Investigating the Role of Critical Reading Strategies in Developing Students’

Reading Comprehensions

THESIS PROPOSAL BY
Andini Putri Rahmasari

2011102421033

Advisor
Sunarti, M.Pd

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH KALIMANTAN TIMUR
2024

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 HALAMAN PENGESAHAN

Proposal yang berjudul:

INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES IN

DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSIONS

Diajukan oleh Andini Putri Rahmasari

NIM. 2011102421033

Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris S-1

Universitas Muhammadiyah Kalimantan Timur

Disetujui untuk Dilakukan Review

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 Abstract

This study investigates the role of employing critical reading strategies on the reading
comprehension development of high school students. The primary objective is to examine how critical
reading strategies affects students' reading comprehension abilities in the classroom. The research utilizes
a quantitative approach to assess the influence of critical reading strategies on students' reading
comprehension, complemented by a descriptive analysis of the implementation of these strategies and
their effects on students' reading progress. A within-subject design will be employed, with participants
undergoing instructional sessions on both conventional and critical reading strategies. Treatment 1
involves conventional reading strategies, followed by a Post Test. A Washout Period is implemented to
minimize biases before Treatment 2, which focuses on critical reading strategies. The population for this
research comprises second-grade students at SMA Negeri 16 Samarinda, with a random sampling
technique determining the sample. A standardized reading comprehension test will serve as the research
instrument, and t-tests will be utilized for data analysis, specifically concentrating on post-test scores. The
study aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of critical reading strategies in enhancing
high school students' reading comprehension skills in the classroom.

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 Table of Content

HALAMAN PENGESAHAN ....................................................................................................... ii

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Content........................................................................................................................... iv
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Objectives ............................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 2
1.4 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 2
1.5 Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 2
METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Research Design .................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Population and Samples ..................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Instruments .......................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Data Collection Process ...................................................................................................... 6
2.5 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 6
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................................ 7

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 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
In the current educational environment, having effective reading comprehension is
acknowledged as essential for both academic achievement and continual learning throughout
one's life. Effective reading education emphasizes understanding, which is essential for full
engagement in today's global society (Israeli, 2017). It provides valuable linguistic input for
foreign language learners and enhances their listening, speaking, and writing skills
(Shammma Mustafa Hameed, 2020). Research suggests that a supportive classroom
environment is essential for developing reading comprehension, as it involves a complex
interaction between the reader, text, activity, and context (Aferbach, 2017). Understanding
instructional directions in classrooms plays an important role for developing strategic readers.
Teaching strategies should align with other reading comprehension components (Brown,
2017).
The teaching of reading strategies has received a lot of attention in recent decades
(Brown, 2017). Most reading research focuses on younger readers or college students, but
little is known about how secondary school students use comprehension skills to generate
meaning from difficult texts (Brown, 2017). In cases where these strategies are implemented
correctly, students transform into discerning readers who utilize advanced cognitive skills.
Engaging in critical reading involves students’ actively and reflectively interacting with a
text, compelling them to scrutinize, assess, and integrate information. Proficient critical
reading practices are believed to significantly enhance students' ability to analyze and
interpret texts, thereby improving overall reading competence.
Critical reading strategy is a method used to stimulate students' critical thinking and
assess necessary information in reading texts. It involves the interaction between students and
teachers in the classroom, aiming to practice comprehension and identify necessary
information. This approach helps students understand and apply the information presented in
the text (Fita Faridah, 2019). Critical reading strategies encourage students to read critically
and enhance their critical thinking (Maslakhatin, 2006). To summarize, reading is crucial for
students as it provides new words, improves writing, speaking, and listening skills, and helps
them pronounce sentence words. Reading also helps students understand existing conditions
and situations. Students engage in reading activities, gaining information, knowledge, and
ideas through words, sentences, and passages (Achmad Chrisbianto Sachran, 2022). Critical
reading involves an active cognitive process that encompasses uncovering and discerning the
author's intended meaning, evaluating the author's propositions through established criteria,
and integrating that meaning into pre-existing knowledge (Kurt-Taspinar, 2020). In essence,
engaging in critical reading empowers individuals to become more involved and informed,
which is imperative for the cultivation of new literacies in the contemporary digital landscape
and the evolving literacy demands, especially for secondary school students.
Some studies indicate, students reported encountering reading obstacles but improved
after introducing critical reading skills. These skills enabled them to read more effectively,
validate existing knowledge, create new knowledge, and use contextual clues to guess
meanings, identify main ideas, and synthesize materials (Roomy, 2022). Also, Teachers can
improve students' comprehension and response to written argumentation by combining

