THE APPLICATION OF CRITICAL THINKING IN LITERATURE EDUCATION

Abstract

Purpose: The workshop 'conscious critical thinking' provides insight into the concept of critical thinking and the importance of this basic skill for literature education at secondary schools. Background: The student who reads a text formulates a judgment: immediately and instinctively. By using the academic skill of critical thinking in the lesson, the teacher can make the student think more deeply about his own judgment and the meaning of a literary work. The workshop focuses on the primary response when reading a literary text: participants experience the influence of this primary reaction on the reasoned final judgment on a literary text. Key Points: Critical thinking is an extremely useful tool that allows the teacher to strengthen the students in three areas: knowledge about literary conventions, the application of critical thinking as an academic skill and the understanding of the individual thought process. Procedure: After a general introduction, the participants are asked to read a short text and to give a first reaction in specific places in the text using keywords. These responses are then compared with the results of an intervention in students from the upper classes of secondary education. The ensuing discussion focuses on the general tendency in these responses and the influence that the primary reading experiences can have on the further thought process. Description participants: The workshop is aimed at researchers as well as language teachers with a maximum number of 25 participants.