Critical Thinking towards Critical Reading

Are teachers aware of the significance of literature in developing students’ critical thinking skills? Are teachers using literary works to build learners’ conscientization? Do educators and students know about critical reading? In fact, the inclusion of literature in English foreign language classes seeks certainly to maxisimise students’ potential and activates their minds. This work is focused on pointing out the importance of incorporating literature in our lessons’ tasks in order to make students contemplate situations and become able to convey their different ways of seeing events.
First of all, it is paramount to introduce to students the cultural and historical context in which the literary work is inspirited, thus, they will be in touch with different realities and start making connections or associations with our current events. As a good literary example, “The signal man” (one of Dickens’ short story) would definitely works to encourage students’ to start thinking and reading critically.
This short story has been inspired in The Victorian Age and according to what I have researched; this era starts during the Queen Victoria’s reign from June 1837 and lasts until her death on January the 22nd 1901. Apparently this reign constitutes a long period of British people’s prosperity because of the profits gained from the overseas what means the expansion of their empire. Besides that, the different industrial improvements at home make middle class become educated and socially valued. However, this industrial consolidation increases the problems and conflicts among different countries what eventually results in wars.
The Victorian age is considered as the era of technology and engineering, because of the implementation of diverse communication links such as stage coaches, canals and steam ships. More importantly, railways make people to be moved about what facilitates the rapid trade and industry performance. Consequently, trains constitute another main factor to organize society; they make international travel more common and advanced trade.
These technological advances make people get impressed by this apparent progress which according to their beliefs will improve society in the same way technology is enhanced.
Although the improvements in communication links are evident, there is something behind that is not being taken into account. Working class during this period suffers from discrimination, because of the large number of skilled and unskilled people who barely live because the available housing is scarce and expensive. As a result, the corresponding industrial revolution results in a rapid urbanization one of the causes of overcrowding. These harsh conditions in which the working class has to live and work make us question about what the real benefits of progress are. In other words: Does progress necessary mean a social welfare state?
This question would result from the inclusion of literature in our ideal English foreign language class in which students would face different events from the past and realise how these situations or social problems still affect us. It means that learners may associate the Victorian Age context with our current economical and social situation. In this sense, students can relate these problems with what Globalization nowadays is causing. For example, it has also resulted in a global market for companies to trade their products and it has increased the number of opportunities for people who have the chance to select among the products of different nations. Moreover, the Globalization has also improved communication links among different countries what has clearly provoked a corresponding interchange of cultures and a better understanding and broader vision. Therefore, internet connection has increased the flow of communications, thus, people may share vital information around the world; nowadays, global mass media ties the world together.
Unfortunately, students may also associate this global process of progress with the different miseries in which British people get involved during the Victorian Age. For instance, skilled and non-skilled jobs from developed to developing nations tend to select the cheapest labour. In this sense, the poorer working class is very underestimate what clearly makes difficult its surviving. Furthermore, civil and open wars have increased because this economical progress causes hostility among countries.
Going back to the short story selected to work in class (“The Signal Man” by Dickens); students may find it difficult to understand what makes it more interesting and catchy to them. After reading it and discuss the main issues they have found, students are asked to identify a number of key words that will help them to read between lines. For example, immobility, isolation, mechanization, etc. Then, they have to infer some hidden meanings from these words.
Finally, they will get to the point and realise that the most relevant word or concept developed through the story is the famous “progress”. Besides that, they will also understand how it affects people’s daily routine because the story conveys exactly the contrasting outcomes which progress may have. For instance, as a result of progress we may obtain mobility, connectivity and money but it always generates the centralization of success. Unfortunately, it means the segregation and marginalization of the poorest population (the same happens nowadays with Globalization). Therefore, students will identify and realise that there is a misconception of progress: progress for whom?
The story criticizes the Industrial Revolution and the substitution of machines with hand labour, referring to the bad condition of working class. Poor people are suffering in mines and factories, because of the exploitation of them by the wealthiest capitalists. In addition, the extremely low salary, their work’ schedule consists in about fourteen hours a day, or even more, and the insanity conditions of the places where they live in.
On the other hand, both process of progress also bring positive social changes. For example, during the Victorian period a lot of workers migrate to industrial towns, what means in some way: the opening to a new world for all the rural population. At the same time, during the Age of Reform, the railroads started a new era that change the English life style and landscape. Therefore, people can have access to the places they have never visited before, because they live in enclosed communities.
In essence, we (the teachers) will be developing critical thinking skills through reading. Here students are expected to read and think critically to put into practice their analytical and critical skills to the texts they usually study. For this reason, critical thinking is an important teaching area that possesses flexibility because it is applicable in all the subjects. In this specific case, critical thinking is developed with the aid of literature because I am convinced that critical thinking may be developed through critical reading, thus, the two come together.
This topic is meaningful in that it may help studetns and teachers to move away from the assumption that literature is boring and unconnected to their realities. Thus, learners will learn what to look for, and how to reflect on what they find; exercising different reading practices such as inference and interpretation they will be able to question the ideologies present in the text.