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strategy instruction (emphasizing cognitive aspects) and structured classroom discussions
based on dialogic theory (emphasizing social perspectives) (Michael Tengberg, 2016). On the
other hand, to assist readers with or without reading issues, it is crucial to identify unique
challenges they face during the reading process (Lau, 2006). The design anticipates students'
ability to integrate knowledge through reading, writing, and discussing explanatory materials.
In conclusion, this study aims to add to the current body of knowledge on reading
instruction by throwing light on the significance of critical reading techniques in the
conclusions are intended to give practical insights and recommendations for educators and
educational administrators working to improve the quality of reading instruction in secondary
schools through empirical investigation and analysis.

1.2 Research Objectives

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of using critical reading
strategies in the development of reading comprehension of high school students in the
classroom.

1.3 Research Questions

The problems of the study that have to be answered require an in-depth understanding of
the role of critical reading strategies for developing students' reading comprehension: How
does the use of critical reading strategies affect the development of reading comprehension in
high school students?

1.4 Significance of the Study

This research is expected to contribute to the understanding of the role of critical reading
strategies in the development of reading comprehension. The significance of this study
includes:
1. Improvement of Student Reading Skills: This study has the potential to provide
empirical support for the efficacy of critical reading strategies in enhancing students'
reading comprehension. This data can serve as the foundation for the creation of
curricula or learning approaches that are more adaptable and responsive to students'
needs in comprehending complicated reading texts.
2. Implementation of More Contextual Learning Methods: By understanding the
importance of critical reading methods, this study can assist teachers in
implementing learning strategies that are more contextual and relevant for their
students. This might potentially lead to a more interesting and meaningful learning
experience.

1.5 Literature Review

Reading comprehension is a crucial ability that guides academic performance and long-
term learning. As education advances, there is a rising acknowledgment of the relevance of
critical reading practices in improving students' reading comprehension abilities. This
literature review examines existing studies and beliefs about the significance of critical
reading methods in the development of students' reading comprehension skills.

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Conventional Reading Strategies
In the instruction of reading comprehension, the teaching approach plays a crucial role in
shaping students' understanding. The teaching strategy employed significantly impacts how
students grasp details from a text. The conventional strategy refers to the conventional
method teacher’s use in English instruction. In this approach, teachers structure classroom
questions with the aim of making them effective. The application of a questioning stage is
deemed essential to encourage active student engagement with the text, involving both posing
and answering questions in the process (Galda, 2023).
Teachers manage and monitor students' interactions with the material, allowing them to
organize new terminology, important information and details summarize knowledge, and
record comments and thoughts. The questions provided at this stage are designed to engage
students' attention and improve their ability to answer post-reading questions. Furthermore,
the majority of questioning interactions occur during this process (Yessy, 2019). As
conventional readers assimilate print knowledge and the reading process, they develop the
ability to express their comprehension processes (Pearson, 1991).
During this phase, the teacher typically reviews the lesson that has been taught. Teachers
should also consider the worth of questions, which might vary depending on the level of the
questions and the quality of the students' responses and engagement. Conventional instruction
of reading comprehension focuses solely on the teacher. It is a methodology of teaching
reading that is based on the traditional teacher-centered approach. It means that students
should be passive while teachers should be active in the reading classroom (Yessy, 2019).
In general strategy discussion or in conventional reading, reading strategies and strategic
reading are defined, emphasizing the importance of learning and practicing them. Strategies
improve reading comprehension and efficiency, enable students to read like expert readers,
and help actively process text, monitor comprehension, and connect reading to personal
knowledge and other parts of the text (Janzen, 2002). Through most recently, the
conventional strategy of teaching beginners to read in Sesotho had not been questioned
(Phajane, 2014). The conventional method of the reader series may have been intended to
ensure that youngsters did not have reading issues. In the process of avoiding reading
problems, the old strategy tended to overuse training phonic abilities while ignoring other
parts of reading and the needs of various students (Graves, 2007).

