CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Critical Reading

1. Concept of Critical Reading

As can be seen in the literature, critical reading or critical literacy

(as it is frequently referred to), as well as critical thinking, have been

defined in a variety of ways. Shannon as cited in (Jongsma, l99l), for

example, views critical reading “as a means for understanding one’s

history and culture and their connection to current social structure and

for fostering an activism toward equal participation for all the decisions

that affect and control our lives” . Shor, in turn as cited in (Lankshear,

l994) describes critical literacy as analytical habits of thinking, reading,

writing, speaking or discussing which go beneath the surface of

impressions, traditional myths, mere opinions, and routine clichés;

understanding the social contexts and consequences of any subject

matter; discovering the deep meaning of any event, text, technique,

process, object, statement, image, or situation; applying that meaning

to your own context. Whereas to Flynn as cited in (taglieber, 2018)

critical reading involves “an interactive process using several levels of

thought simultaneously”, as for example, analysis – the clarification of

information by examining the component parts; synthesis – the

combining of relevant parts into a coherent whole; and evaluation –

which involves establishing standards and then judging ideas against

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the standards to verify their reasonableness. Some authors do not

actually define critical reading, but describe the attitudes or behaviors

expected of a critical reader, or what they believe critical reading should

aim at (Simpson, l996; Frager & Thompson, l985).

Kurland as cited in (Hulya, 2011) believed that critical reading

is a ‘critical’ attitude of reading. It refers to a careful, active, reflective,

analytic reading. The student who possesses good critical reading skills

is able to go beyond the information given by asking questions, making

hypotheses, seeking evidence, and validating assumptions (Marschall,

2012). Furthermore, Valleé as cited in (Othmand, 2013) also stated that

critical reading is a reading technique to comprehend the main idea

despite new vocabulary, unfamiliar tone and often complex subject

matter (Valleé, 2006). In other words, it is a reading strategy in

comprehending a context as a whole within a text. Once we fully

understand a text, then we can put ourselves in which side of our view

towards the text. Zhang (2008) offers another definition about critical

reading: I took critical reading to mean that reading is a social process,

where the social context, social role of the author, the text and the

reader, identities of L2 readers, the different schemata that readers and

writers bring into the reading event and the way the text is responded,

interpreted and analysed, all have important roles to play in helping the

readers understand the text.

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 Based on that definition, critical reading can also be seen as a

social process in which the reader interacts with the text by responding,

interpreting and analysing. From that definition n, it can be inferred that

there are some points of critical reading that influence the reader

understanding, such as the discourse (social context), the quality of the

target language or L2 (identities of L2 readers), the reader and the

author knowledge (schemata), the reading strategy and its outcomes

(the way the text is responded, interpreted and analysed).

According to Blair as cited in (Othman, 2013) and Nauman

(2005), critical reading is a term used to describe the kind of deeply

engaged reading. This kind of engagement can be achieved by

interacting with the text such as marking up the text, making

annotations on the margin or questioning it. There are some reasons

why people doing this interaction (Blair, 2010): a) to find the actual

meaning or information of the text, b) to discover the meaning implied

by the language of the text and how the actual meaning exist in the

larger context, c) to consider how the text can have a deeper meaning

and how it fits into various real context. Critical reading and critical

thinking are related to one another, critical reading is a technique for

discovering information and ideas within a text while critical thinking

is a technique for evaluating information and ideas, for deciding what

to accept and believe (Kurland, 2000). Critical thinking is one step more

difficult than critical reading. It comes after the critical reading and

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deals with affective aspect. However they stand along together because

without getting critical reading, there will not be critical thinking.

Ozdemir as cited in (Duran & Yalcintas, 2014) stated that critical

reading is not only limited to understanding the text, but also to

determine accuracy of facts, and its interpretations (Bagcı & Sahbaz,

2012) through the process of assessing the opinions or knowledge

(Candan, 2003). Critical reading has been defined as the ability to: (a)

make judgements and inferences; (b) distinguish between facts and

opinion; and (c) recognise the author’s purpose or points of view (Darch

& Kameenui, 1987). In short, critical reading is to think about the

subject to move beyond what the text had concluded to the point of how

the author reached that conclusion and the accuracy of the latter

(Wheeler, 2007).

