed that AWC group outperformed others both in critical reading and critical thinking features. So, it is theoretically and pedagogically implied that the developments of both cognitive traits (i.e. critical thinking) and the resultant language skills (i.e. reading skill) are subject to appropriate instructional approach/s.

This article describes a critical literacy research project undertaken with English Additional Language students at a South African township school. Students were invited to take on the position of researchers in gathering and analysing bumper stickers found in commuter minibuses known as itekisi (taxi). These everyday texts in English and African languages are salient for the students' discourse communities. Bringing them into English lessons validates the use of languages and discourses that multilingual students inhabit and draws on their ability to move fluidly between languages. Framed by critical discourse analysis theory, this project aimed to facilitate students' abilities to develop and use critical literacy knowledge and skills in analysing taxi bumper stickers. The findings indicate that the students were able to demonstrate some criticality as they investigated multiple interpretations of the texts by community members and themselves. Inviting students to investigate texts drawn from their own communities was envisaged as enabling their development as critical readers with a social justice orientation to texts. However, their relentless negativity towards taxi drivers made it difficult for them to keep their focus on the texts, suggesting that teachers' selection of salient texts for lessons with a focus on critical literacy may not always achieve the intended outcomes.

The spread of digital technology has prompted an increase in the amount of written text that gets produced and disseminated daily, together with a diversification of reading contexts and purposes. In this article, we propose that modern reading increasingly relies on readers' ability to set up and manage their own reading goals and decisions. We outline our RESOLV theory of purposeful reading and we reflect on students' preparedness for reading in out-of-school contexts. We stress the importance of reading strategies for disciplinary learning but also their limited transfer to out-of-school reading activities. We illustrate this point with an examination of the decisions involved in the reading of fake news. We conclude that students need to be trained to monitor information quality in contexts where neither the reading goal nor the genre and contents of the texts to be read can be expected a priori, which characterizes many current uses of the web.

Through juxtaposing images and text, picturebooks have the unique power to facilitate critical reading and critical literacy. This article presents three analytical approaches to develop critical reading and critical literacy skills through picturebooks: (1) critically analyzing broad representation, (2) critical visual analysis, and (3) analyzing voices and perspectives in picturebooks. Through approaches like these, teachers can use picturebooks to craft critical classrooms.

For researchers interested in how pedagogy within schools can be used as a catalyst for adolescent moral development, investigating practitioner-based studies of classroom practices that support the growth of prosocial behaviors is crucial. This paper delineates a qualitative study conducted in an ethnically diverse high school language arts classroom where texts were being utilized to promote moral development across multiple domains. Authors describe how the critical reading and discussion of the comic "Yummy" led students to express emotional responses to the text centered in feelings of empathy, gratitude, and community awareness. Findings suggest that these specific emotional reactions demonstrate potential for critical, social consciousness and the development of empathic and prosocial behaviors. Fundamentally, this paper seeks to enrich scholarship in the field of adolescent moral development by arguing that pedagogy within schools can be utilized to promote emotions and cognitions that lead to community action.

This study brings into conversation two bodies of research that operate from different assumptions and make divergent conclusions about high school students' capacity to read and respond to literary texts. On one hand, cognitively-oriented expert-novice research comparing experienced literary readers to high school students indicates that students tend not to engage in expert-like interpretive sense-making when they read literature. On the other hand, socioculturally-oriented studies of students' "funds of knowledge" and socially situated "interpretive communities" indicate that students do engage in expert-like interpretation. One likely reason for these divergent findings is that by default, expert-novice studies often define interpretive expertise by drawing on Western, White discourses and epistemologies. This study experiments with a situated expert-expert methodology that considers the influence of culture, race, and the practices of different interpretive communities on participants' literary reading and response. First, it offers an expanded definition of interpretive expertise by looking outside conventional academic interpretive communities. Then, the study ascribes interpretive expertise to two groups: Black, Latinx, and Asian-American high school students who self-identified as experts in hip-hop; and mostly White doctoral students who self-identified as experts in poetry. Both groups read lyrics to a highly regarded hip-hop song and a highly regarded poem. Analyses showed that each group was more likely to engage in expert-like practices, such as building symbolic interpretation and appreciating realness, within the genre belonging to their interpretive community. These findings offer empirical support for the power of interpretive communities and the value of funds of knowledge frameworks. The findings strengthen the call for the still predominantly White, Western academy to honor other interpretive communities and recognize the limits of their own.

