TEACHING CRITICAL READING TO TERTIARY EFL STUDENTS IN INDONESIA :A Research at a Private University in Bandung West Java.

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Table of Content

DECLARATION ... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ... ii

ABSTRACT ... iii

TABLE OF CONTENT ... iv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1 Background ... 1

1.2 Purpose of the Research ... 4

1.3 Research Question ... 4

1.4 Scope of the Research ... 4

1.5 Significances of the Research ... 5

1.6 Thesis Organization ... 5

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6

2.1 Critical Thinking ... 6

2.2 Critical Literacy ... 8

2.3 Critical Pedagogy ... 11

2.4 Summary of Literature Review ... 13

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 14

3.1 The Objective of the Research ... 14

3.2 Site and Participant ... 14

3.3 Research Design ... 15

3.4 Teaching Material ... 16

3.5 Data Collection Techniques ... 16

3.4.1 Teaching Program ... 17

3.4.2 Questionnaire ... 17

3.4.3 Interview ... 18

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3.6 Data Analysis ... 19

3.5.1 Analysis Data from Test ... 19

3.5.2 Analysis Data from Questionnaire ... 20

3.5.3 Analysis Data from Interview ... 20

3.5.4 Analysis Data from Students’ Journal ... 21

3.7 Conclusion of Chapter Three ... 21

CHAPTER FOUR: OVERVIEW OF THE TEACHING PROGRAM ... 23

4.1 Preliminary Phase ... 23

4.1.1 Step 1: Introducing the Students with the Teaching Program ... 24

4.1.2 Step 2: Deciding on the Topics for Reading ... 24

4.1.3 Step 3: Distributing Questionnaires ... 26

4.1.4 Summary of Preliminary Phase of the Program ... 29

4.2 The Teaching Program ... 30

4.2.1 Stage 1: Explicit Teaching of Critical Reading Related Features ... 31

4.2.2 Stage 2: Application of Critical Reading in Social Context ... 36

4.2.3 Stage 3: Critical Reading Strategy ... 42

4.2.4 Application of Critical Reading Phase ... 48

4.3 Textual Analysis of Students’ Answer ... 56

4.4 Summary of the Overview of Teaching Program ... 59

CHAPTER FIVE: STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TOWARDS THE TEACHING PROGRAM ... 61

5.1 Discussion Data from Interview ... 62

5.1.1 Students’ Perception of the Teaching Program ... 62

5.1.2 Students’ Suggestion about Improvement to the Teaching Program ... 69

5.2 Conclusion of Chapter Five ... 70

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 72

6.1 Conclusion ... 72

6.2 Limitations of the Study ... 74

vi BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 77 APPENDICES ... 82

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This study investigates the teaching of critical reading to fifth semester students of English Department at a private university in Bandung - West Java, Indonesia.

As a general introduction to the thesis, the current chapter briefly discusses some notions that characterize the research. The first section of this chapter introduces the background of the research, which will be followed by discussion of the purposes of the research. The next part are general structures of academic report containing research question, significance of the research, scope of the research, research design, and thesis organization.

1.1Background

The current world demands people to comprehend more than their native language. Foreign languages are used in various dimensions from formal to informal fields. English as an international language dominates the information source in a range of facets, it makes English becomes one of the essential foreign languages to be learned by most countries including Indonesia. English as a foreign language is an obligatory subject in all schools in Indonesia from elementary to senior high schools. English is also being offered as a general course in universities as has been explicitly stated in several documents released by the government, especially those related to education. Moreover, many universities take English as one of the requirements of graduation even for non English department, for instance UPI, ITB, STAN, Sriwijaya University obliges the students to take a TOEFL before they follow comprehensive test (http://www.unsri.ac.id/?act=pengumuman_detil&id=93).

One of the essential English skills for students of tertiary level in Indonesia is reading. This is an indispensable skill since many information and knowledge are available in English

language. In fact they are demanded to be able to comprehend any kind of text written in both Bahasa Indonesia and English, inside and outside the classroom.

This research focuses on more specific reading skill component that is critical reading skill. This skill need to be master by all member of the society since in this reform era people are massively flooded by the marketing of ideas and products across the globe. This mass of information is reaching the people in a very modern system which in turn requires the information receiver to be able to make meaning from the array of information sources. The critical reading ability becomes important skill because what is heard (e.g., news reports, public speakers, conversation) and what is read (e.g., newspapers, tabloids, Internet-based material) are not necessarily accurate or unbiased.

As a part of the society students have to become an active consumer of information. They have to be able to identify whether the information will bring positive or negative effects upon their ways of living. To master critical reading ability students need to be trained by a well arranged program. School is a proper medium to sharpen students’ critical reading skill. By having critical reading skill students are expected to be more sensitive towards any kinds of issues on the society, as mentioned by Coffey (2009):

Within classroom practices, teachers can utilize critical reading in any content area or grade level to encourage students to interrogate societal issues and institutions like family, poverty, education, equity, and equality with the purpose of critique the structures that serve as norms and to demonstrate how these norms are not experienced by all members of society.

