Minggu, 30 April 2017

CAR 10



Güneṣ, Ayṣenur., & Güneṣ, Fatih. (2014). Teaching critical reading in school and associate with education. Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 4: 961-966.

The purpose of this tsudy is to know the contribution of critical reading ability to the students education life. in this article, the esearcer stated that the critical reading has close relation with some activities, such as thinking, critique, questioning, writing, and curiouity of the students. Also, the reseracher mentions that every reader has their own purpose in reading.
In this study, the researchers stated that there are sme factors why the students cannot be the critical reader. The first is the students reading skill did not develop, it can be caused of the education system in that country who did not support the students to develop their reading ability. The second is the students just read the text without comprehended the text, so they get nithing from the reading activity.
The researcher just compare two kinds of students, the student who has good reading ability and able to think critically and the other is the student who did not have the reading ability and also lack of critical thinking. Actually, the researcher just give suggestion and it seesm like they did not practice it into their classroom. This article just told us about the observation research.
I do agree with this article that having good reading ability, critical reading, and critical thinking is good for our students. however, to develop those skills is not as easy as it seen. The teacher must choose the suitable strategy for her students. For my future classroom, I will do observation first before I conducting a strategy into my classroom. I will tell my students that having a good reading abilit is important for their life.

CCU 10

Sabtu, 22 April 2017

CAR - 9

Citation: Akin, Ferdi., Koray, Ozlem., and  Tavukcu, Koray. (2015). How effective is critical reading in the understanding of scientific texts?. Procedia - social and behaviour sciences, 174: 2444-2451.

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of a science and technology lesson arranged within the context of critical reading on students' academic achievement, critical thinking, and critical reading achievement. This study used experimental study to analyze this study and conducted to elementary students grade eight.
The research methodology of this study  is quasi-experimental. This study has pre-test, post-test control group design. The quantitative data used to test the research hypotheses is collected by means of an academic achievement test, critical thinking scale and critical reading scale.
This research was conducted in Gazi Elementary school which is located in the city of Zonguldak in 2011-2012 academic year. The groups were randomly assigned as experiemntal and control. In the process of analysing the equality of the groups, the number of students, the mark averages of the
students in 7th grade, the average grades of science and technology lesson taken during the first term and the pre-test results (AAT, CTT, CRS) were taken into consideration. In order to investigate whether the groups are equal, independent samples t-test was performed and it was found out that the groups were equal in terms of all the variables
mentioned.
The data collection instruments used to gather data from the students within the study are:

a.       Academic Achievement Test (AAT):
The academic achievement test is composed of multiple choice questions adhering to the curriculum of the subjects food chain, photosynthesis, recycling and alternetive energy sources in the unit “Living things and Energy” The distribution of the questions according to the aims and difficulty levels was taken into consideration,
b.      Critical Thinking Test (CTT):
In order to determine the critical thinking levels of the students participating the study Cornell Critical Thinking Level X test was used.
c.       Critical Reading Scale (CRS):
The critical Reading Scale developed by Ünal (2006) was used in order to determine the students’ critical reading levels and the necessary permissions were obtained from the researcher.
    The experimental processes were initiated by the application of AAT, CTT, CRS pre-tests to the students in experimental and control groups. Before the teaching process of the experimental group was initiated, five texts parallel to the aims of the subject “Living things and energy” were selected from science and technics journals. Around the framework of these texts, crticial reading activities were created by the researcher (Appendix 1) and by using these activities, the researcher attempted to make the participants acquire both the aims of the unit and those of critical reading. The first two texts / activities were alloted 7 lessons each of which were 40 minutes and the remaining three texts / activities were alloted 6 lessons each,and with the application of pre and post tests, the research took 10 weeks in total. The activities were carried out by the Science and Technology teacher, and the researcher
attended the lessons as an observer.

Sabtu, 15 April 2017

CAR - 8

Citation: Correia, Rosane. (2006). Encouraging critical reading in the EFL classroom, English teaching forum, 1(1): 16-20.

The main purpose of this study is to make alternative possibilities for reading activities which can make the students become more interested in the reading activity and also become more active and being a critical reader.
The problem behind this study is most of the reading activity in the classroom is passive reading. The example is the students must respond the multiple choice exercise, vocabulary, true-false statements, and so on. Those activities did not require the students to read the text deeply. They just read the text to find the correct answers of the exercise.
Based on the problem, the researcher provides active reading activity, that is critical reading. that activity can make the students think beyond the text. The final product of critical reading is making a summary, where the students can think out of the text to make the summary. Before making a summary there are some activities which must be done by the students in reading activity. Those are pre-reading activity, while-reading tasks, and the last is post-reading tasks. In the reading activity, the researcher using authentic material that is newspaper. After those three activities done, the researcher asks the students to make a summary in pairs and after that, they must exchange their summary with their classmate.
Although, conducting critical reading is need more time and difficult, but at the end, it shows the good result for the students. Not only in the students' reading comprehension but also in the students' motivation in joining the reading class.

Jumat, 14 April 2017

CCU - 8

Citation: Martinez, Dolores. (2012). Critical learning: critical discourse analysis in EFL teaching,  journal of 
 language teaching and research, 3(2): 283-288.