Kadir, Subki, Jamal, and Ismail (2014) stressed that students

would be able to analyse, synthesise and evaluate information in the

text easily if they acquire critical reading skills from an early stage. In

academic reading, students need to engage actively with the text and

apply critical reading strategies in order to comprehend and interpret

the text and evaluate its relevance (Spack, 1993). Critical reading skills

will increase students’ capabilities in expressing their views and

opinions. However, Wallace (2003) asserts that despite the importance

of critical reading, it has not been taken seriously.

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 Critical reading is not simply close and careful reading. To read

critically, one must actively recognize and analyze evidence upon the

page. (Milan, Spears, D. 2006) Critical Reading requires a student to

not only take the author's words into account but also the meaning

behind the author's words. Critical reading teaches students to analyze

and question what they have read and to compare it to their own

understanding of the subject matter as well as to other things they may

have read. In this way, students are engaged in active communication

with the author. These requirements to actively engage with subject

matter are at the heart of higher order thinking and are at odds with the

drill and memorize routine that turns so many students away from

education. When a student's perceptions and opinions are and more

respect for themselves.

According to those explanations, although critical reading have

been defined in many ways like it was explained above, it can be

inferred that; first, critical reading is definitely different from critical

thinking although both of them implement critical methods of thinking,

critical reading comes first before critical thinking which also means

critical thinking is a step harder than critical reading. Second, critical

reading is a reading technique to comprehend a text, a context as a

whole within a text, finding the main idea, and understanding all the

parts contained within a text. Even more, it is not only limited to

understanding the text, it is also to determine accuracy of facts and its

15
 interpretations through the process of assessing the opinions or

knowledge. Then, critical reading is a deep engaged reading activity

which involves an interactive process using several levels of thought

simultaneously, careful, active, reflective, and analytic reading.

After that, after understanding a text, critical reader could

interact with the text such as marking up the text, making annotations

on the margin or questioning it. In short, critical reading is to think

about the subject to move beyond what the text had concluded to the

point of how the author reached that conclusion and the accuracy of the

latter. Furthermore, there were some aspects that could help critical

readers in implementing their skill such as; the reader and the author

knowledge and the reader’s reading skill, which means in order to have

critical reading skill, the reader should already have a good basic

reading skill and possessed some knowledge of the text.

2. Principles, Purposes and Practice of Critical Reading

Wallace (2003) states that there are some differences among the

critical and conventional comprehension models of reading in terms of

principles, purposes and practices. In the following these features are

clarified briefly.

a. Principles

First, in critical reading, there is less emphasis on cognitive

models which holds on discrete kinds of abilities. Moreover, its

emphasis is different from the strategies view, in that critical reading

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focuses less on individual responses to texts and more on

communally negotiated ones, by which, in classroom contexts, texts

are jointly interpreted through talk around text.

Secondly, critical reading does not see non-native speaker readers

in their reading of authentic, non-pedagogic texts, as necessarily

disadvantaged – on the contrary. Because they are not the primary

addressees of texts written for an indigenous readership, second and

foreign language learners may be more aware of the way in which

texts position readers, that is, the manner in which the preferred or

model reader is embedded within the text. Not being invited to get

together in a text’s ideological positioning, L2 readers are arguably

in a stronger position both to perceive and to resist it.

Thirdly, critical reading does not push the reader to get caught in

the author’s communicative intent rather it encourages the reader to

challenge the schemata called up by the text. The author is not the

sole or ultimate judge of a text’s meaning.

Fourthly, critical reading involves critiquing not just the logic or

argument expressed in texts but the ideological assumptions

supporting them.

Finally and most importantly, critical readers do not just comment

metacognitively, showing awareness of the cognitive strategies they

make use of, but also metacritically. In metacritique, we are prepared

to offer challenge to our own attitude to the text, aiming to gain some

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 overall distance on our interpretations and the possible reasons for

them (Wallace, 2003).

b. Purposes

Wallace states that the purposes of critical reading as an

educational project can be seen as linguistic, conceptual/critical and

cultural. First, linguistic aims involve helping students to gain an

understanding of the nature of ideological meanings embedded in

texts as indicated by the way language is used. The aim is to draw

on students’ grammatical knowledge – not so much in order to aid

the reading process but to facilitate reflection on the effect of

language choice.