Critical reading takes the students further than the development of basic literacy skills such as decoding, predicting, and summarizing and requires them to become critical consumers of the information they receive. Wray (2008) proposed that being literate in a ‘basic’ sense is not enough. Teachers who value critical literacy will thus tend to have a stake in social change and

will encourage their pupils to investigate, question and even challenge relationships between language and social practices that advantage some social groups over others. At the heart of this approach to teaching is the belief that while literacy facilitates students to make meaning from texts, critical reading will empower them to understand how texts are trying to influence and change them as members of the society.

Despite the benefit of critical reading, however in Indonesian education the teaching of critical reading is not yet popular and it is still rarely observed by researchers or teachers. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effect of a teaching program which synthesizes classroom practices of EFL students with critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy concepts in helping to develop their critical capacity in reading.

1.2Purposes of the Research The purposes of this research are:

1) To identify and to portray the effect of a program which is a synthesis of critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy in helping to develop students’ critical reading.

2) To find out the students’ responses toward the program.

1.3Research Questions

In compliance with the aforementioned purposes, this research strives to answer following questions:

1. Can a program which is a synthesis of critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy help the students develop their critical reading?

2. How do the students respond toward the program?

1.4Scope of the Research

This study is limited to investigate the teaching of critical reading formed by the theory of critical thinking, critical literacy, and critical pedagogy. It will be shown that the aspects of critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy applied are only those considered to be relevant to the context of students’ understanding in this program. The participants of the research are limited to the fifth semester students of one private university in Bandung.

1.5Significances of the Research

This research will enrich the literature of critical literacy in foreign language learning in Indonesian context which is still rare. In terms of practical use the result of the study can provide information for teachers on how to teach critical reading in English as a foreign language context.

1.6Thesis Organization

This thesis presents ideas, data, analyses, findings, and interpretation in six chapters. The chapters will be subdivided into subtopics that elaborate the given issues. Chapter I is an introduction to the present study, this contains the background and burning issue underlying the research. Chapter II provides theoretical foundation on the issue which includes definitions and components of critical thinking, critical literacy, critical pedagogy and also critical reading.

Chapter III discusses the research method and implementation of the program. Chapter IV and V in sequence presents and discusses data obtained from the teaching program and students responses relevant to the research as presented in chapter I and the theory discussed in chapter II. Chapter VI is the conclusion of the study, limitation, and suggestion for further research.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology of the study that includes the objectives of the research, site and participants, and research method which includes research design, data collection and data analysis.

3.1 The Objective of the Research

As indicated in chapter one the aims of this study by and large are to identify and to portray the effect of a program which is a synthesis of critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy to help developing students’ critical reading and also to find out the students’ responses toward the program.

3.2 Site and Participant

The research was undertaken at the English Department of a private University Bandung - West Java, Indonesia. This research site was chosen for several reasons. First of all, to amplify the feasibility of the study, the second motive was correlated to the focus of the study, concerning Critical Reading which was believed to be suitable and applicable at this level. Tertiary level students were expected to think more conceptually, to write more analytically, and to read more critically. The last motive for the choice of the university level was the principles took on in this study were expected would have a positive effect on broader social life, since the university has been defended as “a vital public sphere, whose moral and pedagogical dimensions help renew civic life” (Giroux, 1997, as cited in Emilia, 2005)

The participants of this study were fifth semester students of a Bachelor degree in the department. The students involved in this study were taking the subjects Reading V which

frequently deals with various reading materials and some genres of text. From 23 students only 13 who were willing to be volunteers.

3.3 Research Design

This research used a case study research design. The reason for the selection of this research design is the circumstances on the field are suitable for implementing such research design. This research maintains the contemporary phenomenon in the real life context and researcher has little/no possibility to control the events (Yin, 1994). This research carried out in a small scale and single case, also focused on one particular instance of educational practice that is teaching critical reading with the researcher acted as a teacher (Stake, 1995 in Emilia 2005). Moreover, this research also employed multiple sources of evidence based on the same issue to gain more complete description to analyze the values and effectiveness of the teaching program implemented in this study (Yin, 1993 in Emilia 2005). From those characteristics and based on the purpose and research question above, this research can be included into qualitative study. Furthermore, based on Nunan’s (1992) categorization of research designs, this research can be included as a qualitative program evaluation for the reason that in this study the researcher created and then implemented a teaching program.

The value and the effectiveness of the course were evaluated through ongoing assessment of students’ achievements based on the objectives of the program. This assessment was important “to assist the researcher in deciding whether the teaching program needed to be modified or altered in any way so that objectives may be achieved more effectively” (Nunan, 1992).

The teaching material were presented in two formats; written and visual form (video). This aimed to enable the students to be engaged in the learning process and the discussion, which is one way to enhance students’ critical thinking. The topics were about:

a. Text Format: Women’s Role, Golput Idea, Plastic Surgery, Chain E-mail, Gay, Facebook Yes or No; “Slim is Beautiful”, Smoking; Bush’s Statement; ‘Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists’, Hijab Article; ‘Gender jihad, the burqa bikini and religious conservatism, “Mensana in Corporesano” quotation, “Manja dan Malas Sudah Menjadi Budaya Bangsa Indonesia yang Mendarahdaging” quotation.

b. Video Format: Condom Non-Commercial adv.