The main purpose of this journal is to explain the implementation of critical discourse analysis in foreign language teaching. It is used to help the students develop their internal values and critical thinking skills. 
In the first part of this journal, the researcher gives the explanation about critical discourse analysis (CDA), start with the history of critical discourse analysis which firstly published in 1952 by Harris. The next part is about the proposal of this study which consists of three parts. The first part consists of the theories related to critical discourse analysis, the second part is about the set tools which used to analyze the text, and the last part is about the activity which consists of some texts and also there is an illustration of teaching and learning activity. 
After conducting the activity using those three parts, the researcher makes a conclusion of this study. He explains that critical discourse analysis promotes the critical thought to the social situation. By using critical discourse analysis the teacher can improve the students' language skills. Actually, the thing which contributes to the students' improvement is not only the critical discourse analysis but also the text which used in the teaching and learning activity. The types of the text can provide the students' motivation, based on the conclusion of this study the students are motivated to join the reading because the genre or the type of the text is suitable for them besides of using critical discourse analysis.

Sabtu, 08 April 2017

CCU - 7



Citation: Sultana, Sharmin. (2011). Teaching English in a cross-cultural context: challenges & directions, Nepal English language teachers association, 16(1-2): 114-123. 

After reading this journal, I learn the aim of this study is to analyze the difficulties or problems faced by the students and the teacher in learning and teaching multicultural.

“A language is a part of a cultural and a cultural is a part of a language”

I got the quote above from the introduction part. That quote means that in teaching a language we cannot separate with its culture. The importance of teaching multicultural is to help the students face the multiculturalism in this new era. However, the purpose of teaching this material is to give the students knowledge that there are many lifestyles, languages, cultures, and point of views outside their own.
Teaching multicultural is not easy for the students, there are so many problems which come from the teacher side or the students' side. In facing those difficulties in teaching and learning multicultural, the researcher provides some strategies and suggestions. Every student has his own way in learning and also the teachers, they have their own way or method in teaching their students.
In conclusion, the researcher states that teaching English in a cross-cultural context must broaden the students’ horizon. The teacher must use the suitable method or technique in teaching the students so the students will be motivated in learning the multicultural.

Jumat, 07 April 2017

CAR - 7



Citation: Zahibi, Reza., Pordel, Mojtaba. (2011). An investigation of critical reading in reading textbooks: a qualitative analysis, international education studies, 4(3): 80-87.

     The aim of this study is to investigate and identify whether reading textbooks improves the students’ critical reading or not. This study used three textbooks, that are: Select Reading Upper-Intermediate, Active Skills for Reading Book 4, and Mosaic Reading 2. This study used a qualitative analysis. However this study does not use classroom action research as the methodology, but the topic of this study still in line with my concern that is critical reading.
     In the introduction part, the researchers stated that some experts have indicators in critical reading, but the did not mention those critical reading indicators. So, it did not give me clear explanation related to the critical reading indicators. However, this study is not only talking about critical reading, but it discusses things related to critical reading, those are: critical thinking and creative thinking. Because those three things are related each other.
    The researchers explain in creative thinking some goals those are creative thinking in education is to build the students are able in doing a new activity and education is an activity which could make the students able to be critical, verify, and accept everything they are offered. While in critical thinking the researcher's stated that students are able to look at a problem from the new perspective. In the critical reading, the purpose of reading is used to search the information in the text and make a critique due to the text.
   Actually, the students' comprehension of reading a text is not the only final goal of critical reading strategy, but it can be the main point where the students start to their critical discussions.
In the result discussion part, the researchers provide the analysis of the three textbooks. First, they do the analysis to the Select Reading Upper-intermediate book. Based on this book, the researchers conclude that the first thing the students must do in critical reading activity is reading the chapter title, the next step is reading the text itself, after reading the text the students are asked to understand the text and discuss the issue of that text.
    The second analysis is for Active skills for Reading: Book 4. Based on tihis book the nost important skill in reading a text is scanning. Because the writer of this book beliefes it can develope the students’ critical awareness. And the researchers suggest that doing critical reading activity is not suitable for ESP students. The third analysis is Mosaic Reading 2 book. This book is concern in decoding word and sentences of unknown words.
    In the conclusion, the researcher suggest that a book which promotes critical tinking and critical reading depends on the kinds of materials, task and exercise rather than the way the techer handle the classroom. Also, conducting thecritical reading activity is important in reading classroom for the students.
    For my future classroom, I think it will need more time to do analysis in choosing which is the most suitable book for my students. however tis activity is good and give possitive impact in the teaching and learning activity. But it will be bette if there is a team in my future school who has duty to do analysis in a book that will be used.

Senin, 03 April 2017

CCU - 6



Citation: Cakir, Ismail. (2006). Developing cultural awareness in foreign language teaching, turkish online journal of distance education, 7(3): 154-162. 

The aim of this study is to give information for the foreign language teachers and students in how to make a good communication with the target language and its culture. this study states that to understand a language is not only knowing the knowledge but also the characteristics of the culture. 
Actually, in teaching the students about the foreign culture, the teacher must explain that in every culture has each norm in communication. Sometimes doing a thing is acceptable in our environment or culture but it can be unacceptable for the other cultures. 
in this journal, the researcher provides an activity which can help the students to practice the foreign language and culture, that is role play. In this activity, the students practice how to speak in the target language and how to act in its culture. 
in the conclusion, the researcher states that in developing an awareness of sociocultural and sociolinguistic differences might exist between the students' first language and the target language.