ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res.

4(9), 610-623

Journal Homepage: -www.journalijar.com

Article DOI:

Article DOI:10.21474/IJAR01/1526
DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/1526

RESEARCH ARTICLE

CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES, READING COMPREHENSION AND WRITING PERFORMANCE

OF ESL COLLEGE STUDENTS: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY.

Carine Iries M. Suacillo1, Song Eun Um2, Joeseph M. Velasquez3, Hannah Nicole R. Villaflores4, Maria B.
Cequeña5.
1. ESL Teacher, Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in English,University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.
2. High School Teacher, Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in English, University of Santo Tomas, Philippi
nes.
3. High School Teacher, Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in English, University of Santo, Philippines, To
mas.
4. Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in English, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.
5. Asst. Professor, Ph.D. Education, Reading Education, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Manuscript Info Abstract
……………………. ………………………………………………………………
Manuscript History A genuine and substantial acquisition of knowledge requires more
than the regular reading ability but rather that of critical reading which
Received: 15 July 2016 translates to increased critical thinking, deeper reader comprehension,
Final Accepted: 19 August 2016 and more effective analytical writing (Kurland, 1998). Improving
Published: September 2016
critical reading skills requires the application of critical reading
Key words:- strategies (Critical Reading Strategies, 2009). This study was
critical reading strategies, reading conducted in response to a serious dilemma that exists in the
comprehension, analytical writing Philippine educational setting wherein a significant number of
students fail to exercise critical reading; as such, they merely gather
details or ideas, and often accept the information in the text at face
value without applying critical thinking (Imam, 2013). The paper
aims to establish the correlation among critical reading strategies,
reading comprehension, and writing performance. This quantitative
research study was conducted among the third-year college students
from a reputable university in the country. The students were given a
standardized reading comprehension test, an analytical writing task,
and a researcher-made survey questionnaire. The results were
analyzed and interpreted using mean and Pearson r in determining the
specific critical reading strategies that these students utilized and in
establishing the relationship between and among the variables under
study. Results show that most respondents utilized two critical reading
strategies such as reflecting on the challenges to beliefs and values
and contextualizing. There is a moderate positive correlation between
critical reading strategies and reading comprehension, between critical
reading strategies and analytical writing performance, and between
reading comprehension and writing performance. Henceforth,
findings of the study will help struggling Filipino readers, particularly
those ESL college students become better readers, writers, and

Corresponding Author:-Maria B. Cequena

Asst. Professor, Ph.D. Education, Reading Education, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines 610
ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res. 4(9), 610-623

academic performers through the utilization of critical reading

strategies.
Copy Right, IJAR, 2016,. All rights reserved.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Introduction:-
Reading plays a significant role in students’ academic life. Pretorius (2010) found a strong correlation between
students’ reading proficiency and their academic success by explaining that more reading leads to higher grades.
However, in the Philippines, reading is often combined with other subjects which means lesser time for students to
develop their comprehension skills (Philippine Star, 2010). This results inpoor reading comprehension skills.Thus,
students’performance inother subjects also gets affected.Quijano (2007) describes―reading problems the main culprit
for the poor performance of some students in the National Achievement Test(NAT)‖(para.4). In this paper, we
explore the possibility of addressing this problemthroughgood reading practices (Duke & Pearson, 2002),
particularly the use of critical reading strategies (Salisbury University, 2009; Harvard, 2015). Several scholars have
proven the facilitative effect of critical reading strategies on reading comprehension which relates to improved
subject area performance (Hinkelmann, 1956; Sochor, 1958; Linvile,1970; Dawe,1983 ; Krantez, 1957 cited in
Kopiyo, 1982; Muhandiki, 1984; Duke & Pearson (2002); Khabiri&Pakzad, 2011;Sandy Ming –San Chang, 2013;
Kadir et.al., 2014)especially on reading and writing. Carson and his colleagues (1990) and Yu (2015) state that a
person who excels in reading will more likely excel in writing. Thus, this research aims to provide instructional
directionson how educators can helpstruggling readers to be better readers and writers,and to lead them to be better
academic performers through theutilization of critical reading strategies.