Critical Reading Strategies

Critical reading strategies are methods that encourage students to read critically and then
build critical thinking skills. Experts offer several critical reading practices for readers.
Critical reading involves students analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what they have
read. Critical reading procedures involve studying, synthesizing, and evaluating textual
material (Hudson, 2007).
Some studies use eight critical reading procedures, which include previewing,
contextualizing, questioning, reflecting, outlining and summarizing, evaluating an argument,
and comparing comparable texts. Before reading, readers evaluate the text and predict its
content based on headings and subheadings. To contextualize a text, readers must evaluate its

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historical, biographical, and cultural settings, make inferences, and synthesize information.
Readers use questioning to explore the topic of the material they are reading (Khabiri, 2012).
Readers reflect on their own responses, beliefs, and values by annotating, underlining,
and taking notes. Outlining and summarizing involves identifying and restating the core
point, as well as paraphrasing. To evaluate an argument, the reader considers facts, opinions,
cause-and-effect relationships, claims, premise, and conclusion, and analyzes, interprets, and
argues about the text. The final step involves comparing and contrasting related texts to
identify similarities and contrasts for enhanced reading comprehension (Khabiri, 2012).
In addition, critical reading skills include annotating, previewing, contextualizing,
outlining, analyzing opposition, summarizing, paraphrasing, synthesizing, questioning, and
reflecting (Nasrollahi, 2015). He also stating that basic critical reading skills include
annotating, which involves circling key words and writing comments or queries. Critical
reading strategies include: (1) determining the purpose of reading, previewing the text,
paying attention to generic structures and language features, and (2) taking notes and
connecting the text to prior knowledge or experience to monitor comprehension and (3) After
reading, they should make a summary of the key points, suggested by (Tovani, 2000) cited in
(Nasrollahi, 2015). This literature review incorporates the critical reading strategies proposed
by (Nasrollahi, 2015). The library study employs nine critical reading strategies steps,
including previewing, annotating, questioning, scanning and skimming, distinguishing
between fact and opinion, summarizing, paraphrasing, synthesizing, and drawing
conclusions.
Annotating involves actively reading a document and highlighting essential terms,
synonyms, and definitions in the margin (Diyanni, 2002). By using this method, the learners
pay attention to the unknown terms and do not ignore them in the text. Students should also
have a pencil on hand to "annotate" their texts (Sousa, 2004). Learners are also encouraged to
draw connections to previous readings on the topic. Additionally, participants were able to
remove unnecessary or insignificant information from their reading assignment summary. A
summary helped students understand the content by allowing them to express it in their own
words. To fully comprehend the information, students should read it multiple times and focus
on uncommon words (Meraj Talebi, 2015).
In this study, researchers set limitation scope by focusing only on the type of explanatory
text. The selection of text explanation as the focus of this research is seen as a strategic step
to explore certain aspects of students' reading comprehension. By limiting coverage to certain
types of text, the study is expected to provide deeper and specific insights into the effect of
critical reading strategies on students' explanatory text comprehension skills at the secondary
school level. These restrictions also help in detailing the impact of the use of critical reading
strategies on students' reading comprehension, focusing on explanatory texts that often
involve understanding concepts and relationships between information.
Explanation Texts are used to explain natural facts, scientific processes, and socio-
cultural concepts. The purpose is to explain what happened to the reader or listener. An
explanation text typically stems from the author's inquiry into the 'why' and 'how' of an
existent phenomena. Explanation text explains the processes behind environmental, social,
scientific, and cultural phenomena, providing insight into “how” and “why” something
happen (Achmad Chrisbianto Sachran, 2022).

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 METHODS
This study will take a quantitative approach to look into the effect of critical reading
strategies in the development of students’ reading comprehension. A descriptive approach
will provide an in-depth analysis of how critical reading strategies are implemented and how
they affected students' reading progress.