The reading material distributed during the 12 meetings. On the program, students were asked to answer critical reading question set to measure students’ progress on each meeting. Those topics were selected based on the reason that they were controversial, which seemed to suit the teaching of critical thinking, critical reading and writing (Chaffee et al, 2002). Since the focus of the program was on students’ critical reading ability and also the difficulties in seeking another source, the materials then were mostly in written form.

3.5 Data Collection Techniques

Data collection techniques used in this study were involving a phase of teaching critical reading which the researcher acted as a teacher, questionnaire distribution and interview session. The data were then described to show the “condition or relationships that exist; practices that prevail; beliefs, point of views, or attitude that are held; processes that are going on; effects that are being felt; or trends that are developing” (Cohen; 1980 cited in Emilia; 2005). Each part of the data collection techniques will be discussed below.

The teaching program has been drawn from the work of Emilia (2005) who conducted the teaching program of critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy at the tertiary level. The difference is only on the focus of the study, this study focus on teaching critical reading.

This program involved 13 students, run in 12 meetings, started on 21st of December 2009 and ended on 25th of January 2010. In this teaching program the researcher acted as the teacher. Before the teaching program being implemented, the students were introduced towards the program on preliminary phase. This research was using ongoing assessment method, thus the evaluation to each student held in every meeting. The description of the teaching program will be provided in chapter four.

3.5.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaire distributed at the beginning of the teaching program to identify the students’ background in English language and also their basic knowledge in critical reading. The result of the questionnaire will be helpful to tailoring the sequence of the teaching program and also the approach towards each student during the program.

3.5.3 Interview

Interview session was held twice, at the 6th meeting and the last meeting of the program. The general purpose of these sessions is to recognize students’ opinion about the program, their suggestion for the program, to ensure students’ thought about their improvement in critical reading. Interview session was also a strategy to help the students to bring to consciousness their knowledge gained in the teaching program, the aspects they thought had developed, and the aspects of the teaching program were responsible for the development or changes observed in this study. Another function of interview is to validate data from classroom observation, and

questionnaire. From a point of critical thinking evaluation, the value of individual interview has been observed by Norris and Ennis, who say:

Interviewing students individually is a way of acquiring very detailed information on the students’ critical thinking. Interviewing students individually has certain advantages over other information gathering techniques. … many students can express ideas easier … in oral rather than in written form. While interviewing the evaluator has also the option to ask students to clarify what they have said, to request further reasons for their conclusions, and to ask specific questions about what might have influenced their thinking (Kvale 1989,in Emilia, 2005)

All students were being interviewed and it was lasted around 10 minutes each. The interview can be categorized into a semi structured interview. The strength of a semi-structured interview, according to Kvale as cited in Emilia (2005) is that:

A semi-structured interview … has a sequence of themes to be covered, as well as suggested questions. Yet, at the same time there is an openness to changes of sequence and forms of questions in order to follow up the answers given … by the subjects (Kvale 1996).

The questions were around the teaching program, the benefit of the teaching program, knowledge that they thought they gain during the program. The students were being informed about the questions for the interview.

3.5.4 Students’ Journal

The result of this part was taken as the supporting data. Immediately at the end of every meeting, students were asked to write their feeling, expression, opinion, and also what they thought they gained at the meeting from teacher and also from their friends. The purpose is to identify their opinion and their achievement on that days meeting. Examples of students’ journal are available in appendix 9.

The data of this study were analyzed along and at the end of the teaching program. Ongoing data analyses were offered precious ongoing material for evaluation or for modification of the teaching program (Emilia: 2005). There are five kinds of data, namely: the result of testing questions, interview, questionnaire, classroom observation and students’ journal. The analysis of data from each source will be provided below.

3.6.1 Analysis of Data from Tests

The first main data was gained from students’ response towards the testing question which was being equipped to the text and or video which was given. The data were then analysed by using theories which support the character of the respond as described in chapter two. The test was given in every meeting; therefore the quality of the respond of each student can be identified. The standard of the correct answer is based on the incorporation of theories proposed by critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy experts. The test aimed to check students’ critical thinking & critical literacy aspect that were taught in the program, as described in chapter two and chapter four. These include, among others:

• Critical thinking standards

• Students’ ability in answering questions to do with critical literacy focused on in this study as also described in chapter two and chapter four.

To get more valid data students’ progress on each meeting were also measured by scoring system. Students’ answers were calculated in number in a range 1 to 10 on each point. The teacher provided possible answer as the basis to measure the quality of the students’ answer.

Data from questionnaires were analyzed in steps:

• Transcribing all students’ answers.

• Categorizing students’ response into aspects related to central themes of the research, in line with the research questions formulated in chapter one.

• Interpreting the data by relating them to the previous studies on critical thinking, critical literacy and critical pedagogy as described in chapter two.

3.6.3 Analysis of Data from Interview

Data from interview was also analysed in three steps:

• Transcribing

The interview recording was transcribed to get the precise and more accurate data.

• Categorizing

Student’s answers were then categorized based on the main theme, namely: students’ opinion of the teaching program, students’ suggestion of the teaching program, the knowledge that they thought they gained from the program.

• Interpreting

The data were interpreted based on the research question. In the discussion of this data, students’ responses in the interviews will also be related to their developments in critical reading capacity concerned with in this study, and the value of each element of the teaching program.

