Critical Reading: What Do Faculty Think Students Should Do?

ABSTRACT Critical reading requires a deep and active engagement with the text. The goal of this study was to empirically determine what critical reading skills faculty believe students should develop. We asked faculty to rate how useful they consider several critical reading behaviors and how often they model those behaviors in their classes. Faculty considered more complex skills (e.g., Applying) as more useful, while simpler skills (e.g., Skimming) were considered less useful. Importantly, faculty spent more time teaching the critical reading skills they identified as most useful. A better understanding of what critical reading means for faculty, and to what extent these opinions influence what is taught in the classroom, can help intervention efforts to improve critical reading skills in university settings.