http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/view/9561/8076
Abstract
Reading involves an interactive process in which the reader actively produces meaning through a set of mental processes. There is obviously an ongoing interaction between the reader and the text. Critical reading is related to thinking and that is why we cannot read without thinking. Critical reading involves the following skills: predicting, acknowledging, comparing, evaluating and decision-making. Schemata can be seen as the organized background knowledge, which leads the reader to expect and predict aspects in their interpretation of discourse.
Keywords: Interactive, Critical, Reading, Thinking, Skills, Interpretation, Discourse
Introduction
Reading is a sophisticated activity, which includes psychological, linguistic, and sociological aspects. It is an interactive process between a reader and text. The process of reading involves constructing meaning among the parts of the text and between the text and readers' personal experience. The reader takes the text and gives it meaning. Both reader and writer use background knowledge to construct a text. Carrel (1987) talks about reading as an interactive process between the reader and the text. Meaning does not just reside in the text; it is rather constructed out of the interaction between a reader's background knowledge and what is in the text. Schemata and critical thinking perform an elaborative function in comprehension when we use our knowledge to make inference. While reading a text readers fill in gaps either in things they do not comprehend or in things that are not in the text. Perkins argues that information is actually present in a text and such information could be logically inferred from the content of the text (cited in Lee, and VamPatten, 1995: 193).

To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test
By PAM BELLUCKJAN. 20, 2011
Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.
The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.
One of those methods — repeatedly studying the material — is familiar to legions of students who cram before exams. The other — having students draw detailed diagrams documenting what they are learning — is prized by many teachers because it forces students to make connections among facts.
These other methods not only are popular, the researchers reported; they also seem to give students the illusion that they know material better than they do.
In the experiments, the students were asked to predict how much they would remember a week after using one of the methods to learn the material. Those who took the test after reading the passage predicted they would remember less than the other students predicted — but the results were just the opposite.
“I think that learning is all about retrieving, all about reconstructing our knowledge,” said the lead author, Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University. “I think that we’re tapping into something fundamental about how the mind works when we talk about retrieval.”
Several cognitive scientists and education experts said the results were striking.
The students who took the recall tests may “recognize some gaps in their knowledge,” said Marcia Linn, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley, “and they might revisit the ideas in the back of their mind or the front of their mind.”
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When they are later asked what they have learned, she went on, they can more easily “retrieve it and organize the knowledge that they have in a way that makes sense to them.”
The researchers engaged 200 college students in two experiments, assigning them to read several paragraphs about a scientific subject — how the digestive system works, for example, or the different types of vertebrate muscle tissue.
In the first experiment, the students were divided into four groups. One did nothing more than read the text for five minutes. Another studied the passage in four consecutive five-minute sessions.
A third group engaged in “concept mapping,” in which, with the passage in front of them, they arranged information from the passage into a kind of diagram, writing details and ideas in hand-drawn bubbles and linking the bubbles in an organized way.
The final group took a “retrieval practice” test. Without the passage in front of them, they wrote what they remembered in a free-form essay for 10 minutes. Then they reread the passage and took another retrieval practice test.
A week later all four groups were given a short-answer test that assessed their ability to recall facts and draw logical conclusions based on the facts.
The second experiment focused only on concept mapping and retrieval practice testing, with each student doing an exercise using each method. In this initial phase, researchers reported, students who made diagrams while consulting the passage included more detail than students asked to recall what they had just read in an essay.
But when they were evaluated a week later, the students in the testing group did much better than the concept mappers. They even did better when they were evaluated not with a short-answer test but with a test requiring them to draw a concept map from memory.
Why retrieval testing helps is still unknown. Perhaps it is because by remembering information we are organizing it and creating cues and connections that our brains later recognize.
“When you’re retrieving something out of a computer’s memory, you don’t change anything — it’s simple playback,” said Robert Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved with the study.
But “when we use our memories by retrieving things, we change our access” to that information, Dr. Bjork said. “What we recall becomes more recallable in the future. In a sense you are practicing what you are going to need to do later.”
It may also be that the struggle involved in recalling something helps reinforce it in our brains.
Maybe that is also why students who took retrieval practice tests were less confident about how they would perform a week later.