Literature Review:-
Reading has been the focus of most research studies for the past decades. Reading as defined by Oxford Dictionary
(2015), is ―to look at and comprehend the meaning of (written or printed matter) by mentally interpreting the
characters or symbols of which it is composed.‖According to Козак (2011), reading is a complex activity that
involves both perception and thought that allows us to interpret a certain message to gain information from a text.
Reading, therefore, is an active activity that requires skill and cognitive ability used to understand messages. Critical
reading, however, is a ―more active way of reading‖ (Duncan, 2014, para.1). Furthermore, critical reading is much
more complex than reading in the sense that critical reading is not just a process of interpreting the message of the
text, but it also analyzes and evaluates the said text. Leicester University (2009) describes critical reading as:
examining the evidence or arguments presented; checking out any influences on the evidence or arguments;
checking out the limitations of study design or focus; examining the interpretations made; and deciding to what
extent the reader is prepared to accept the authors’ arguments, opinions, or conclusions.

In order to develop critical reading, it is essential to teach critical reading strategies. Salisbury University’s (2009)
presents seven strategies namely previewing, contextualizing, questioning,reflecting on challenges to your beliefs
and values, outlining and summarizing, evaluating, and comparing and contrasting.

Previewing is focused on learning about the text before reading it thoroughly, but previewing criticallydoes not only
include looking at the style, the title and subtitle of the text, but also getting an overview of its content and
organization as well as identifying its rhetorical situation (skimming).Several studies (Echevarriaet al., 2008; Sousa,
2011; McCormick, 1989; Dole, Valencia, Greer, & Wardrop,1991; McCormick, 1898) claimed that previewing
helps learners improve comprehension by tapping on prior knowledge.

Another critical reading strategy is contextualizing. Contextualizing is ―placing a text in its historical, biographical,
and cultural contexts‖ (Salisbury University, 2009,para.1). In this strategy, the reader understands that the writing
was written in the past so the reader contextualizes and recognizes the differences of the contemporary values and
attitudes and those represented in the text (Graves,1998). In contextualizing a reading material, the reader must
consider whether its historical, cultural, material, or intellectual circumstances change, complicate, explain, deepen
or otherwise influence his/her view of the writing (Harvard University, 2015). Contextualizing a text requires the
reader to identify the text’s contextand interprethow its context differs from that of his/her own.This can be achieved
by identifying the language or ideas that appear foreign or out of date; involving one’s knowledge of the time and
place in which the work was written; and finally, evaluating the effect these differences have on one’s understanding
and judgment of the text (Axelrod & Cooper, 1998).

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Questioning as a critical reading strategy, on the other hand, encourages readers to write down questions anytime
during reading (Salisbury University, 2009). Salisbury University posited that ―... in difficult academic readings,
you will understand the material better and remember it longer if you write a question for every paragraph or brief
section‖ (para.3). Lastly, Salisbury University (2009) advised that each question should be focused on the main idea
and should be answered with the readers’ own words and not taken from the paragraphs.Research shows that
posing questions and discussing stories before and after reading stories to children enhance comprehension
(Bissett, 1970; Crowell & Au, 1979; Huck, 1976; Lamme 1981 cited in Morrow, 1984). Studies suggest that it is
necessary to include all levels of traditional questioning for optimal comprehension development ( Guszak, 1967;
Hansen, 1981; Lanier & Davis, 1972; Schwartz &Sheff, 1975; Wolf, Huck, & King, 1967 cited in Morrow, 1984).
Several researchers propose that question generation is essential in cognitive process that operates at deep
conceptual levels like reading comprehension (Collins, Brown, & Larkin, 1980; Graesser, Person, & Huber, 1992;
Graesser& Clark, 1985; Hilton, 1990; Kintsch, 1998 cited in Craig et al, 2000).

Reflecting on challenges to one’s beliefs and values, as a critical strategy, is applied in reading a text as the reader
marks the paragraphs that somehow challenge his attitude, belief, and status. In addition, readers can also note down
the reason why a certain text was created and then look at the pattern of concepts that somehow challenges his/her
beliefs (Salisbury University, 2009).A critical reader’s reflection on his beliefs and values crucially involves
examining the basis for his/her own personal responses to the material read (Halpern, 2003). Accordingly,
sometimes the readers’ beliefs about an issue are difficult to express because they are so ingrained. In order to
discover these beliefs, it is important to explore how a text challenges the reader, as to whether the texts disturbed,
threatened, ashamed, or inspired him/her. Many readers may have a strong reaction to some of the essays read
(Axelrod & Cooper, 1999).