2.1 Research Design

The study will use a within-subject design to examine the impact of both conventional
and critical reading strategies on students' reading comprehension abilities. Participants will
first receive Treatment 1, involving instructional sessions focusing on conventional reading
strategies. After this, a Post Test will be given to assess the immediate effects of Treatment 1
on reading comprehension. Following the Post Test, a Washout Period will be implemented
to minimize any biases from the initial treatment. Once the washout period concludes,
Treatment 2 will begin, consisting of instructional sessions centered on critical reading
strategies. After Treatment 2, another Post Test will be administered to evaluate the
immediate effects of the critical reading strategies on participants' reading comprehension
skills. This within-subject design facilitates a direct comparison of the impacts of both types
of strategies within the same group of participants, thereby increasing the reliability and
validity of the study's results. However, any evaluative approach using this design delivers
limited information on the counterfactual inference (Shadish, 2002).

2.2 Population and Samples

The research focuses on the second-grade students at SMA Negeri 16 Samarinda. The
selection of SMA Negeri 16 Samarinda as the research location is based on the diversity and
representation inherent in this population. This group comprises students undergoing a
critical phase in both their academic and personal development.
In order to ensure representative results, random sampling techniques will be employed
for class selection. This approach provides each class at a specific level an equal opportunity
to be included as a research sample. The aim is to generate more generalized and reliable
results that accurately reflect the overall characteristics of the second-grade student
population at SMA Negeri 16 Samarinda.

2.3 Instruments
The research instrument is critical in analyzing the impact of critical reading techniques
on students' reading comprehension. A standardized reading comprehension test is the
primary study instrument used to collect data. The test is made up of precisely constructed
questions that assess students' abilities to comprehend, interpret, and analyze written
materials.
The study will employ a thorough method to assess how effective critical reading
practices are. Students’ will engage in instructional sessions, and afterward, there will be a
period without specific interventions to reduce any potential carryover effects. To measure
changes in students' reading comprehension skills, a post-test will be conducted. This

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comprehensive research approach encompasses instructional phases, a washout period, and
post-tests, aiming to gain a complete understanding of the effectiveness of critical reading
practices.

2.4 Data Collection Process

To collect data for this study, the researcher used a within-subjects design that included
treatment 1, post-test, washout period, treatment 2, post-test. These methodologies attempted
to collect quantitative data in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of
critical reading strategies in developing students' reading comprehension. The detailed
technique can be described in the following steps:
1. Treatment 1 – Conventional Reading Strategies: Implement the first treatment phase,
which focuses on standard reading strategies. This entails teaching participants using
traditional methods such as guided reading, summarization, and question-and-answer
sessions.
2. Post-Test 1 - Assessment after Conventional Treatment: A post-test should be
administered immediately following the first treatment session to assess any changes
or improvements in the participants' reading comprehension skills as a result of
exposure to conventional reading strategies.
3. Washout Period: Introduce a washout period, which allows participants to return to
their normal reading practices without any specific intervention. This period helps in
reducing any potential carryover effects from the first treatment phase.
4. Treatment 2 – Critical Reading Strategies: Implement the second treatment phase,
which focuses on critical reading strategies. Instruct participants using methods
designed to encourage active participation, analysis, and evaluation of the material.
5. Post-Test 2 – Assessment after Critical Treatment: Conduct a post-test right after the
second treatment session to measure the impact of critical reading strategies on
students' reading comprehension skills. This allows for a direct comparison to the
post-test after conventional treatment.

2.5 Data Analysis

The data analysis for this study will primarily use quantitative methods, with post-test
scores serving as the major indicator for evaluating the influence of critical reading practices
on students' reading comprehension. After implementing conventional and critical reading
methodologies, post-test evaluations will be used to assess students' comprehension levels.
The post-test results will be examined using statistical procedures such as paired t-tests to
determine whether there are any statistically significant variations in reading comprehension
outcomes between the two intervention phases. The reliance entirely on post-test data allows
for a simplified quantitative analysis, underlining the significance statistically of the observed
developments in reading comprehension.

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