Strengthening critical thinking to enhance reading comprehension skills in 10th-grade students at Liceo Manuel Arriarán Barros

Abstract

This action research study is based on the development of reading comprehension skills in English as a foreign language(EFL) through the development of two sub skills of critical thinking: argumentation and analysis based on literary texts.The literary texts used in this research were focused on the topic of “identity” not only because it is relevant to work this conceptwith adolescents, but also because MINEDUC suggests to promote identity in secondary education. The investigation involved 10th-grade students that read threedifferent texts and answered different questions that required analysis and critical argumentation to be answered. Qualitative analysis was carried out, which reports the assessment of both the teacher and the students in relation to the implemented materials in the intervention. An improvement in the students' reading comprehension skills is evidenced, as well as a positive rating by the school teacher towards the classes. Nevertheless, further research needs to be done to continue testing the material for a longer period, and thus be able to obtain more precise quantitative data that reveals the effectiveness of the intervention.Key Words:EFL, Reading Comprehension Skills, Critical Thinking Skills, Identity, Qualitative Analysis.