Outlining and summarizing as described by Salisbury University (2009) is identifying the main ideas and restating
them in one’s own words.
The key to both outlining and summarizing is being able to distinguish between
the main ideas and the supporting ideas and examples. The main ideas form the
backbone, the strand that holds the various parts and pieces of the text together.
Outlining the main ideas helps you to discover this structure. When you make an
outline, don't use the text's exact words. (para.5).

Anderson-Medius (1990) argue that outlining, as a graphic organizer, is a high level skill since outlining requires
readers to analyze and see the relationship between information in order to connect them appropriately. Biano and
McCormick (1989) further detail that outlining has five functions: (1) allows learners to focus on important
ideas); (2) improves familiarity with the structure of the text; (3) promotes better retention; (4) produces
alternative materials to supplemental material; (5) encourages participation in learning.Slater, Graves, and
Piche(1985)argue that the use of structural organizers using the outline grid supports comprehension and
learning.Ivino(1989) supports the claim that outlining shows significance in helping academically
underprepared L1 college readers to achieve better comprehension.A study conducted by Doctorow, Wittrock, and
Marks in 1978 shows that 6th graders who used paraphrasing performed significantly better in multiple choice test
and delayed cloze recall test whereas a similar finding in a study conducted by Dansereau and his colleagues (1974)
shows that college students who paraphrased demonstrated a higher group mean on essay exams.Furthermore,
Corder-Ponce (2000) argues that summarization is possibly the most significant and encompassing of all reading
strategies for effective studying and better comprehension.

Next is evaluating. Evaluation of the text read means that the reader analyzes how the text evidence portrays the
subject matter (Bisset, 2014). A critical reader is required to make a careful evaluation of the degree of importance
and acceptance he is to confer on the text read, taking into account the author’s topic presentation and the validity of
his arguments.As opposed to ordinary reading where the reader only accepts the information presented in the text,
critical reading serves a different purpose, where the reader does not just accept the information, but judges and
evaluates the author’s argument of the text (Salisbury University, 2009).Furthermore, evaluation assumes the
readers’ careful examination of the decisions or choices the author made in framing the presentation ofcontent,
language, and structure of the text. Readers examine each of the three areas of choice, and consider their effect on
text meaning (Kurland, 1998).Another area of evaluation is the logic of the author’s argument.The two parts of an
argument are claim and support. Claim is what the writer wants the reader to accept. Thus, the claim refers to the
writer’s idea, opinion, or point of view.Support refers to the reasons and evidence that serve as the basis for the

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claim. In testing the logic of the author’s argument, the reader must evaluate the arguments in terms of
appropriateness, believability, and consistency throughout the entire course of the reading. Testing for
appropriateness requires analyzing the text according to logical fallacies for instance false analogy, non sequitur,
post hoc ergo propter hoc. Next, testing for believability requires applying other fallacies that relate to reasoning,
such as begging the question, generalizations and failing to accept the burden of proof. Finally, testing for
consistency requires checking to make sure there are no contradictory statements (Axelrod & Cooper, 1998).

Finally,comparing and contrasting isdescribed as exploring likenesses and differences between texts to understand
them better. The reader differentiates and connects various texts to the previously read text in order to analyze their
similarities and differences.Silver (2015) posits that comparing and contrasting consists of five distinct goalsnamely:
(1.) strengthen memories by focusing on analyzing pairs of ideas, thus strengthens the reader’s ability to remember
key contents; (2.) develop higher–order thinking skills; (3.) increase comprehension by highlighting the significant
details, making abstract ideas concrete, and reduction of confusion between related concepts; (4.) enhance writing in
content areas through a simple structure that organizes information and develop ideas with greater clarity and
accuracy; (5.) develop habits of mind. Costa and Kallick (2008,2009) cited in Silver state that enhancing the habits
of mind such as thinking about thinking (metacognition), thinking flexibly, applying prior knowledge to new
situations, striving for accuracy, and thinking and communicating with clarity and precision will provide students
with tools that can help orchestrate their academic success. Furthermore, Allen (2004) describes the process of
comparing and contrasting as helpful in clarifying concepts and making information memorable by asking the
readers to think deeply about the text in order to determine the similarities and differences.