Bibliography

Jaffar, Shaheera. “Teaching Critical Thinking through Literature.” Journal of Research (Faculty of Languages & Slamic Studies) 2004. 1 December 2009
< http://www.bzu.edu.pk/jrlanguages/Vol-5%202004/Shaheera%20Jaffar-2.pdf>

Dickens, Charles. “The Signal Man”

“Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization.” Ideas 1 Dicember 2009
< http://www.darkseptemberrain.com/ideas/advantages.htm>

Outline (Final Paper)

I. Introduction
II. The Victorian Age Description(The Industrial Revolution)
III. Its effects on people's lives
a)Possitive effects
b)Negative effects
c)Litary Depictions, Examples ("The Signal Man")
IV. Its connections with current times (Globalization)
V. Its significance to be taught in EFL classroom (Why this topic is of interest?)
Vi. How can it be applied? (methodolology, possible tasks)
V. Conclusion

"We must love one another or die" D.H. Auden

One more time, the consequences of war inspire different writers; in this specific case W.H. Auden. This poem is written during the outbreak of World War II and it depicts historical failures with a touch of hope in future expectations. In other words, Auden describes the unfortunate outcomes of war but he states the possibility of a possible social transformation.
Indeed, the author describes this historical event and points out the existence of a social and personal deviation from a healthy and coherent consciousness. For example, Auden claims: "We must love one another or die". He calls for humankind conscientization; a critical and reflective practice which enables people to reach their individual self-awareness, thus, they may recognize themselves as free and creative human beings in the middle of an ill-treated historical reality because of a cultural, political and economical oppression.
All in all, this poem certainly depicts the common and social miseries which result from our own unconscious decisions and actions.

Literature Assignment

T.S Eliot was born as an American citizen however he decided to become a great British poet in those years. He experienced what a post war period was and the decline of human beings as a community. “The Waste Land” is one of his well-known pieces of work in which consist in 5 different stories, being told by many different narrators. What I think the author tried to develop was the idea of many people being affected by the inclemency of war and how everybody felt: lack of hope and regrets of what had happened. According to Wikipedia.com “The Waste Land” takes into consideration 5 traditional elements: earth, air, fire, water and aether. The first element, EARTH has a direct relationship with the burial and understanding the importance of land as the place where people exist. Then, AIR is represented by the many voices or narrators that this work has, implying that there is a developed intellectual mind behind the creation of this work. FIRE is represented by the passion the author put in this work, understanding that the only way of writing all those complex feelings is by feeling them yourself. WATER represented by the use of images of sea and a voyage. And finally, AETHER as the material that fills all the region of universe, this means that even though you talk about a waste land there must be something in that place besides nothingness.

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Marjorie

I agree with you when you state that in this poem the author is trying to depict the consequences of the war in people's lives. In this sense, your post directly deals with my impressions about this literary work. Then, if you check my last post you will realize that we share this main idea of how harsh war is and how it causes people's suffering. However, I think you could have developed this specific topic in depth; you just mention it and skip the main implications and reasons of it, thus, you continue with another view of the poem referred to Wikipedia.
In essence, I would point out that in this poem the author is depicting the MISERIES OF MODERN CULTURE and how human beings’ unconsciousness has cheapened the earth and nature’s worth. Therefore, I would develop in depth the idea of having all the natural resources and at the same time wasting them or utilizing them wrongly because of human beings’ selfishness.

Good Job!