Students’ journals in each meeting were used to support the main source of the data in answering the research questions. The data could help to identify students’ response in each meeting, also the effectiveness of the program by students’ assertion of the knowledge they thought had gained in the meeting.

3.7 Conclusion of Chapter Three

In accordance with the research question, this study attempts to identify whether or not the teaching critical reading able to help student in developing their critical capacity in reading therefore the whole data are directed to answer it. To get a comprehensive result, the entire data were being integrate in a data source triangulation procedure which is ”the most desired pattern for dealing with case study data” (Yin, 1993 cited in Emilia 2005) to make a contrast and comparison of all the data obtained from different sources i.e. students’ comment, classroom observations, text analyses and questionnaires, this method also "attempt to map out, or explain more fully, the richness and complexity of human behavior by studying it from more than one standpoint." Cohen and Manion (1986). This aimed to "gives a more detailed and balanced picture of the situation." (Altrichter et al:1996).

CHAPTER V

STUDENT’S RESPONSES TOWARDS THE TEACHING PROGRAM

The previous chapter has discussed the findings from the analyses of students’ answers on critical reading questions. It reveals the students’ promotions in their critical capacities examined in this study, in spite of some features that still needed improvement. This chapter will discuss data from other sources, namely interviews which were held on the 6th meeting and at the end of the program, and also students’ comments of each meeting, containing what students learned from friends and teacher on that day. Interview sessions, as described in Chapter 3, are used as tools for “checking the accuracy of – verifying or refuting – the impressions the researcher had gained through observations” (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2000). Each interviews lasted around 10 minutes. The interview can be categorized into a semi structured interview because the interview conducted in a fairly open structure; some questions in fact were created during the interview based on students’ answer.

All the activities were conducted in order to obtain complete data from various sources. The last section of this chapter illustrates the finding from the whole process in gaining the view of students’ opinion towards the program as the complement in describing the wide-ranging conclusion of the study as will be presented in chapter 6.

Interview was held two times, in the 6th meeting and in the last meeting. However, the results do not reveal too much difference. Both interviews divulge similar general responses of the student. So the discussion for two interviews will be presented in one section only.

In interviews 1 and 2 students showed their interest in the program. Their answer revealed their enthusiasm in joining the program. Students’ responses in the interview more or less had similarity with their answer on questionnaire. They give positive feedback towards the program especially because they were interested in the new method in reading as can be identified below.

Generally, this part presents two themes: students’ perceptions of the teaching program, including the development they thought they gained from the teaching program and students’ suggestions for further implementation of the teaching program.

5.1.1 Students’ Perception toward the Teaching Program

The complete data are presented in Appendix 7. Data from the interview indicate that the teaching program was perceived by students to have achieved most of its goals. All participants thought the program was useful and enjoyable, besides that they admitted that this program enables them to see the word and the world (Freire, 1987) which was emphasized in students answer below:

I found this program very useful for me, new knowledge which make me have new view about the world (silvia).

I enjoy in this program, this really give me new experience, new knowledge (Teten). One of the best things of this class is the comfortable, relax, fun (Rizal).

Students’ opinions above suggest their recognition of the inevitability of the pleasurable and generate satisfaction in teaching learning process (Freire, 1998). From ESL teaching perspective, comments above inline with Cummins’s (1996) notion which mention “instruction must evoke intellectual effort on the part of students, i.e. be cognitively demanding, if it is to develop academic and intellectual abilities”.

When students were asked about the difference between the teaching program and their official classes, every student appeared to recognize the significance of the steps in the critical reading phase to help them comprehend the text easier. As Wawan indicated:

One of the big differences between this class with my normal reading class is the method. I feel the advantages of critical reading strategy to help me besides understand the text or any other information I get, also to improve my critical reading and critical thinking skill.

Another opinion was put forwarded by Teten who has similar thoughts with other; furthermore he relates the advantages of critical reading procedure with his daily life experience:

This is new for me, I never know critical reading before. This method help me in understand the text during study in the classroom and of course this will be useful also in my daily life when I meet with many information from outside so I can decide my position.

All students concurred that the controversial and current topics discussed represented another positive feature of the program. It is noticeable in Mestaria’s comment, which signified the importance of appropriate topic choice to challenge the students to think and to read critically. Furthermore, Mestaria’s comment seems to validate the idea that the topics of reading which can trigger students’ critical capacity should be controversial (Chaffee et al, 2002).

All topic was challenging, it train me to think much, to read critically, not to swallow all the information I get but to do the procedure that Bu Restu teach us. (Angga)

Before I join this class I never think the effect of information when we do not take seriously the process of reading it. The topic also, I never think before that this controversial topic can be so interesting, challenging, and fun to discuss. (Rizal)

Regarding to the matter of topic choice, questionnaire also revealed suggestion that the discussions about the topic allowed them to have consciousness of wider social realities. Silvia, for instance, said:

Most of the topics that Bu Restu offered to us were interesting and challenging. I get many new knowledge from it. The topics also controversial, honestly I never think about it deeply before. This class and the topic has improve my consciousness to be more care to my social environment. Topics like Gay, Woman, Smoking discussed in interesting and challenging and also from various perspective really help me in the class and also I believe in my life later. (Silvia)

The responses above in fact is different from Chaffee et al’s (2002) theory, which specified that the materials used to teach critical literacy should be relevant to the students (i.e. students’ gender, and cultural experiences). The topic then, for the next study should be sufficient and carefully selected by still considering the main criteria that is controversial topic.