Critical Reading Strategies and Reading Comprehension:-

Duke and Pearson (2002) posit that the readers’ application of critical strategies enhances reading comprehension. In
2007, Jasim’sstudyabout critical reading strategies shows that critical reading strategies should be an integral part of
advanced reading courses for they have a positive impact on students’ capability to differentiate facts from opinions,
make inferences, recognize bias and prejudice, and identify various types of propaganda. In 2011,Khabiri and
Pakzadhave also found that the application of critical reading strategies help students improve their vocabulary and
make its retention easier, thus helping them become more independent and successful readers.Furthermore,Kadir
and his colleagues (2014) posit that the students become critical thinkers by learning first the critical reading skills
wherein they were asked to comprehend the text by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. Similarly, Nasrollahi et
al. (2015) posit that theuse of critical reading strategies orchestrates the development of critical reading, critical
thinking, and higher order thinking ability respectively.Furthermore, Yu(2015) reveals thatcritical reading strategies
lead to better comprehension in college English reading, and the most frequently used reading strategies in
university classroom teaching are: (1) pre-reading, (2) reading in context, (3) questioning and answering, (4)
reflecting after reading, and (5) outlining and summarizing.

CriticalReading and Critical Writing:-

Reading and writing connection can be established by analyzing the two processes and how they are being
employed. According to Tompkins (1999), readingandwriting are similar. The first step in both processes involves
using and activating background knowledge and being able to set a purpose in doing whichever process is supposed
to be used. As a result, a student becomes literate through both reading and writing. Furthermore, readers and writers
use the same strategies; this means that what is applicable in one process can also be applicable to the other. Reading
and writing skills can both be developed by using strategies like questioning and paraphrasing, but one strategy does
not suit all texts. Flemming (2009) suggests that readers should try different approaches especially if the first
approach does not work. He adds that there should be flexibility when it comes to the use of strategies in reading
and writing. This way, the text can be more easily understood and writing about it will be easier.

Throughout the various stages of our studies in school, we have all been made to read various academic texts—
stories, essays, and almost everything else in written literature; and afterwards, we were then made to write a
number of responses, reflections, reactions, and/or analyses to quite a number of these printed texts. It can therefore
be assumed that reading and writing essentially go hand-and-hand with each other. With this, it is natural to believe
that if one reads, one ought to be able to understand or comprehend what he reads (Snow, 2002), and having this
considerable understanding or comprehension of a text read would then enable the said reader to write on or about it
if required to (Kurland, 1998).According to Kurland (1998), ―all writers rely on their skills as readers‖ (para.4).
Therefore,―reading is primary; one can write only as well as one reads‖(para.2). Furthermore, he states that ―to write
better, you must learn to read better‖(para. 5).This fact highlights the significant role that critical reading plays in

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order for the reader to practice critical thinking that will enable him to do analytical writing. Thus, critical thinking
depends significantly on critical reading wherein one can only objectively and rationally critique a text if he
substantially and truly understands the contents and thoughts of that text (Kurland, 1998). According to the
University of Leicester (n.d.), ―critical reading is an important precursor to critical writing;‖ (para. 1) likewise,
―critical writing depends on critical reading‖ (Knott, 2002, para. 1).Hence, achieving proficiency in critical reading
requires the use of critical reading strategies (Axelrod & Cooper, 1999).Among critical reading strategies, focus can
be made on three essential techniques that present substantial correlation to both enhanced reading comprehension
and improved analytic writing performance, namely: 1) evaluation of the text read; 2) contextualizing the
information from the text; and 3) reflecting on the reader’s values and beliefs in relation to the texts read.

Moreover, Axelrod and Cooper (1999) state that the development of advanced critical writing skills is a direct result
of enhanced critical reading which can be achieved through the application of selected critical reading strategies.
The study also purports that in order to achieve an improved critical reading ability, it would require the application
of some critical reading strategies (Salisbury University, 2009; Harvard, 2015).

Numerous researches on the impact of critical reading strategies on thinking ability, vocabulary, and comprehension
skills have been done. However, previous studies do not take into account the correlation of critical reading
strategies with reading comprehension and writing performance, and which specific strategies would actually affect
students’ reading comprehension and writing performance. Hence, this study aimed to fill in this research gap by
investigating the correlation among critical reading strategies, reading comprehension, and writing performance.It
involves responses from third-year pre-service education students in a prestigious university enrolled during the
school year 2015-2016. This research looked into the critical reading strategies that the respondents utilized, and if
these strategies had significant effect on their performance in the reading comprehension and analytical writing test.