In the case of the development of conceptual/critical abilities, the

aim is to develop what Wells (1991) has called epistemic literacy,

which means being able to move beyond the text to develop a logical

argument around it. Wells notes how even very young children will

do this if provided with opportunities, for example, to discuss not

just the events, but the implications of those events, as described in

stories. They will make cognitive and critical links to their own lives,

and one might call this the beginning of critical literacy in so far as

children are not just understanding but questioning and challenging

some of those implications. Written texts, unlike spoken

interactions, offer stable points of reference for this shared debate.

Moreover the talk around text becomes itself ‘critical’ to the extent

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 that it is expository, reflective and does not take its own premises

for granted.

Finally, when we come to consider the cultural implications of a

critical reading orientation, even though the texts drawn upon in a

Critical Reading class are likely to be highly culture-specific, the

goal is not to teach students about British, French or German culture

but to promote insights into cultural assumptions and practices,

similarities and differences across national boundaries. Indeed for

the students, one of the most valuable aspects of the course is the

opportunity to share different cultural perspectives; to see, for

example, what is common ground as well as to observe and

acknowledge readings taken from different cultural perspectives.

c. Practice.

The manner in which the principles and purposes of critical

reading are taught in practice depends on the level and

circumstances of the learners involved. With lower level learners or

with children one can draw on the principles of critical literacy, by

paying attention less to the detail of the hidden grammar, but to the

hidden images of texts.

Comber (1993), for instance, describes her work with primary

aged children where she invites them to challenge the images of

mothers, all white, blonde haired and middle class, which

predominate in the advertisements for ‘mothers’ day’ gifts. Arizpe

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et al. (2002) talked about the powerful interpretations of picture

books offered by children, including L2 learners with little or no

print literacy in English. They show how children are able to

investigate visual texts analytically, as revealed not by verbal

responses but through drawings. In this way, Arizpe et al. have

begun to demonstrate in very practical ways multimodal interactions

between reader and text.

In considering some of the differences suggested here between

conventional and critical reading, some sceptics of the Critical

Reading project pose a more radical distinction by arguing that

critical reading is not reading at all, that analysis of texts is not what

we normally understand by reading.

In short, we might want to make a difference between reading a

text analytically and ‘being a reader of’, for example, The Sun or

The Guardian which will involve a generally convergent, co-

operative stance, for the obvious reason that because we are regular

readers of these texts, they reflect and reinforce our existing

ideological, even aesthetic preferences (Hence the Longman

Dictionary of Culture (1992) has entries under ‘Sun Reader’ and

‘Guardian Reader’). Indeed one well-known journalist in a rival,

popular newspaper currently refers contemptuously to Guardian

readers as ‘the Guardianists’.

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 This issue of reader loyalty and preference raises the question as

to how far we are willing or able to use texts of which we are the

readers.

It is clearly especially important to critique what we typically

accept as common sense, because in keeping with our existing world

view. Thus, one important goal of critical reading is to allow readers

to change perspective – to shift, that is, from being a reader of a text

to using a text for critique. In this way, critical reading – or the use

of texts – can take its place alongside conventional reading (Wallace,

2003).

B. Teaching Critical Reading

Among the researcher, there are still debates on what is the best

teaching strategies in teaching critical reading to the students. According to

Axelrod and Cooper (2002), Annotate, Preview, Contextualize, Outline,

Analyse Opposition, Summarize, Paraphrase, Synthesize, Question, and

Reflect are the most important applicable strategies for reading critically.

Along the same view, Hall (as cited in Nasrollahi et.al, 2015) adds,

“being an effective reader means being able to evaluate your own practices,

working to develop your critical reading skills”. Thus, critical reading

strategies are best taught by using “real” assignments. Programmes to

improve these skills should involve changes in the structure, not necessarily

the content, of assignments (Barton-Arwood et al., 2005).