Other students seemed to be aware of the procedure as allowing them to engage in extended discussions about an issue in groups, as indicated by Indra:

Discussion session in reading class? Wow, it’s interesting activity. I can discuss and sharing information about the topic of the text with others. I never have this before. Besides getting opportunity to share information and adding knowledge I also can train my braveness in speaking. What a rare chance out of speaking subject.

My braveness in express my opinion is increasing, and also I can train my self to have serious talking a bout a topic with my friends. That activity also order me to be able to be more critical in viewing something.(Angga)

Statements above are relevant to the theory which mention discussion in groups is “the best way to expand one’s thinking” (Chaffee, 2000). Similarly, in the teaching of ESL, pair and group work has been emphasized (Nunan, 1988) which offers opportunities for cooperative

learning and “real” language practice (Hyland, 1991, cited in Lunt, 2001) which believe can improve language proficiency.

In relation with the critical pedagogy concept all students looked contented with democratic atmosphere in the class, which allowed them to take a role as agents, to participate actively in learning, with no fear of being judged wrong. Measure up to their regular classes, this appeared to be an exception, as noted below:

Different situation with my regular class which has no freedom or even opportunity to share ideas, this class train as to be brave in giving opinion. (Irna)

All students treated equally, we can speak up freely. No worry to deliver our own idea. Democratic situation is a rare thing in our educational institution nowadays, this program has given satisfying opportunity for every students to show their best ability (Nopiyanti)

A student, Anggraeni seemed to feel encouraged to deliver her ideas in the program and said: In every subject I’m included into passive student, I always feel afraid in speaking, to deliver my idea. But here I can say it without burdened.

Irna’s and Nopiyanti’s comments seemed to indicate that the students in this study (and also in other contexts in Indonesia, as reported by Exley, 2002, cited in Emilia, 2005) have the potential to be critical and become active participants in their learning if the situation in the classroom allow them to do so. Exley reports “They (Indonesian students) are very critical but they chose who they are going to be critical with” (2002, cited in Emilia, 2005). This may indicate that “to help the students improving their critical capacity, students need the guidance and support of their teachers who in turn must be able to provide the right environment to nurture their thinking” (Cheah, 2001 cited in Emilia, 2005). This also implies the importance of the notion that schools (classes) should become “public places where students learn the knowledge and skills necessary to live in an authentic democracy and which can support individual freedom and

social justice, dedicated to forms of self and social empowerment” (Giroux, 1988, cited in Emilia, 2005).

When they were asked further questions relating to their courage to speak during the program, whether it was caused by the environment which was set to small class, or the teaching method; Silvia said, “It is not only the component but also the teacher who lead the program”. Comments of some students indicate their consciousness of the need for a teacher “to make the students have a voice” (Giroux, 1988), and “to create public spaces for expression, for freedom to articulate distinctive perspective, within social relation that strengthens the possibility for active citizenship” (Giroux, 1997 cited in Emilia, 2005). That indicates one of the requirements to help students succeed academically, in this case to help students develop their critical capacities, there should be a willingness of teachers, individually and in a group, to adjust the power structure within the classroom, which will applicable in the wider society (Cummins, 1996).

Furthermore, questions coupled to critical reading components dealing with reading beyond the surface as stated by Indra that “ability of being sensitive towards information, in this course means textual and visual information which we can easily get.” Other students also mentioned similar ideas about it that is “an attempt to analyse any information whether in audio or visual format.” Some students showed their concern in responding to a text by “having evaluation of someone’s idea before we as receiver decide our position.” Nopiyanti seemed to realize the significance of critical reading by relating it to her daily life:

Modern era has allow media to give us many information. By having critical reading skill we as people who always become the consumer, will have filter skill to select the appropriate information which are useful for us and throw the garbage.

Mestaria seemed to evaluate the relevance of a text with her context, and critical reading feature (Wallace, 1992) Mestaria explained:

Right now when I meet a text, I can recognize which statement is fact and which statement is opinion, I also able to read not only from writers’ point of view, the critical reading procedure help me in improving my critical reading skill.

Still regarding critical reading component, other students also seemed to be aware of their capacity to evaluate writer’s idea in a text, by seeing several features, including the textual purposes (what is the text really about?), gaps and silence in the text (who is missing from the text, what has been left out from the text, why); power and interest (whose interest in preserved in the text?, is the text fair?) This, for example, was stated below:

Surprising thing is when the first time I don’t know anything about critical reading concept, right now I am able to know what is missing from the text or what information is hiding by the author. All the exercise during the program is useful for me (Dwi)

Before following this program I never think to decide my position when I read a text or when I get information. After this class I become more aware about writer’s intention, who benefit from the text... (Wawan)

Regarding their improvement in grammar after they followed the course, all classroom members expressed positive responses by stating that the program also helped them increased their grammatical ability, as shown below:

I feel my grammar is increase since during this program we get so many opportunities to speak English, to read English, to write English, and to listen to English language. (Indra)

The activities done in the program make me be more concern in grammar because during the program we use English in most of our time, so I think my grammar is better than before (Nopiyanti)

Other students expressed similar opinion. This condition is inline with Ellis (1985) theory in framework for investigating second language acquisition that the linguistic output is developmental, it changes as the learner gains more experience of the language.