The goal of the present investigation is to determine how undergraduate students think about critical reading. We asked 249 students to rate the usefulness of several critical reading skills, how often those skills are taught, and whether they practice those skills when working on their assignments. We found that students consider more complex reading skills (e.g., Applying) as more useful than simpler reading skills (e.g., Skimming). Moreover, complex skills were taught more often in their classes. However, students report practicing Skimming more often than Applying. These findings indicate that knowing what is most useful for learning does not translate into actually practicing those skills when working on assignments. Educators need to help students transition from knowing what they need to do to actually doing it.

The world has witnessed changes in teaching and learning attitudes ever since the dawn of the technological revolution. Additionally, the overwhelming propensity for technology among Indian teachers and pupils has had a great effect on the country's educational system. On this basis, a study was done to determine how much teachers and students could gain from sharing precursory e-lessons through a messaging app. The main objective of this study was to investigate how to bring each student to one level, and how to focus parallelly while teaching. First, a pre-test was administered to the experimental group and the control group. After pre-testing, the experimental group underwent the intervention procedure. The benefits of precursory e-lesson sharing combined with face-to-face training were then evaluated using a post-test. It was concluded that this study not only made information transfer easier, more interesting, and more permanent, but also created a balance in the learning levels of the majority of students.

Research has shown that laypeople tend to rely on their own evaluations when encountering scientific text information that is easy to comprehend. This easiness effect of science popularization leaves them vulnerable to uncritically accepting misinformation presented in a simplified manner. The present study investigated whether warnings of misinformation frequently used in social networks and other online services mitigate or even prevent the persuasive advantage of information easiness. Forty-one medical laypeople read brief argumentative online texts proposing fictitious health claims. Texts were either easy or difficult to comprehend, and they either were or were not labeled with a warning that independent fact-checkers dispute the information. Results showed that warnings effectively increased laypeople's skepticism toward scientific misinformation. However, findings also suggested that warnings do not reduce the persuasive advantage of misinformation presented in an easily understandable manner, pointing to the limits of this communicative tool.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore, analyse and summarise the potential tangible user interface (TUI) design features for dyslexics learning to read and spell. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a systematic literature review method through a manual search of published papers from 2011. This systematic literature review consists of three main phases starting with planning the review, conducting the review and studying the selection and reporting the results. Findings: As the result, 10 papers were found that are considered most applicable as they met the review criteria. Based on the 10 papers, 11 design features are found in the current TUIs design features implemented in the tangible system dedicated for dyslexia and reading. The 11 design features are viewed to be fundamental and useful for the groundwork towards designing and developing a comprehensive TUIs design specifically and exclusively meant for dyslexic children learning to read and spell. Originality/value: A critical reading of past literature relating to the TUIs concept reveals that this concept still appears to be under-explored even though it was introduced two decades ago. This systematic literature review highlights directions for future research, involving the dyslexic children early in the design process towards the evaluation of the prototype and finally examining the outcome of TUIs on children's learning.

In this article, we offer a loving critique that (re)centers Inoue's antiracist reading framework in reading scholarship. In particular, we question the orientation and effectiveness of racial literacy applications that fail to incorporate explicit reading strategy instruction. Developmental literacy classes can be an important space for antiracism when instruction supports our students' current literacy strengths and growth edges. We explore the potential for applying antiracist literacy practice centered within reading scholarship. Through personal classroom examples, we describe our efforts to implement reading strategy instruction that amplifies the effectiveness of antiracist reading in IRW.

