CRITICAL READING IN EFL IN TURKISH HIGH SCHOOL CONTEXT

This paper is based on the arguments of critical discourse analysis, critical literacies and critical language awareness, which argue that discourse is a social process and that it is inherently ideological. Unless challenged, discourses will be shaped by and shape social realities. Therefore, the social aspect of language should not be ignored in literacy education and in teaching a foreign/second language. Studies also show that raising critical language awareness is closely related to people’s identities and belief systems; therefore, it is often met with resistance from the students. Sharing the principles of critical language awareness, this study seeks to find out the impact of a critical reading course in the Turkish high school context, looking closely at the students’ approach to written texts and any resistance from the students as a result of the course. This study was an action research project, in which data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, and a repeated reading activity, which entailed asking the students to read the same text at the beginning and end of the course to see any changes in their approach to written texts. Findings show an increase in recognition of reading as a social process and the effect of the choice of lexicogrammatical structures in written texts. In addition, findings suggest an increase in students’ motivation for the reading course, although, at the same time, student resistance to the critical reading course due to concerns over a centralised exam was observed.