In general, students’ responses are commonly positive to the teaching program. The students seemed to be conscious of the value of each element of the teaching program in facilitating their learning and providing them with experiences needed to optimise their development in critical reading skills and various aspects of critical capacities investigated in this study. This supports the findings discussed in previous section on students’ developments, as revealed in the texts they constructed in various procedures. All these may direct to some of the benefits of implementation of the teaching program in Indonesia, to English teacher education in particular and in various levels and contexts in general to help EFL learners develop their critical capacities in reading.

For better implementation of the program, there are some issues of practical importance for further study, as indicated by the students’ suggestions about improvements to the teaching program. These will be discussed in the following section

5.1.2 Students’ Suggestion about Improvement to the Teaching Program

The questionnaire revealed that generally the students did not mention much suggestion towards the program. Most of students expressed their satisfaction towards the program, as can be seen below:

The program is good, I have no suggestion because this is new for me and I found this is good to increase my critical capacity. (Mestaria)

This class is different with my normal class, and I found this class is interesting, fun, give me new experience and knowledge. I don’t have any suggestion for this class. (Indra)

There are two students who proposed similar suggestion which is very beneficial and may signify their capability to propose critical comments on the program. That is regarding the leading during the discussion session. Two students expressed their concern that the teacher’s instruction frequently made them feel over-supported by saying “just give us the bait, and let us do the rest” (Silvia) and “would be better if teacher just guide the basic topic and let the students explore the discussion” (Nopiyanti).

From teacher’s point of view the “over-leading” in discussion happened from the worries of the teacher and in this case also as the researcher if the students unable to follow the procedure well or feeling afraid that the discussion will be stuck since the topic given needed deep understanding and critical reading. This is a very valuable input, the teacher is not allowed to involve too deep, just “act as a controller” (Harmer, 2002).

5.2 Conclusion of Chapter Five

Overall, the students had given valuable suggestions for further implementation and improvement to the teaching program in an Indonesian teacher education context. An effort should be taken to improve the teaching program, and further research is therefore require to scrutinize the effectiveness of the teaching program, particularly when it is applied to the class where researcher also acted as teacher at different levels and in different settings to avoid intention out of the pure motive in teaching.

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Burke, Catherine G. (2003) What is Critical Thinking. School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Cadaeiro-Kaplan, K. (2002) Literacy Ideologies: Critically Engaging the Language Arts Curriculum. Language Arts Journal. Vol. 79.

Cervetti, G., Pardales. M.J., & Damico J.S. (2001) A Tale of Differences: Comparing the Traditions, Perspectives, and Educational Goals of Critical Reading and Critical Literacy. Journal Reading Online. Vol. 4

Chaffee, J., McMahon, C., Stout, B.(2002). Critical thinking, Thoughtful writing. Second edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Cohen, L., & Manion, L. (1986). Research Methods in Education. London: Croom Helm.

Ellis, Rod. (1985). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press. Emilia, Emi. (2005) A Critical Genre-Based Approach to Teaching Academic Writing in a Tertiary EFL Context in Indonesia, unpublished text – A Dissertation, Australia: The University of Melbourne.

Ennis, H. R. (1987). ‘A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities.’ In Baron, J. B., and Sternberg, R. J. (1987). (Eds). Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Fairclough, N. (1992). ‘Language awareness: Critical and noncritical approaches.’ In Fairclough, N. (1992). (Ed). Critical language awareness. London: Longman.

Flynn, L. L. (1989). Developing Critical Reading Skills through Comparative Problem Solving. Reading Teacher, 42(9), 664-68.

Fraenkel, J. R., and Wallen, N. E. (2000). How to design and evaluate research in education. 4 th

edition. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Freire, P., and Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy. Reading the word and the world. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, Inc.

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language and scaffolding learning. Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hadley, Alice Omagio (2001) Teaching Language in Context. Heinle&Heinle, Thomson Learning. Inc.

Harmer, Jeremy (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Edcuation Limited.

Hawkins, Lise (2006) Critical Literacy: Policy and Practice. Orbit Magazine. Volume 36, Number 1. Canada. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/CAGS_Projects/LDUBIN/Definition%20of%20Literacy.htm. (accessed in 2009). Definition of Critical Literacy.

http://www.perfectfit.org/CT/giroux2.html (accessed in 2009). Definition of Critical Pedagogy. http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/explicitteaching/index.html (accesed in 2009). Instructional Strategies Online.

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/gened/dialogue/White_Papers_Final.pdf. (accesed in 2009). White Papers on General Education.

http://www.unsri.ac.id/?act=pengumuman_detil&id=93. Pengumuman.

Hull, G. (2000). Critical literacy at work. "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43" (7), 648-652.

Hyland, K. (1999). ‘ Disciplinary discourses: writer stance in research articles.’ In Candlin, C., and Hyland, K. (1999). (Eds). Writing: Texts, processes and practices. London: Longman.

Keene, E. & Zimmerman, S. (1997). Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Knobel, M., and Lankshear, C. (2002). Critical cyberliteracies: What young people can teach us about reading and reading in the world. Keynote address delivered to the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research.

Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.

Kellner Douglas. (2000) Multiple Literacies and Critical Pedagogies in Revolutionary Pedagogies - Cultural Politics, Instituting Education, and the Discourse of Theory, Routledge. Kurland, Dan (2000). What is Critical Reading?. How the Language Really Works: The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing.

Langer, J.A. (1995). Envisioning Literature: Literary Understanding and Literature Instruction. New York: Teacher College Press.

Lankshear, C., & McLaren, P. (Eds.). (1993). Critical literacy: Politics, praxis, and the postmodern. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Moll, L. (1994). Literacy Research in Community and Classrooms: A Sociocultural Approach. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Morgan, W. (1996) Critical Literacy: Readings and Resources. Norwood, A.A.T.E

Nosich, R. M. (2001). Learning to think things through. A guide to critical thinking in the curriculum. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Norris, S. P. and Ennis, R. H. (1990). The Practitioners’ Guide To Teaching Thinking Series. Evaluating Critical Thinking. Melbourne: Hawker Bronlow Education

Nunan, D (1988). The learner-centred curriculum. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D., and Lamb, C. (1996). The self-directed teacher. Managing the learning process. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pattison, Robert. (1984). On Literacy: The Politics of the Word from Homer to the Age of Rock. Oxford UP.

Perkins, J. (1998). ‘Developing critical literacy with post-beginner learners.’ In Burns, A. and Hood, S. (1998). (Eds). Teachers’ Voices 3. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research. Macquarie University.

Peyton, J.K., & Crandall, J.A. (1995). Philosophies and approaches in adult ESL instruction. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education.

Paul. R. (1993). Critical Thinking. What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Melbourne: Hawker Bronlow Education.

Rosenshine, B. , Mesiter, C., Chapman S., (1996) Teaching Students to Generate Questions: A Review of the intervention studies. Review of educational Research.

Simpson, A. (1996). Critical questions: Whose questions? The reading teacher [Online] 50 (2), pp. 118-127. Available: Proquest Database, ISSN: 00340561.

Shor, I. (1999). What is critical literacy In Shor, I., and Pari, C. (1999). Critical literacy in action. Writing words, changing worlds. Portsmouth, N. H.: Boynton/Cook; see also Journal for pedagogy, pluralism and practice. http://www.lesley.edu/journals/jppp/4/shor.html

Van Duzer, Carol & Florez, MaryAnn Cunningham. (2001) Critical Literacy for Adult Literacy in Language Learners. ERIC Digest.

Wallace, C. (2001). Critical literacy in the second language classroom: Power and control. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Wray, David. (2008) Developing Critical Literacy: A Priority for the 21st Century. United Kingdom: University of Warwick, Coventry, CV1 4AL.

Yin, K. Robert., (1994) Case Study Research. Design and Methods. 2nd Edition. Thousands Oaks: Sage.

Zhang, Lawrence Jun. (2008) EFL Teacher Professional Development through Critical Reading Pedagogy: Meeting the Challenges in the Asian Classroom. CELEA Journal. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University.

Zimmerman, S. & Hutchins. (2003) Seven Keys to Comprehension: How to help your kids read it and get it. New York: Three Rivers Press.

There are two students who proposed similar suggestion which is very beneficial and may signify their capability to propose critical comments on the program. That is regarding the leading during the discussion session. Two students expressed their concern that the teacher’s instruction frequently made them feel over-supported by saying “just give us the bait, and let us do the rest” (Silvia) and “would be better if teacher just guide the basic topic and let the students explore the discussion” (Nopiyanti).

From teacher’s point of view the “over-leading” in discussion happened from the worries of the teacher and in this case also as the researcher if the students unable to follow the procedure well or feeling afraid that the discussion will be stuck since the topic given needed deep understanding and critical reading. This is a very valuable input, the teacher is not allowed to involve too deep, just “act as a controller” (Harmer, 2002).

5.2 Conclusion of Chapter Five

Overall, the students had given valuable suggestions for further implementation and improvement to the teaching program in an Indonesian teacher education context. An effort should be taken to improve the teaching program, and further research is therefore require to scrutinize the effectiveness of the teaching program, particularly when it is applied to the class where researcher also acted as teacher at different levels and in different settings to avoid intention out of the pure motive in teaching.

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Burke, Catherine G. (2003) What is Critical Thinking. School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Cadaeiro-Kaplan, K. (2002) Literacy Ideologies: Critically Engaging the Language Arts Curriculum. Language Arts Journal. Vol. 79.

Cervetti, G., Pardales. M.J., & Damico J.S. (2001) A Tale of Differences: Comparing the Traditions, Perspectives, and Educational Goals of Critical Reading and Critical Literacy. Journal Reading Online. Vol. 4

Chaffee, J., McMahon, C., Stout, B.(2002). Critical thinking, Thoughtful writing. Second edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Cohen, L., & Manion, L. (1986). Research Methods in Education. London: Croom Helm.

Ellis, Rod. (1985). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press. Emilia, Emi. (2005) A Critical Genre-Based Approach to Teaching Academic Writing in a Tertiary EFL Context in Indonesia, unpublished text – A Dissertation, Australia: The University of Melbourne.