Reading primary research literature is an essential skill for scientists. However, the high complexity of research papers may pose a barrier to the development of scientific literacy. In semi-structured interviews, we explore how 33 biologists including undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers approach reading an unfamiliar scientific paper. We find that some readers are data-centric, focusing on their own critical evaluation of the data presented, whereas others adopt a more narrative-centric approach, relying on the descriptions of authors to inform their understanding. There was a bias towards undergraduates adopting the narrative-centric approach and researchers adopting the data-centric approach. All postdoctoral researchers and academics prioritised critical interpretation of the data, indicating this is a characteristic of experienced scientific readers. The ability to demonstrate scientific reading skills was context-dependent, particularly with respect to time available and whether a paper aligns well with a reader's specialist area of knowledge. Inexperienced readers often lacked sufficient prior knowledge on which to base their reading, which represented a barrier to their engagement. We make recommendations for how scientific literacy should be developed within undergraduate teaching and beyond, noting that 'one-off' teaching strategies are insufficient when the development of scientific reading skills is a career-long process.

This paper examines whether model annotations can foster disciplinary literacy in higher education. Using history as a test case, 102 education undergraduates participated in a training and transfer task in which they read two-period documents, and responded to recall and comprehension questions, and to a short essay question requiring historical reasoning. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: "labeled annotations" presented the documents with annotations that were labeled indicating the type of move depicted in the annotation; "unlabeled annotations" presented the documents with the same annotations but no label; "no annotations," this control condition presented the documents without annotations. The transfer task presented all participants with documents with no annotations. Participants in the labeled annotations condition exhibited greater use of historical reasoning than the control condition. This study shows that the use of labeled model annotations is a promising tool for cultivating disciplinary literacy in higher education.

This qualitative study investigated how teaching an historical unit through a critical lens might empower students to evaluate sources, challenge fake news, and make informed decisions. The reading intervention teacher in this study engaged secondary students in reading, discussing, and critiquing a series of multimodal historical texts. Grounded in a critical literacies framework, Shelly used "brave spaces" to stimulate discussion on issues of (in)equality, bias, and misinformation to challenge students' perceptions and often (mis)conceptions of what constitutes propaganda and "fake news." We describe how Shelly's 6-week unit facilitated higher order thinking and students' beliefs in their capacity to take action and make a difference. We elaborate the need for students to. be savvy, critical consumers of media, particularly in today's sociopolitical climate where truth and alternative facts are frequently blurred.

This paper considers how an increased awareness of translation in the language classroom might impact the instruction of Comparative Literature, and literary studies more broadly. Despite the arguments for translation's centrality to the study Comparative Literature (Apter, 2006; Bassnett, 2006; Newman 2017) translation pedagogy is still under-studied and under-practiced in the Comparative Literature classroom. Among Comparative Literature instructors, close reading is often given pride of place, an emphasis echoed in commonly-assigned textbooks such as "Writing Analytically" (Rosenwasser and Stephen, 2014). Yet the practice of close reading is arguably one of the most challenging concepts for beginning literature students to master, in part due to the resistance of some instructors and other literary professionals in modeling how to close read a translated text (Venuti, 2004; 2017). By outlining specific lessons, this article shows how employing a hermeneutic translation model (Steiner, 1975; Venuti, 2017; 2019; Laviosa 2019) in the literature classroom can help literature students conceptualize this central building block of literary studies. The article closes with a discussion of some of the ways in which a greater awareness of Translation Studies in the Comparative Literature classroom could unite theory with practice.

Courses: English Language Arts (9-12), Media Studies, Public Speaking. English Language Arts (9-12), Media Studies, Public Speaking. Objectives: The unit's goals are for students to build a foundation for analytical thinking, acquire tools for critical reading and analysis of graphic and digital texts, and use visual analysis to engage readers and develop an authentic appreciation for the process of inquiry and discovery. The activities focus on (1) defining an icon; (2) analyzing shape, perspective, and left-right visual structure in order to develop a working definition for what makes an image iconic; and (3) delivering a three- to five-minute oral presentation that unpacks the origins, message, and power of an icon. The unit's goals are for students to build a foundation for analytical thinking, acquire tools for critical reading and analysis of graphic and digital texts, and use visual analysis to engage readers and develop an authentic appreciation for the process of inquiry and discovery. The activities focus on (1) defining an icon; (2) analyzing shape, perspective, and left-right visual structure in order to develop a working definition for what makes an image iconic; and (3) delivering a three- to five-minute oral presentation that unpacks the origins, message, and power of an icon.