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 In the literature, the most common type of critical reading strategies

requires posing and answering questions about the text. According to

Axelrod, Cooper, and Warriner (1999), Peirce (2006) and Linkon (2008) the

basic critical reading strategies include annotating which means circling key

words and writing comments or questions about the material in the margins

and contextualizing requires putting a text within its original historical or

cultural context. Tovani (2000) goes on to discuss that critical reader need

to analyse and then interrogate a text. However, before analysing, it is

necessary to understand the text. For this reason, the reader should develop

a personal reading strategy for better comprehension and remembering the

information. Based on all these facts, the following critical reading

strategies are suggested by Tovani (2000) to help the reading process: Set a

purpose for reading (Before reading a text), preview the text before reading,

pay attention to print features and text structures, mark the text while

reading, make connections between the text and reader personal experience

and knowledge, monitoring students’ comprehension of the text, summarize

the key points when you’re finished reading. Applying the mentioned

strategies not only empowers students in critical reading skills such as

judgment and evaluation, but also leads them to reach real understanding of

texts and how to think about texts. Peirce (2006) states that it is clear reading

is a thinking process. Hence, using good strategies allows a better

understanding more than obtaining the core elements of text. In addition,

using sound questioning strategies and asking the right kind of questions are

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 important. For the purpose of this study a careful survey was made of the

literature to identify the critical reading strategies that are considered most

important by researchers in the field of critical reading.

Table 1. Critical reading strategies

Critical Reading A Brief Summary of the Strategies

Strategies
Annotating Reading reactions to and questions about a text
directly on the page.
Previewing Getting an overview of text structure, text cues,
pictures, and personal experiences prior to
reading a text.
Scan & Skimming Finding out the key features of the reading and
reading to get only the gist of the text
Facts vs. Opinions Facts can be proved, undisputed, have concrete
evidence and opinion refers to a belief, a value,
can be argued.
Drawing Looking for clues in the text, thinking about
Conclusions what those clues trigger in prior knowledge, and
making a prediction.
Monitoring. Monitoring for understanding by checking to
see if the text makes sense.
Summarizing. Briefly present the main ideas of the text. Write
a paragraph or more that presents the main ideas
in their own words.
Paraphrasing Restate and clarify the meaning of a few
sentences from the text. Reread the passage to
be paraphrased and look up unknown words.
Translate information into your own words.
Synthesizing Combine ideas and information selected from
different texts. Look for patterns among your
sources, possibly supporting or refuting their
ideas or those of other sources.
Questioning Write questions while they read a text for the
first time.
(Kurtland, 2010)

Critical Reading Techniques Valleé (2006) proposes 4 main steps of

critical reading which need at least three times reading. The steps are as follow:

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 a) Previewing: by skimming and predicting,

b) Annotating and analyzing: by making note and analyzing the main idea

and supporting idea,

c) Reviewing: re-reading by accounting the note and unfamiliar words,

d) Responding: by summarizing or discussing with others.

Based on the steps above, there are some reading strategies that build

critical reading. Using marking system and reading without distraction are

needed to come reading critically (Valleé, 2006). Moreover, in order to read

critically, a reader can also answer some questions whilst reading, such as (Rice,

2000):

a) The author/writer purpose.

In this part, the reader should try to find out or guess about the target

reader of the text, the writer’s point of view, whether any current issue

or particular philosophy influence the writer, and others.

b) Content.

There are some points to check the reader comprehension about the

content of the text. In this case, a reader should find out and highlight:

 the main theme (thesis or argument),

 main points used to support the theme,

 the evidence/ explanation used to support the main points,

 the accuracy and credibility of evidence,

 aspect of topic that the writer concentrates on,

 the biases,

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  the relation of the contents to the topic, and

 the text style (persuasive, narrative, etc).

In spite of answering some questions whilst reading, a reader could also

use several combinations of reading strategy. The combinations are:

a) Previewing

In this strategy, the reader should skim the text to answer the following

questions.

 What is the purpose for reading?

 What can the title tell about the text?

 Who is the writer?

