Critical Thinking in the Literature Classroom
Submitted by:
Martijn Koek
Abstract:
Critical thinking has been advocated as a primary goal of secondary education (e.g. Nussbaum, 2011). It can be perceived as a two stage process: 1) de-automatized thinking; 2) (re)construction of meaning (Koek et al., 2016). Previous research suggests that the literature classroom is a suitable environment to foster secondary students’ critical thinking. However, little is known about whether and if so, under what conditions, students experience both stages of critical thinking when they read to interpret literary texts at school. Therefore, we ask:
1) Do students experience de-automatized thinking and (re)construction of meaning when they interpret literary texts?
2) What are the parameters of the conditions in which these experiences occur?
Participants were 21 students (grades 10-12) of one secondary school in The Netherlands. They were interviewed by the first author and a second interviewer, both teachers at this school. A literature portfolio that students had composed during the school year was used as a recall stimulus. The interviews were semi-structured, and lasted 63 minutes on average. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed.
Data-analysis of the interviews, guided by sensitizing concepts derived from critical thinking theory, is in progress. Results will be presented at the conference
Koek, M., Janssen, T., Hakemulder, F, & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016). Literary Reading and Crtical Thinking: Measuring Students’ Critical Literary Understanding in Secondary Education. Scientific Study of Literature, 6(2), 243-278.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2012). Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.