Dialogic pedagogy, in which students and teachers voice thoughts, co-construct meanings, and generate multiple interpretations of texts, can promote literacy skills and reasoning. Yet, such teaching is challenging and requires, among other changes, adopting dialogic stances. In the language arts, expressive and critical reading stances have been shown to encourage and support dialogic discussions. How can teachers develop such dialogic reading stances? In this study, we investigated the processes through which teachers negotiated reading stances in a professional development program. Specifically, we studied teachers' participation in rereading discussions designed to open texts to multiple interpretations as preparation for leading productive dialogue in language arts lessons. We used systematic observation and microethnographic methods to analyze nine rereading discussions among 17 teachers, coaches, and researchers. Five reading stances emerged in the discussions: expressive, critical, instrumental, moralistic, and historical. Focusing on three case studies, we investigated the interactional conditions under which dialogic stances did and did not emerge and the opportunities and limitations of different reading stances for opening texts to dialogue. Our analysis shows that dialogic stances gained legitimacy during discussions in which leadership and facilitation supported gradual elaborations of the text. In contrast to our initial assumptions, we found that expressive and critical stances sometimes narrow interpretive possibilities, whereas instrumental and moralistic stances can be generative of dialogue during rereading discussions. We show the potential of cultivating dialogic stances for the promotion of dialogic pedagogy in the language arts and discuss the advantages and limitations of rereading discussions as professional development.

One of the indicators of achieving the graduate attribute, Investigation, is to review the research literature, which needs both critical thinking and critical reading skills. The SQ4R strategy is used to develop the students' reading comprehension skills together with critical thinking. Thus, the main objective of this research is to develop the reading skills of students so that they will be able to conduct investigations using research-based knowledge. Semester Four Civil Engineering undergraduates were selected as the sample group and the quasi-experimental approach was used in this study. The results of the t-test revealed that there is a significant improvement from the pre-test to the post-test of the experimental group, which indicates that the SQ4R strategy was effective in developing reading comprehension skills. The students' write-up described how some of the students developed their thinking from a lower stage of Perry's model of cognitive development to an upper stage.

In this article, I describe the challenges students faced in interpreting literary--or fictional--texts in the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement in the English learning area. I explain why it is important for students to learn how to interpret literary texts at school and consider why they might struggle with this important skill. I then describe how teachers might help students to build their interpretive capabilities.

Using the framework of Rita Felski in her 2015 book "The Limits of Critique," this essay offers a postcritical analysis of William Carlos Williams' 1915 poem "The Young Housewife." Its intention is to show how Williams' poem or any poem can be approached through a variety of critical lenses, but that these may get in the way of more immediate, rewarding ways of reading. Shel Silverstein's well-known 1964 short book "The Giving Tree" is similar at the level of "plot" to "The Young Housewife." Taken in tandem, these two texts neatly exemplify the value of postcritical/non-resistant reading.

People of all ages have difficulty interpreting the information they read online. The contemporary media environment grants the public access to an unprecedented amount of information, and virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a better understanding of that technology and students' utilization of such tools. It is widely known that students of today have access to a wealth of information on the internet, but a virtual school year has revealed that: (1) students at home using internet searches for school will often select the first answer they find when searching for information; and (2) students generally believe what they read on the internet and social media to be true, suggesting a need in secondary education for teaching media literacy and sourcing skills. This article will examine this necessity of teaching these skills in Health and Physical Education, starting in middle grades.

Using pre- and post- intervention data, this formative study explores instructional moves designed to guide students' critical thinking as they engage in lateral reading and digital source evaluation. Working in a dual enrollment composition classroom, researchers identified and addressed three areas of need: considering context when determining source authority or credibility, developing skilled web searching strategies and engaging in complex and multi-stepped lateral reading moves. Results demonstrated purposeful modeling and direct instruction of related digital skills positioned participants for more nuanced and developed thinking when engaging in digital source evaluation through lateral reading.