 How is the text structured?

b) Annotating

This strategy needs a slow and careful reading because the reader has

to:

 mark the thesis and main points of the text,

 mark the key terms and unfamiliar words,

 underline the important ideas and memorable images,

 write questions/comments in the margin of the text,

 write any personal experience related to the text,

 mark the confusing parts of the text, and

 Underline the source and check for relevancy, credibility and

accuracy.

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 c) Summarizing

 When the reader should summarize the treat, she/he should be able

to find: the main idea, and

 The text style the writer used to develop the idea and how its parts

relate each other. To analyze the text style, the reader has to consider

the writer evidence, the writer assumption, the writer bias, and the

source used.

d) Re-reading.

A reader should at least re- read the text for 3 times.

 The first is for general idea.

 The second is for comprehension and annotating.

 The third is for making sure the reader understand the text.

e) Discussing it with others.

f) Giving respond to the text in which it can lead to the critical thinking.

In addition, based on a case study Correia developed some questions to

be answered while a reader reading in order to encourage critical reading

(Correia, 2006 p.27):

a) General question for the text analysis.

 Where and when was the text written?

 Why was it written?

 What is the text about?

 Who is the text addressed to? Who are its probable readers?

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  What genre is the text?

 Does the author establish an interactive, friendly relationship with the

readers or is he/she distant, formal, and impersonal?

 Are there elements of promotional discourse, such as positive

evaluative words?

b) Lexical choice.

 What kind of vocabulary predominates in the text? (Are there formal,

technical words or and colloquial expressions?)

 Does the vocabulary appeal to emotions, or is it logical and

argumentative?

 Are there words that are ideologically significant?

 What metaphors are used? What purposes do they serve in the text?

c) Grammar

 What verb tenses are used and why?

 Which subjects are described using the passive or active voice and why?

 Are the agents of the actions explicit or implicit?

d) Visual element

 What visual resources are used besides the text (colors, symbols,

figures)?

 In what ways do the illustrations relate to the text?

 What socio-cultural aspects can be identified in the visual signs?

e) Gender issue

 Does the text contain signs of asymmetry in male-female relationships?

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  Are there traces of sexism?

 Are there signs of stereotyped attitudes?

Since critical reading is an engaged reading, the activities should

encourage the reader to able to connect with the text. In teaching critical reading

for high school, Nauman (2005) designs a set of strategies which promote

engagement with the text and each set contains activities that build the ability to

read critically and write effectively. They are:

1) Interacting with a text.

The activities are underlining key phrases, writing questions or

comments in the margins, noting word patterns and repetitions, circling

unknown words, and keeping track of the story or idea as it unfolds.

2) Making connections to stories.

The activities include making a story chart, connecting stories to

events in one’s own life, and speculating on the meaning or significance

of story incidents.

3) Shifting perspectives to examine a text from many viewpoints.

The activities include examining point of view, changing the point

of view, exploring various versions of an event, forming interpretations,

comparing texts, and asking “what if” questions.

4) Studying language and craft in a selection.

The possible activities are understanding the figurative language,

examining how the writer uses words, and studying a variety of types

of literature.

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5) Studying the author, focusing on his or her life and work

The activities for this strategy are reading what the author says about

his or her work, reading what others say about the work, making

inferences about connections between the author’s life and work,

analysing the author’s style, paying attention to repeating themes and

topics in several works by one author, identify the author’s purpose and

point of view as well as distinguish fact from opinion.

Furthermore, Pierce (2006) summarizes some common critical

strategies which are used in teaching critical reading. They are; a)

Previewing the reading assignment. b) Having the students write a response

to the text (making notes) in the margin. c) Designing a focused, informal

writing task based on the reading d) Monitoring compliance or instruction.

In reading critically, a critical reader has to complete the following

tasks (Kurland, 2000); a) addresses a specific topic. b) Defines terms. c)

Presents evidences. d) Uses common knowledge. e) Able to explain

exceptions. f) Shows causes and effects. g) Able to draw conclusion.

Moreover, creating an appropriate classroom atmosphere in order to

encourage students to question, make prediction and organize their thoughts

to build new ideas are necessary for promoting critical reading (Collins,

1993). Therefore, teachers should facilitate students the environment to

promote critical reading.