“The struggle helps you learn, but it makes you feel like you’re not learning,” said Nate Kornell, a psychologist at Williams College. “You feel like: ‘I don’t know it that well. This is hard and I’m having trouble coming up with this information.’ ”
By contrast, he said, when rereading texts and possibly even drawing diagrams, “you say: ‘Oh, this is easier. I read this already.’ ”
The Purdue study supports findings of a recent spate of research showing learning benefits from testing, including benefits when students get questions wrong. But by comparing testing with other methods, the study goes further.
“It really bumps it up a level of importance by contrasting it with concept mapping, which many educators think of as sort of the gold standard,” said Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia. Although “it’s not totally obvious that this is shovel-ready — put it in the classroom and it’s good to go — for educators this ought to be a big deal.”
Howard Gardner, an education professor at Harvard who advocates constructivism — the idea that children should discover their own approach to learning, emphasizing reasoning over memorization — said in an e-mail that the results “throw down the gauntlet to those progressive educators, myself included.”
“Educators who embrace seemingly more active approaches, like concept mapping,” he continued, “are challenged to devise outcome measures that can demonstrate the superiority of such constructivist approaches.”
Testing, of course, is a highly charged issue in education, drawing criticism that too much promotes rote learning, swallows valuable time for learning new things and causes excessive student anxiety.
“More testing isn’t necessarily better,” said Dr. Linn, who said her work with California school districts had found that asking students to explain what they did in a science experiment rather than having them simply conduct the hands-on experiment — a version of retrieval practice testing — was beneficial. “Some tests are just not learning opportunities. We need a different kind of testing than we currently have.”
Dr. Kornell said that “even though in the short term it may seem like a waste of time,” retrieval practice appears to “make things stick in a way that may not be used in the classroom.
“It’s going to last for the rest of their schooling, and potentially for the rest of their lives.”
It’s about that time again. Sleepy college towns will begin to awaken, abuzz with an excitement that only college students can inspire. Young scholars will soon arrive on college and university campuses, ready, or not so ready, to take on the world of higher education.
I have been teaching college students for 13 years, and I’ve come to know a thing or two about what makes some students more successful than others. Whether you’re beginning your first year or returning as a seasoned upperclass(wo)man, I hope I can provide some practical advice as you embark on a new academic year. You see, we professors want all of our students to succeed. We want you to learn and grow and thrive, both academically and socially.
So here’s to ivy-covered buildings, critical thinking, independence, making friends for life, asking hard questions, becoming global citizens, and discovering who you really are.
1. Don’t be anonymous. Introduce yourself to your professors and speak up in class, especially if you attend a large university with huge class sizes. I’m not saying you have to sit in the front row, answer every question and bring the instructor chocolates (did I say chocolates? I meant apples).
Just don’t hide in the back of the room and be invisible. Moreover, don’t hesitate to ask questions in class; if you’re wondering about something, chances are that someone else is too. If you think of a question outside of class time, visit the professor during office hours (that’s the purpose of office hours) or send an email (see #9).
2. Read all of your syllabi carefully. The syllabus is your contract for the course. There’s no excuse for not being aware of essential information that has been provided to you. In addition, check your email account daily; faculty and staff members will use email to communicate additional information to you.
3. Stay on top of your work. Try not to procrastinate. “Plan ahead” should be your mantra for your academic life. Nobody ever says “Oh shit, I started on that too early,” but plenty of students regret waiting until the last minute to begin studying or working on a project. Avoid pulling all-nighters (see Dr. Pamela V. Thacher’s study).
4. Turn in all assignments. It’s better to hand something in late than not at all; a zero can really hurt your course grade. If you’re struggling with an assignment or you fall behind, talk to your instructor — in advance, not the day said assignment is due. Professors are human too (well, most of us are, anyway) and some will consider giving you an extension, especially if you show evidence of progress on the assignment.
5. Work on improving your writing. Take advantage of the writing center and tutors at your school. You won’t regret it. Learn how to use commas and semi-colons; they’re important. For instance, the difference between “Let’s eat, grandma” and “Let’s eat grandma” is a dead grandma and my thinking you’re a cannibal. In addition, ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they’re’ are three different words with three different meanings. For the love of God, please learn how to use these words, and other homonyms, correctly.