This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What critical reading strategies are frequently used by third year college students?
2. Is there a significant relationship between the third year collegestudents’ use of criticalreading strategies and
their reading comprehension?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the third year collegestudents’ critical reading strategies andtheir
analytical writing performance?
4. Is there a significant relationship between the third year collegestudents’reading comprehension and their
analytical writing performance?

Research Design:-
This correlational study used quantitative approach to find out the impact of critical reading strategies in improving
reading comprehension and writing performance.

Participants:-
The participants of this study comprised 45 random third year education students from a catholic university. Their
ages ranged from 18-20 years old. Participants were from the Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in Math,
English, Filipino, Religious Education, and Science, and Bachelor in Elementary Education, major in Special
Education, Food Technology, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Library Science program. Pre-service education students
were purposely chosen as the respondents of the study since they would be future educators, it would be beneficial
to find out which critical reading strategies they have already acquired and applied and which strategies they should
still enhance so that they, too, can develop the same skills among the students who will be entrusted to their care.

Instruments:-
The following instruments were used in this study:

Critical Reading Strategies Likert Scale:-

A 61-item Critical Reading Strategies Likert scale was a researcher-made instrument based on Salisbury University
and Harvard University’s description of critical reading strategies. It is a five-point Likert scale with the following
scales 5- always, 4- often, 3 – sometimes, 2- rarely, 1- never.The researcher-made Likert scale survey was pilot
tested to 60 random students with the same age range as the participants. The instrument was validated by two (2)
language experts, one (1) literature expert, and two (2) statisticians and was subjected to confirmatory factor
analysis to ensure its validity and reliability. The result of confirmatory factor analysis shows that most items under

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each construct, with the exception of the construct Previewing, are convergent and share a high proportion of
variance in common. The validation process reducedthe original 70-item Likert scale to 61 items having five (5)
items removed in previewing, one (1) item in contextualizing, one (1) item in questioning, one (1) item in
reflection on the challenges to beliefs and values, and one (1) item in evaluation.

Cronbach’s Alpha was used to validate and determine the internal consistency of items in a survey. The Likert
Scale surveygenerated a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.85 which indicates that the items are consistent and within the
acceptable range.

This instrument was used to compare and contrast the participants’ utilization and frequency of different critical
reading strategies and to determine the effects of using critical reading strategies on the students’ reading
performance and writing performance. Likewise, this instrument was also used to find out the different critical
reading strategies utilized by third year college students.

Reading Comprehension Test:-

A 35-item reading comprehension test was taken from Test Prep Review: Free Online Practice Testsunder the
category of SAT Practice Test. The permission to use the questions was granted by the author sent via email.The
reading comprehension test was timed for 36 minutes and participants were given four (4) options per question
based on US SAT Critical Reading Test Area.

Analytical Writing:-
A reading material was read and analyzed by the participants through an essay. The text analyzed was taken from
Custom Essay Writing Service. The students were asked to write an analytical essay critiquing the arguments
presented on the text provided. Their works were checked by the researchers using a Letter Grade analytical writing
rubric adopted from Maria RostRublee (2005) from the University of Tampa and their ratings were validated by a
language expert to determine its suitability in rating students’ analytical essays. The scoring rubric contains the
following criteria: organization, argumentation, support,content knowledge, originality, level of discourse,
vocabulary and grammar.The Letter Grades were given a numerical equivalent: A-5, B-4, C-3, D-2, and F-1.In
rating students’ analytical essays, analytic rubric was used by giving points to each criterion. The results of
analytical writing were used to find out whether the critical reading strategies and the reading comprehension predict
the writing performance.

Procedure:-
The researchers selected 45students from the College of Education through random sampling. The 45 participants
were provided with a confidentiality agreement form to assure them that the researcher would implement the no
disclosure policy of any information. Simultaneously, they were asked to answer the 61-item Likert scale survey
about their critical reading strategies. The reading comprehension test and the analytical writing test were
administered on separate days. The reading comprehension testwas administered at the school library. The writing
test compriseda reading text,and a writing prompt. They were asked to analyze the text (essay) and provide their
stand based on the text and on their analysis. Their essayswererated by three of theresearchers using a rubric adopted
from Rublee (2005). Prior to rating students’ analytical essays, they calibrated their scoring by discussing their
individual rating for a sample essay considering the criteria and descriptors indicated in the scoring rubric.

