However; there are some differences among each other. This study is more specific and detail than other investigations conducted by other researchers. The
first research above investigated whether or not critical thinking had relationship with language proficiency; while this research focused on investigating the
correlation between critical thinking and reading comprehension skills. Therefore,
this research is really new and different from the other research.
D. Conceptual Framework
Reading comprehension involves the ability to not only read the words but also the abstract meaning behind the text. However, the ability to understand the
abstract meaning behind the texts involves higher order thinking. Higher-order thinking skills enable students to do this and find the real value in the information
they are reading. Readers who can use higher order thinking not only show knowledge and understanding of the text, they can put the information in new
contexts and form relations between ideas. Some experts see reading as a decoding process with the reader processing
each letter in turn, producing the appropriate sounds, and forming words. Allington, R., Sirange M., 1980. In other definition, reading is the process of
construction meaning from read book.
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Therefore, reading is a comprehension process, and comprehension is the ability to construct the author’s message
through experiential background, knowledge, language, and thinking skills. The role of critical thinking is indispensable in reading comprehension.
The relationship between those skills seems to be equal and parallel. It means that if the readers have good critical thinking skill, they are supposed to have good
ability in comprehending the texts. Meanwhile, if the writers lack of the ability to think critically, they are supposed to have poor reading comprehension skill.
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Allington, R.
Strange, M.
2001 What is Reading?
3thd.Ed; Learning Through Reading, p.15
