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>