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 According to the critical reading learning as well as teaching

strategies suggested by the experts above, it can be inferred that creating the

supportive environment for the students to analyse the text is necessary, but

before analysing the text it is necessary for them to understand the text. For

this reason, the teacher should improve students’ personal reading skill for

better comprehension. Furthermore, there were some strategies that could

be implemented in this study adjusted to the research subjects’ reading skill

level, the strategies listed below:

a) Previewing: by skimming and predicting,

b) Annotating and analysing: by making note and analysing the main idea

and supporting idea,

c) Reviewing: re-reading by accounting the note and unfamiliar words,

d) Responding: by summarizing or discussing with others.

e) Paraphrasing: by restating and clarifying the meaning of a few sentences

from the text. Reread the passage to be paraphrased and look up

unknown words. Translate information into their own words.

f) Synthesizing: by combining ideas and information selected from

different texts. Look for patterns among the sources, possibly supporting

or refuting their ideas or those of other sources.

g) Questioning: by writing questions while they read a text for the first

time.

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 h) Shifting perspectives: by examining point of view, changing the point

of view, exploring various versions of an event, forming interpretations,

comparing texts, and asking “what if” questions.

C. Local Legendary Tales

Short stories and local legendary tales are basically have a really

strong relationship between them. Local legendary tales is actually a part of

short stories, short stories tend to be less complex than novels. Usually, a

short story will focus on only one incident, has a single plot, a single setting,

a limited number of characters, and covers a short period of time.

Stories tend to contain certain core elements of dramatic structure:

exposition (the introduction of setting, situation and main characters);

complication (the event of the story that introduces the conflict); rising

action, crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and their commitment

to a course of action); climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the

conflict and the point of the story with the most action); resolution (the point

of the story when the conflict is resolved); and moral. Because of their short

length, short stories may or may not follow this pattern. Some do not follow

patterns at all. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an

exposition. More typical, though, is an abrupt beginning, with the story

starting in the middle of the action. As with longer stories, plots of short

stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning-point. However, the endings of

many short stories are abrupt and open and may or may not have a moral or

31
practical lesson. Of course, as with any art form, the exact characteristics of

a short story will vary by author.

Meanwhile, local legendary tales is just a story of legends, it does

not contain any stories other than legendary tales. Jason (1968) stated that

the well known definition of the legend, and the fundamental one to all other

definitions, is the one of the Brothers Grimm: a legend is a story which is

believed; it is told about a definite (real orfabulous) person, event or place.

Three factors are included in this definition:

1. the legend fits somewhere in the dimension of the historical time of the

narrator:

a. The legend is connected with a definite historical (real or fabulous)

event.

b. The legend is connected with a definite person, i.e., a named

historical (real or fabulous) figure.

2. the legend fits somewhere in the dimension of the geographical space of

the narrator: it is connected with a definite place

3. the legend is a true story: i.e., although it deals with supernatural events,

it is "believed" by its bearers, it is regarded as being placed in the real

world of the narrator end of his audience(contrary to this the fairy-tale,

also dealing with supernatural events, is not "believed" by the same

narrating community).

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D. Using Short Stories to Teach Critical Reading

The use of literature in language classes is not a new phenomenon

since it was used in 19th century when Grammar Translation Method

was still mostly used. Literature was one of material that students have

to translate into their native language. However, since Structuralism

approach began to dominate during the 1960s to the end of 1970s,

literature was no longer used (Pardede, 2011). Even when Direct

Method, the Audiolingual Method, Community Language Learning,

Suggestopedia, the Silent Way, Total Physical Response, the Natural

Approach, and Communicative Approach magnificently dominated

ESL/EFL teaching, literature was still ignored. Finally, since 1980s

literature regained its way back to EFL teaching. It is used as authentic

material in language class, not as a source for translation. Literature

turns out to be a context for EFL learners as Littlewood (2000)

mentioned that literature “enables students to understand the language

better by providing the students with real world experiences,

relationships between society and people where the target language is

spoken, even if they are fictions”. Furthermore, in the context of critical

reading learning, understanding a text is the very basic skill the learner

should have, since without understanding a text it nearly impossible for

the students to interact with the text, as interacting with the text is a step

ahead after understanding the text.

