Shpresa Delija Ph.D.
University of Tirana, Foreign Language Faculty, English Department

UDK 159.955.5-057.875

DEVELOP CHRITICAL THINKING TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
 

Abstract: This paper is based on the observation of reading skills that students of the first year apply in English classes and on the analysis of a reading self assessment. It discusses the assumption that students can read better if they apply critical thinking and they will become critical readers if they are taught and trained how to do it. When students start University we take it for granted that they know how to read in the mother tongue as well as in the foreign language. They are assigned a lot of textbook readings from authentic materials. But every day practice and their performance show that students read simply for comprehension. Secondary schools mainly teach students to read to get information. First year students have not been taught to read for gist or to develop their critical thinking. Many have not learned to analyze texts through questions and answers that examine students’ comprehension. Nowadays students do not like reading at all, but when they read they do it for pleasure. When they read to accomplish a task and they do not ‘understand it’ they give up rather than work hard to solve out the difficulty of the task.