The article develops a critical approach to AI in content moderation adopting a decolonial perspective. In particular, the article asks: to what extent does the current AI moderation system of platforms address racist hate speech and discrimination? Based on a critical reading of publicly available materials and publications on AI in content moderation, we argue that racialised people have no significant input in the definitions and decision making processes on racist hate speech and are also exploited as their unpaid labour is used to clean up platforms and to train AI systems. The disregard of the knowledge and experiences of racialised people and the expropriation of their labour with no compensation reproduce rather than eradicate racism. In theoretically making sense of this, we draw influences from Anibal Quijano's theory of the coloniality of power and the centrality of race, concluding that in its current iteration, AI in content moderation is a technology in the service of coloniality. Finally, the article develops a sketch for a decolonial approach to AI in content moderation, which aims to centre the voices of racialised communities and to reorient content moderation towards repairing, educating and sustaining communities.

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to a plethora of information published in the media. Conceived as a socioscientific issue of great relevance currently, this article highlight the educational potential of some media news about the pandemic to reflect and learn about the nature of science (NOS). To this end, a theoretical foundation is first presented regarding the reading of science news published in the media as an educational resource to learn about NOS. Secondly, a proposal is presented on how this might be addressed in the science classroom. The proposal is illustrated by four news items, intentionally selected as examples, which have been published in the Spanish digital press. The aspects of NOS that are discussed in the context of the news items selected are: tentativeness of scientific knowledge, role of error in scientific research, role of debate in the development of science, importance of models and modelling in scientific research, and ethics in science.

Data visualizations have proliferated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to communicate information about the crisis and influence policy development and individual decision-making. In invoking exponential growth, mathematical modelling, statistical analysis, and the like, these data visualizations invite opportunities for mathematics teaching and learning. Yet data visualizations are social texts, authored from specific points of view, that narrate particular, and often consequential, stories. Their fundamental reliance on quantification and mathematics cements their social positioning as supposedly objective, reliable, and neutral. The reading of any data visualization demands unpacking the role of mathematics, including how data and variables have been formatted and how relationships are framed to narrate stories from particular points of view. We present an approach to a critical reading of data visualizations for the context of mathematics education that draws on three interrelated concepts: mathematical formatting (what gets quantified, measured, and how), framing (how variables are related and through what kind of data visualization), and narrating (which stories the data visualization tells, its potential impacts and limits). This approach to reading data visualisations includes a process of reimagining through reformatting, reframing and renarrating. We illustrate this approach and these three concepts using data visualizations published in the "New York Times" in 2020 about COVID-19. We offer a set of possible questions to guide a critical reading of data visualizations, beyond this set of examples.

Readers confronted with unfamiliar and controversial scientific debates tend to rely on simple heuristics such as the perceived plausibility to focus their cognitive resources on specific information during comprehension. In the present experiment, we tested the assumption that plausibility judgments as an integral part of comprehension are used as a simple heuristic to distribute cognitive resources to controversial texts, leading to a better comprehension of information judged as plausible. To experimentally vary perceived plausibility, participants (N = 54 university students) watched one of two video versions on the controversy of spider silk. The videos provided identical factual information but took opposing argumentative claims on the issue (pro vs. con). Afterward, participants read two conflicting texts (pro vs. con) on the same issue. Plausibility judgments and comprehension for the texts were assessed. In line with the hypothesized mediation model, results revealed that the belief manipulation (i.e., the video versions) affected the perceived plausibility of the controversial texts, which in turn influenced the comprehension of the two texts. The effect of the belief-manipulation, that is, participants' better comprehension of the text that took the same argumentative stance as the video, was fully mediated by perceived plausibility. These results are relevant for educational interventions to improve the comprehension of controversial but unfamiliar scientific studies and for theories on the role of plausibility in (multiple) text comprehension.

This paper explores a process-genre approach to teaching academic writing skills to advanced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students. The 'reading-to-writing' tasks and procedures were designed to examine the feasibility of the approach for a doctoral English-for-academic-purposes (EAP) program in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years. Data for this action research were drawn from a collection of students' written tasks with peer-feedback and revisions spelled out, onsite researcher's observation notes, and two rounds of interviews with two selected groups of students. The results indicate that the participants benefited significantly through reading and analyzing peer-reviewed journal articles and getting familiar with the peer-review criteria for assessing academic texts. The approach stimulated the participants' interest in employing process writing skills and helped them understand the genre of disciplinary-specific academic writing. Issues with and implications for EAP learning and teaching in the Chinese context are discussed.

