Critical Reading

You read a lot, probably more than you think. You read for your academic studies. You may read fiction, magazines, and newspapers. But you also read other texts. These may include food labels, instructions, product reviews, grocery lists, maps, driving directions, road signs, and more.

You don't read all these texts in the same way; you read them with different purposes and using different reading strategies and techniques. Some texts can be read quickly if you're reading to get a general overview. But most of the time you'll need to read carefully, skimming to get the basic ideas, and then reading again to absorb the details.

In previous ESL course series, you learned to be an active reader. You learned to activate your prior knowledge by asking what you already know about the topic – and what you want to learn about it. It always helps to approach new information in the context of what we already know. So, before you begin reading, brainstorm what you already know about the topic. List any terms or phrases that come to mind and group them into categories.

Then, after reading a few paragraphs, list any questions that you expect, want, or hope to be answered as you read, and number them according to their importance to you. Finally, after you read the whole text, list what you learned from it. Compare your second and third lists to see what you still want or need to know – and what you learned that you didn't expect. Preview the text. Start by skimming to get the basic ideas; read the title and subtitle, any headings, the first and last paragraphs, and the first sentences of all the other paragraphs. Study any visuals.