What are critical reading skills?

What are critical reading skills?

Introduction
	As readers make sense of what they read, they use various relationships of ideas to aid recognition and fluency.
	Critical reading as a goal includes the ability to evaluate ideas socially or politically.

Definition
	Critical reading skills are the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize what one reads. They are the ability to see relationships of ideas and use them as an aid in reading.

Examples

Here are some examples of critical reading skills:

Seeing questions and expecting answers
Seeing cause and effect
Example:
Being able to supply the correct word in a clause such as this one:

“If you drop it, it will b...”
Seeing steps in a process
Example:
Being able to supply the correct word in a clause such as this one:

“Pull up a chair and s...”
Seeing comparisons
Example:
Being able to supply the correct word in a phrase such as this one:

“As big as an e...”
Seeing generalization and itemization
Example:
Being able to supply the correct word in a phrase such as this one:

“Fruits that grow in our village are ...”

See also
	What is critical literacy? What are reading skills?

Sources
	Halvorson 1992

Context for this page:

Page content last modified: 2 July 1998