Currently language learning is being facilitated by social networks and microblogging, which emerged as a quite new form of communication and content sharing through which users can publish online some small pieces of digital content. This relates to connectivism, a learning theory that views learning as the process of creating connections and expanding or increasing network complexity. While writing, EFL student teachers at Assiut University Faculty of Education always presented content that was full of redundancy and excessive elaboration. In addition, they demonstrated poor critical reading skills necessary for giving clear and comprehensive summaries of the linguistic content encountered online. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the effect of microblogging through Twitter on developing those student teachers' critical reading and summarization skills. To accomplish this aim, a review of literature was made supported with some open interviews with EFL specialists to come out with a list of those critical reading skills (3 main skills and 18 sub-skills) and another list of those summarization skills (4 main skills and 24 sub-skills) needed by EFL student teachers. Accordingly, a pre-test on those skills was administered to a group of 50 EFL student teachers (research participants). Then, a microblogging model based on Twitter was experimented with participants for 5 weeks. Finally, a post-test on critical reading and summarization skills was administered to participants, and the means of scores were compared. Results indicated statistically significant differences between the participants' means of scores in both the pre and post-administration of the two tests, and thus microblogging through Twitter was found to be effective in developing EFL student teachers' critical reading and summarization skills. Based on these results, many suggestions and recommendations were presented.

Translation ability requires many language skills to produce an accurate and complete text; however, one important skill, critical reading in the research, has been neglected. This research, therefore, employed the explanatory sequential mixed method to investigate the differences in Thai-English translation ability between students with a high level of critical reading skill and students with a low level of critical reading skill, and to examine the relationship between translation ability and critical reading skill. Moreover, translation error analysis, with four main aspects, pragmatic, syntactic, semantic, and miscellaneous errors, was also conducted to explore the dominant translation errors committed by both groups of students. To this end, the participants of the study were 60 English major students from a Thai university. The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference in Thai-English translation ability between the students with a high level of critical reading skill and the students with a low level of critical reading skill, and a significant correlation between translation ability and critical reading skill. In the translation error analysis, the semantic aspect, particularly the wrong use of words, was found to be the most frequent error committed by both groups of students.

The 21st century individual should be able to access information and critically evaluate and interpret it. What creates this obligation is the information bombing and political and commercial perception management brought about by virtual networks, the media and globalization. Therefore, critical thinking and its sub-component, critical reading, are becoming more and more important because they are the assistants of the individual who has to distinguish right from wrong and the truth from propaganda in life and texts. The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of performing reading activities with critical reading questions developed by the researchers on critical thinking and reading skills, and to pave the way for further research in this area. Study sample consisted of 232 students of Agri Ibrahim Çeçen University in the academic year of 2016- 2017. Participants were recruited using random sampling technique. This was a mixed design study. The qualitative dimension of the study was based on a screening model. Data were collected using document review and interview methods, and were analyzed using content analysis. The quantitative dimension of the study was based on a quasi-experimental model. Data were collected using a Critical Thinking Self-Evaluation Form and a Critical Reading Scale (pretest-post-test) before and after a 7-week application. Data were analyzed using a statistical software package. T-test and ANOVA were used for analysis. Results show that reading activities with critical reading questions have a statistically significant effect on students' critical thinking and reading skills. Qualitative data also support these results.

The purpose of this study is to determine self-efficacy perceptions of prospective Turkish language and literature teachers on critical reading with respect to a myriad of variables. On the basis of obtained findings, this study seeks to provide a conclusion and suggestions for future studies. Data relevant of this study were collected via administering "Critical Reading Self-efficacy Perception Scale" developed by Karadeniz. In data analysis, descriptive statistics were employed; data collected via the scale were interpreted by using independent sampling "t" test and one-factor variance analysis (ANOVA). Gathered results were then tabulated. This research was conducted during the fall term of 2017-2018 academic year among 150 prospective teachers studying in Turkish Language and Literature Teaching Departments of two major city universities. It was concluded that self-efficacy perceptions of prospective teachers on critical reading varied insignificantly with respect to enrolled university, gender, grade level, age, education level of parents, family income level and frequency of reading books. Nonetheless it differed significantly with respect to annual ratio of book reading and availability of a library in their residential location.