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 For that reason, in this research decided to use local legendary tales

(LLT) since besides local legendary tales mostly fun to read it is also

unique, problematic and has many gaps which fits somewhere in the

dimension of the geographical space of the reader. To that ends, those

items mentioned should be able to attract students’ attention and help

them students to analyse the text and relate it with their logic or their

knowledge and to question or even to discuss it with their colleague.

Thus, LLT should be able to supports critical reading activities since the

students led to analyse, synthesize, and interact with the text after they

understand the tales.

E. Related Studies

There are some previous research that is related to the current

research. The first research was also investigating about critical reading,

the research was conducted by Rafdah Othman Munawarah which was

conducted in 2013. In her research, she aimed to improve the students’

reading comprehension by implementing critical reading tasks. She

argued that critical reading and reading comprehension was closely

related and through implementing teaching strategies which involved

critical reading could help students in understanding a text. In the end of

her research, she found that critical reading could improve students’

reading comprehension which was through implementing critical reading

tasks, despite the fact that there were some actions which considered

successful and failed. Making prediction and brainstorming, marking,

34
annotating, summarizing and retelling were confirmed in supporting the

students’ reading understanding. While in the current research, despite

improving students’ reading comprehension by implementing critical

reading tasks I decided to use merge critical reading and reading

comprehension, in the current research I decided not to only improve

students’ reading comprehension but also to teach them how to interact

with the text by implementing critical reading activities such as;

summarizing, discussing with others, analysing, synthesizing, etc.

The second related study was conducted by Muhamad Ardia Rafiq

al Qhozali in 2017. In his research he used short stories to improve

students’ speaking skills by implementing storytelling activities in

English teaching. This research also used classroom action research

methods which implemented several action in his teaching: (1) using

classroom English during the teaching and learning process, (2) engaging

the students in pre-communicative activities, (3) encouraging them to use

dictionaries, (4) setting a fun learning atmosphere, and (5) appreciating

their participation and achievement. In the end of his research, the

research results show that the students’ speaking skills improved through

involving them in storytelling activity.

The third study which is related to the current study is the research

conducted by Ratri Handayani, entitled; Employing Critical Reading

Strategy to Promote Students’ High Order Thinking Skills. In this study

she aims to share idea about the use of critical reading to stimulate

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students’ critical thinking and reading comprehension whether it is for

academic purpose or reading for enjoyment, particularly in the foreign

language learning. In her research student-centered learning is chosen as

the teaching method during the reading class. It is believed that students

are willingly to get involve, to be active and to be communicative

learners. While the difference between the current study with this study

that this study didn’t use local legendary tales for the text, while here I

proposed local legendary tales as the text to improve students’ critical

reading skills. Thus, the use of local legendary tales in teachings of

critical reading still interested to be done.

The fourth research was generated by Peyman Rajabi and Mahin

Sadat Tabatabaee from Iran (2015). Entitled “The Impact of Teaching

Critical Reading Strategies on the Development of Critical Reading

Ability of Iranian EFL Learners”, here in their research they were

investigating the impact of teaching critical reading strategies on the

development of critical reading ability of EFL learners, which in the end of

their research they suggested to create authentic, interactive and learner-

centered environment in reading classes. Unlike this research which focused

on seeing the use of teaching strategies in teaching critical reading, the

current research aimed to see the use of local legendary tales and its

effectiveness in teaching critical reading.

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 F. Conceptual Framework

1. Students’ reading comprehension were low

2. Critical reading has never been taught
G.
Classroom 3. The students’ interest in reading skill was low
4. The students’ interest in improving reading skill
was poor
5. Most of the students were passive in teaching and
learning activities
6. Lack of interesting English reading material
7. Used short stories just as a source of wisdom

Needs a good English reading material to teach

critical reading
Interventions:
Classroom Action
Research

Action Planned:
1. Helping the students to improve their reading
comprehension (Tovani, 2000)
2. Engaging the students to the text (Nauman, 2005)
3. Enhancing students’ engagement in teaching and
learning process (Blair & Nauman, 2005)
4. Setting a stress-free environment for the students
to interact with the text. (Collins, 1993)

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