6. Always do the assigned readings, even if there isn’t a quiz. Professors know when you haven’t read, even if they don’t call you out on it; you’re not fooling anyone.
7. Be aware of each instructor’s attendance policy; missing class can adversely affect your grade.
8. Be aware of your institution’s academic dishonesty policy and learn how to cite sources correctly. Whether you’re writing a paper or giving an oral presentation, you must cite all of your sources. If you do not give credit to the source, you are guilty of plagiarism! I recommend A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker or The Little Seagull Handbook by Richard Bullock and Francine Weinberg. Do not ever, ever, even think about turning in a friend’s paper from a previous semester or buying a paper from a web site. It’s just not worth it. Trust me on this one.
9. Please use email etiquette; it will make your sweet grandma proud (if you haven’t eaten her, that is- see # 5). When emailing a faculty or staff member whom you don’t know, do not use the person’s first name. Use his/her title, i.e. Dean, Dr., Professor, etc. (Please note that in the arts there are two terminal degrees, an MFA and a PhD; MFAs have the title of Professor, not Dr., so you may want to address arts faculty as Professor if you’re unsure.) And for the love of all things good in the world, PLEASE DO NOT USE ALL CAPS, i.e. ANN MARIE, I HAVE TO GET INTO YOUR CLASS OR ELSE... See #10.
10. If you’d like an instructor to add you to a full or over-enrolled course, don’t send an email pleading to be added, as s/he is probably inundated with such emails. Drop by the professor’s office instead. When you arrive, do yourself a favor and don’t barge in without introducing yourself, talking a mile a minute and making demands; this approach is ineffective. A more appropriate strategy is to introduce yourself, ask him if he has time to talk, and state that you’d like to add his course and why (preferably something other than “If you don’t let me into your course I’ll just die!” complete with tears and jazz hands). Following some basic rules of interpersonal communication will go a long way. If you can’t track the professor down, send an email (see #9) and ask if you can set up a time to meet. Please don’t harass or blame him for why you haven’t gotten into the course in the past, because chances are, he isn’t involved in a conspiracy against you and probably doesn’t have the power to change the past.

11. If you enjoy a course, let the professor know. S/he will appreciate it, and it may help the instructor to remember you. You never know when you’ll need a letter of recommendation or a reference for an internship, a job, or graduate school.
12. When professors write you letters of recommendation, send them a thank you note (the kind from the olden days that involve a pen and an envelope!). Writing recommendation letters is a time-consuming task and one that instructors don’t have to do; let them know you appreciate it. And if you get into the international program or grad. school or get the internship or job, let your professor know. Nothing makes us happier than seeing you succeed. This is why we do what we do.
13. Broaden your horizons; take a course outside of your program. If you’re concerned about not doing well, find out if you can take the course pass/fail so you can focus on learning for learning’s sake (what a novel idea!) without it adversely affecting your g.p.a. For instance, take a public speaking course. Many instructors require oral presentations, and this is a skill that will serve you well both during and after college.
14. Show the librarians some love! Don’t wander around the library aimlessly. Ask the experts for help. Librarians are some of the most resourceful people you’ll ever meet.
15. Take pride in your work and in yourself. Don’t compromise your beliefs for anyone.
16. Choose your friends carefully. Your friends are your family away from home. Don’t choose a bunch of jackasses to be your family.
17. Don’t forget where you come from. Remember the people who helped you get to college in the first place. Call your parents. (Call them. Texting is not the same thing!)
18. Choose your major carefully, and make sure you’re choosing it for you; you’re the one who could work in a field connected to that major for, say, 40 YEARS. Work hard for you. Get a college degree for you, for your future. Believe in yourself.
19. Remember that education is the key that will open many doors for you. Don’t take it for granted. Take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow as a student and person. Know that learning happens both in and outside the classroom. Join a club, attend a performance or guest lecture, volunteer. Now is the time to focus on yourself and your education.
20. Be kind. To everyone. Not much in this world matters more. And you never know what a difference your kindness might make.
21. Know that you are not alone. If you need support, ask for it. We who have made education our life’s work want to see you succeed; let us know how we can help.
Wishing you well,
A prof. who loves her job