Based on experiences teaching a middle grades literacy course for pre-service teachers, this "Voices from the Field" article examines how challenging texts provoke adult learners to more closely attend to their reading experiences. By engaging with difficult texts, pre-service teachers experience frustration and confusion while reading. "Frustrational" texts (Ness & Kenny, 2016) are used as a means to remind teachers how young, developing readers often feel when confronted with unfamiliar text. This article describes a teaching and learning think-aloud process with two carefully selected frustrational texts. The overarching goal of my think-aloud instruction is to make visible the invisible metacognitive conversation which occurs during active reading. I also highlight how teacher modeling and student-centered discussions can support pre-service teachers' reflection on their own ethnocentrism and biases and encourage the development of culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2014). These classroom activities, and the challenging texts around which they are focused, seek to provide opportunities for teachers in training to re-see their own reading strengths and needs so that they are better equipped to use think-alouds in comprehension instruction and more empathetic as teachers of children.

The current research is mainly conducted to explore the pragmatic functions of English rhetoric in public speech. To do this, methods of close reading and case studies are adopted. The research first reveals that the boom of public speech programs helps reexamine the art of utterance, during the delivery of which English rhetoric plays an indispensable role in shaping and expressing a speaker's opinions, and then, with Emma Watson's "HeForShe" as a case study, concludes the specific pragmatic functions of English rhetoric: parallelism helps strengthen opinions; irony shows dissatisfaction, disapproval or rejection; rhetorical questions invite no answers, but call for emphasis and sense of urgency; contrast describes difference(s) so as to show preference. Use of proper English rhetoric devices in public speaking as well as in daily life improves communicative effect and efficiency.

Makerspaces, collaborative workspaces stocked with materials and tools for creating, building, designing, and learning, are becoming more and more common in schools and, in particular, in school libraries. Makerspaces in the school library allow for connections between making and literacy. Indeed, such connections are authentic and natural as real-world engineers practice multiple forms of literacy. Problem scoping is part of the problem-definition phase of the design process. The design process starts with problem definition, followed by brainstorming, designing, building, testing (repeated as necessary), and is finalized by showcasing or sharing work. This article presents approaches to problem scoping in Makerspaces.

Critical literacy works to make readers aware of the explicit and implicit ideologies present in texts. Engaging in critical reading helps readers recognize and interrogate ideologies in texts in order to be more informed readers. This action research study examined the development of critical literacy skills in 19 prospective elementary teachers across three weeks of a semester-long undergraduate children's literature course. Researchers, who were also course instructors, intentionally paired texts to help students enter a Third Space in which they could practice intertextuality (Tracey & Morrow, 2012). The Third Space afforded ideological distance from both the students' personal ideologies and those inherent (and often unrecognized) in texts, thus allowing students to better connect and critique messages within and across texts. Researchers engaged in first- and second-cycle coding and collaborative discussion of students' written responses to texts and discussion transcripts. Findings suggest that pairing texts with similar themes allows students to begin to uncover implicit ideologies and reevaluate their stances both toward the literature and to their own ideological beliefs. However, quality of discussion, background knowledge, and emotional connection to the literature and/or the topic may also affect the ways in which students critically engage with texts in the Third Space.

This profile describes how the Writing Program at Southern Utah University enacts a rhetorical humanist framework in its administrative and curricular structures. At the administrative level, rhetorical humanism offers a collaborative governance model that gives all faculty a voice in programmatic decisions, while managing the cacophony created by those voices. At the curricular level, rhetorical humanism balances the benefits and critiques of traditional humanism with outward-facing social constructionist writing pedagogies of the last few decades.

Many college students fall into the habit of coming to class unprepared, without having read assigned texts, or having read partially and superficially. As a consequence, they may take a passive stance, discussion can fall flat, and learning can be diminished. This article describes an instructional strategy for engaging students as active learners in preparing for class discussion and in the discussion itself. Using a modification of the literature circle model originated by Daniels (2002) and adapted for college learners by Larson, Young, & Leipham (2011a), the author describes a procedure in which students read, use organizing templates to write about their reading, and then draw on that writing for small-group and finally whole-class discussion. Grounded in research on active learning, reading compliance, and reading and writing to learn, the strategy presented here is a way to achieve higher quality discussion, and therefore deeper learning.