The waste land - The waste consciousness

According to what we have discussed and my own thoughts, in this poem the author is depicting the miseries of modern culture and how it has been cheapen by human beings unconsciousness. Therefore, he chooses to name this social mess as 'The waste land': a place, a state, a feeling, an atmosphere, where nothing is expected but at the same time; uncertainty is in the air. An unreal and fictitious city in which there is no shelter for whom need it or ask for it; no relief for the ones who feel pain.
For me 'The waste land' is not the depiction of an empty place, on the contrary, it is a place which is full of 'everything' (people, machines, weapons, money, poverty, and so on) thus it lacks relief, shelter and calm. In other words, modern culture (even us) lacks truth.

The main connections I may find are that both works share the same writing style: literary realism. In this sense, each story exactly portrays and captures reality as a photograph, thus, I may realise how D.H. Lawrence is depicting everyday and banal events and experiences in his writing. For instance, both stories portray unhappy marriage's reality experienced by two different female characters ('A woman' and Elizabeth Bates).

Then, it is crucial not to forget that realism rejects sentimentalism and shows human beings objectively with the inclusion of cruel reality’s facts. For example, both women are stuck by a feeling of dissatisfaction because they have hade to face a cruel reality. In 'The Rocking- Horse Winner' the woman is dissatisfied because of an unhealthy desire for wealth as a result of her expensive tastes. Then, in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' Elizabeth Bates lives frustrated and dissatisfied because of her husband’s drunkenness which certainly damage the illusions concerning her marriage.

In essence, both stories depict exactly what happens with human beings life styles and how they may become wasted lives because of our vices (money and drinks). Indeed, these stories are clearly a picture of our past and current events; a picture of ourselves.

Money' Importance

Acoording to the narrator, money is of the utmost importance because it keeps women from possessing a room of their own. Due to the fact that women do not have power, their creativity has been suppressed throughout the ages. In other words,as the narrator writes, “Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor, not for two hundred years merely, but from the beginning of time . . .” In this case, Virginia
is questioning the fact that only a few number of women have been successful in writing poetry. Indeed, the author believes that the writing of novels allows the writer to start and stop easily and frequently, therefore, women are more likely to write novels than poetry. For instance, women must frequently face several interruptions because they are usually deprived of a room of their own in which to write.

In short, I believe that what the narrator wants to emphasize is that without money, women will stay in a second place in comparison with their creative male counterparts. She is criticizing the financial discrepancy between men and women present in those times and pointing out how it has perpetuated the myth that women are less successful in writing.

While I watched the movie, a number of feelings appeared. It was a shocking boy’s life story but hopeful at the same time. Even when this innocent and pure boy experienced the worst adversities, the film showed exactly how Oliver kept his soul clean by wisely overcoming the difficulties. For instance, he was always exposed to the limits but he never lost his self-control.
In the film, I could see how children were battered and marginalized at work. Poor children had to spend their precious time working hard and being exploited by their “owners”. It was very shocking to see the humiliating ways in which children were treated, specially Oliver who was an orphan the which in those times could not even have a name.
On the other hand, what also really bothered me was the shocking image of those people who supposedly believed in God who were just a bunch of hypocrites. They gave children terrible beatings just because they asked for more food (to ask for more was considered an inconceivable fault because it meant to be ungrateful before God).
In short, Oliver Twist’s life was drama and hope, but mostly innocence. Although he had to be exposed to the slums’ life style it did not distort neither influenced him keeping his purity no matter the circumstances.

Progress Meaning

Having read this short story, I may say that it is difficult to understand it at all, but at the same time it is interesting and catchy. While you read it, the characters involve and take you in to the story making you feel as one of them.

On the other hand, after reading and discussing in class I could identify a number of key words that help me to read between lines (immobility, isolation, mechanization, etc.) and infer some hidden meanings. However, I think the most relevant word or concept developed through the story is progress and how it affects people’s daily routine. In this sense, the story conveys exactly the contrasting outcomes which progress may have. For instance, as a result of progress we may obtain mobility, connectivity and money but it always generates the centralization of success. Unfortunately, it means the segregation and marginalization of the poorest population.

According to an educational point of view, I think we can associate this topic with what standardized educational practices are causing nowadays. For instance, with these kind of tests we make generalization about students; taking their quality of being different away. Students understanding performance is only being measure with these tests which catalogue students according to their grades or final scores.