Ennis, H. R. (1987). ‘A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities.’ In Baron, J. B., and Sternberg, R. J. (1987). (Eds). Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Fairclough, N. (1992). ‘Language awareness: Critical and noncritical approaches.’ In Fairclough, N. (1992). (Ed). Critical language awareness. London: Longman.

Flynn, L. L. (1989). Developing Critical Reading Skills through Comparative Problem Solving. Reading Teacher, 42(9), 664-68.

Fraenkel, J. R., and Wallen, N. E. (2000). How to design and evaluate research in education. 4

th

edition. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Freire, P., and Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy. Reading the word and the world. Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, Inc.

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language and scaffolding learning. Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hadley, Alice Omagio (2001) Teaching Language in Context. Heinle&Heinle, Thomson Learning. Inc.

Harmer, Jeremy (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Edcuation Limited.

Hawkins, Lise (2006) Critical Literacy: Policy and Practice. Orbit Magazine. Volume 36, Number 1. Canada. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/CAGS_Projects/LDUBIN/Definition%20of%20Literacy.htm. (accessed in 2009). Definition of Critical Literacy.

http://www.perfectfit.org/CT/giroux2.html (accessed in 2009). Definition of Critical Pedagogy. http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/explicitteaching/index.html (accesed in 2009). Instructional Strategies Online.

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/gened/dialogue/White_Papers_Final.pdf. (accesed in 2009). White Papers on General Education.

http://www.unsri.ac.id/?act=pengumuman_detil&id=93. Pengumuman.

Hull, G. (2000). Critical literacy at work. "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43" (7), 648-652.

Hyland, K. (1999). ‘ Disciplinary discourses: writer stance in research articles.’ In Candlin, C., and Hyland, K. (1999). (Eds). Writing: Texts, processes and practices. London: Longman.

Keene, E. & Zimmerman, S. (1997). Mosaic of Thought. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Knobel, M., and Lankshear, C. (2002). Critical cyberliteracies: What young people can teach us about reading and reading in the world. Keynote address delivered to the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research.

Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.

Kellner Douglas. (2000) Multiple Literacies and Critical Pedagogies in Revolutionary Pedagogies - Cultural Politics, Instituting Education, and the Discourse of Theory, Routledge. Kurland, Dan (2000). What is Critical Reading?. How the Language Really Works: The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing.

Langer, J.A. (1995). Envisioning Literature: Literary Understanding and Literature Instruction. New York: Teacher College Press.

Lankshear, C., & McLaren, P. (Eds.). (1993). Critical literacy: Politics, praxis, and the postmodern. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Moll, L. (1994). Literacy Research in Community and Classrooms: A Sociocultural Approach. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Morgan, W. (1996) Critical Literacy: Readings and Resources. Norwood, A.A.T.E

Nosich, R. M. (2001). Learning to think things through. A guide to critical thinking in the curriculum. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Norris, S. P. and Ennis, R. H. (1990). The Practitioners’ Guide To Teaching Thinking Series. Evaluating Critical Thinking. Melbourne: Hawker Bronlow Education

Nunan, D (1988). The learner-centred curriculum. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D., and Lamb, C. (1996). The self-directed teacher. Managing the learning process. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pattison, Robert. (1984). On Literacy: The Politics of the Word from Homer to the Age of Rock. Oxford UP.

Perkins, J. (1998). ‘Developing critical literacy with post-beginner learners.’ In Burns, A. and Hood, S. (1998). (Eds). Teachers’ Voices 3. Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research. Macquarie University.

Peyton, J.K., & Crandall, J.A. (1995). Philosophies and approaches in adult ESL instruction. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education.

Paul. R. (1993). Critical Thinking. What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Melbourne: Hawker Bronlow Education.

Rosenshine, B. , Mesiter, C., Chapman S., (1996) Teaching Students to Generate Questions: A Review of the intervention studies. Review of educational Research.

Simpson, A. (1996). Critical questions: Whose questions? The reading teacher [Online] 50 (2), pp. 118-127. Available: Proquest Database, ISSN: 00340561.

Shor, I. (1999). What is critical literacy In Shor, I., and Pari, C. (1999). Critical literacy in action. Writing words, changing worlds. Portsmouth, N. H.: Boynton/Cook; see also Journal for pedagogy, pluralism and practice. http://www.lesley.edu/journals/jppp/4/shor.html

Van Duzer, Carol & Florez, MaryAnn Cunningham. (2001) Critical Literacy for Adult Literacy in Language Learners. ERIC Digest.

Wallace, C. (2001). Critical literacy in the second language classroom: Power and control. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Wray, David. (2008) Developing Critical Literacy: A Priority for the 21st Century. United Kingdom: University of Warwick, Coventry, CV1 4AL.

Yin, K. Robert., (1994) Case Study Research. Design and Methods. 2nd Edition. Thousands Oaks: Sage.

Zhang, Lawrence Jun. (2008) EFL Teacher Professional Development through Critical Reading

Pedagogy: Meeting the Challenges in the Asian Classroom. CELEA Journal. Singapore:

Nanyang Technological University.

Zimmerman, S. & Hutchins. (2003) Seven Keys to Comprehension: How to help your kids read it and get it. New York: Three Rivers Press.