In short, the importance that we give to GRADES reflects the same misconception of progress that we see in the story, because the same question appears: Progress For Whom?

Frankenstein ...

How many similarities do we have related to Frankenstein (the “monster”)? Who is the “monster”, actually?
According to what we have discussed in classes I have found too many similarities among Frankenstein (the wretch monster”) and us, the human beings. For instance, how many times have we fell or see ourselves as outcasts? or how many times have we feel somehow that we do not belong here? Indeed, how many times have we been considered as weird as Frankenstein (the wretch “monster”) just because of being different?
Unfortunately, what society consider right or wrong (what society believes in), certainly, affects how we see ourselves, how we behave, or what is more; it affects how we look (the importance of physical appearance). In this sense, this wretch “monster” deals with discrimination and marginalization only because he is particularly different.
In short, how many times we call for diversity’s respect but the quality of being not alike is rejected? Otherness is set aside as inferior in quality only because it conflicts with the “normal”.

I wandered lonely as a cloud (by Wordsworth)

A joyful company

Having read the poem, it strikes me that these daffodils represent one of the means which nature uses to convey its majesty to the poet. In addition, I think that the daffodils keep the poet company because of his loneliness. In this sense, I think there is an accomplice relationship among them because nature accompanies and pleases him with its dancing movements.

Thus, it is also a pleasure for the readers to read this poem because it exactly portrays what most of the time we feel whence we contemplate nature. Nature makes our solitude something pleasant and really inspiring.

When the poet says: “A poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company", he
is expressing gratitude and happiness towards nature company. He clearly enjoys the landscape and states how nature certainly renders calm and satisfaction.

"When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be" by John Keats

According to what we have learnt as the main characteristics of Romanticism, I think this poem deals with “nature” (the main subject of these kind of writing) as a means to reach human beings transcendence. These kinds of poems allow us to realize the value of nature and understand how the conscious communion with it may certainly be an inspirational tool for artistic creations. For instance, when Keats mentions the grain and the night's starr face I make sense of this relationship between human beings and nature. Furthermore, when he says that on the shore of the wide world he stands alone and thinks; I think that he is being inspirited by this spacious scenery that world and its nature provides him.

On the other hand, the writer does not mention several natural elements at all. Therefore, the main themes present in this sonnet are not very related to nature. In this poem, Keats’ main themes are willpower, fears, love, fame and nothingness. In this sense, I may identify how “reason” (another important subject of Romanticism) dominates his writing. What is more, I may clearly identify these themes with Keats’ lived experience in terms of how fame most of times means nothing because good writers are seldom recognized during their times.

Kubla Khan's Contemplation

As a particular way of expression, poetry may have certain patterns but as a free language manifestation it deals with several and assorted human affections. In this sense, the quotation which best points out the poem for me is: " “It is essential to poetry that it should be simple, and appeal to the elements and primary laws of nature; that it should be sensuous, and by its imagery elicit truth at a flash; that it should be impassioned, and be able to move our feelings and awaken affection”.

Indeed, in “Kubla Khan” Coledrige develops his thoughts by simply describing this place but at the same time calling readers’ attention with the use of sensuous and catchy words. He gives an account or representation of how the landscape flows and changes with the human beings intervention. How some natural elements such as caves, gardens and rivers can picture the majesty of nature and at the same time evoke us feelings of awe and fear. For instance, he calls the river “sacred” or tittles the place as a “charming abyss”.

In short, he moves our feelings and communicates truth by showing us this place as a picture from which we can infer how things occurred and how changes affect the landscape’s beauty and autonomy. It wakes our human retiring feelings up after a long time of indifference.

Thoughtful Poetry

Having discussed and analyzed the poem “The Little Black Boy”, the understanding of Blake’s world has become a bit clear for me because poetry is such a huge world of subjectivity that means it is impossible to agree with everybody. Many of the keystones presented in Blake’s poetry have been developed in this work.
One of the most important human characteristic represented in this poem is: the searching of equality. For instance, when the boy states that he is black but his soul is white what Blake is pointing out is that we are all the same and there is no skin color which makes us different or special. In other words, what really matter is the color of our souls.
Secondly, the mother and son relationship is representing eternity because there is no such real love and complicity as mother’s love. For example, here we have the image of a mother who is really present in her son’s childhood teaching him values and sharing with him experiences.