In analyzing the data, the researchers used descriptive and inferential statistics. To find out the critical reading
strategy frequently used by third year collegiate students, weighted mean was used.To establish the correlation
between the strategies used by readers and their reading comprehension, as well as their writing performance and
reading comprehension, Pearson r was used.

Results:-
Critical Reading Strategies Employed by College Education Students
Table 1 shows the results of the critical reading strategies employed by the respondents. Reflecting on the challenges
to beliefs and values topped the list (3.689) followed by contextualizing (3.675) while comparing and contrasting
related readings and evaluating obtained similar weighted mean (3.378).

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Table 1:-Critical Reading Strategies Employed by the College Education Students.

CRITICAL READING STRATEGY WEIGHTED MEAN RANK
Previewing 3.156** 6
Contextualizing 3.675 2
Questioning 3.325 5
Reflecting on the challenges to beliefs and values 3.689** 1
Outlining and Summarizing 3.378** 3.5
Comparing and Contrasting 3.111 7
Evaluating 3.378** 3.5
** rounded off to the nearest thousandths

Results of the study reveal a common trait among teenagers that they do not believe easily on what they read but
they reflect on their own beliefs and values and compare them with those that they have read from texts. The second
critical reading strategy frequently used by the respondents is contextualizing, which means that when they read a
text, they consider its background— when and where it was written—to make sense of it. The practice of digging
deeper into the text background and reflecting on the challenges to beliefs and values were part of college students’
training in almost all courses in the university. This explains the respondents’ frequent use of these critical reading
strategies. Other critical reading strategies which the respondents were trained to use in learning tasks in a majority
of courses include comparing and contrasting related readings and evaluating (ranked 3.5) in this study.

The scores of the reading test accumulated an average of 20.13 out of 35 items as shown in Table 2. The lowest
score is 9 while the highest is 32. The results of the writing test accumulated an average of 3.59. The lowest score is
2.17 while the highest is 4.5. Considering the means in both tests, the students performed better in analytical writing
than in reading test. The reason, perhaps, for this result is that it is easier for students to write their analysis of the
essay rather than take the reading test which deals on diverse topics.

Table 2:- Reading Comprehension Test Scores and Analytical Writing Test Scores of the Respondents
Skills Mean
Reading Comprehension 20.13
Writing Test 3.59

Correlation between critical reading strategies and reading comprehension:

Table 3shows the correlation between critical reading strategies and reading comprehension. Results reveal that
there is a positive moderate correlation between critical reading strategies and reading comprehension. This implies
that the more frequent the students use critical reading strategies, the higher is their reading comprehension.

Table 3:-Correlation between critical reading strategies and reading comprehension of college students.
STRATEGY PEARSON R INTERPRETATION SIGNIFICANCE INTERPRETATION
F
Previewing .133** Weak (+) .385** NON-SIGNIFICANT
Contextualizing .422** Moderate (+) .004** SIGNIFICANT
Questioning .177 Weak (+) .244 NON- SIGNIFICANT
Reflecting on the .309 Moderate (+) .039** SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT
challenges to beliefs
and values
Outlining and .374 Moderate (+) .011 SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT
Summarizing
Comparing and .315 Moderate (+) .035** SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT
Contrasting
Evaluating .515** Strong (+) .0003** SIGNIFICANT
Combined Strategies .396 Moderate (+) .007 SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT
** rounded off to the nearest thousandths

Among the critical reading strategies, evaluating obtained the highest coefficient value (0.515) which shows that
there is a strong positive correlation between evaluating as a critical reading strategy and reading comprehension.

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This means that students comprehend the text more when they are able to evaluate the text considering the
arguments and pieces of evidence presented by the writer.

Another strategy that significantly correlates with reading comprehension is contextualizing, (r = 0.422). The other
strategies are only slightly significant in terms of how the respondents performed in the reading comprehension test.
This result indicates that when learners are able to understand the text’s context or background, they comprehend the
text quite easily.

Correlation between critical reading strategies and analytical writing:

Table 4 shows the correlation between critical reading strategies and analytical writing performance of the
respondents. The results show that critical reading strategies show moderate positive correlation to analytical
writing. However, of the seven indicators, comparing and contrasting posted the highest correlation value
(moderate) of 0.404 and a significance F of 0.006. Three of the critical reading strategies namely: contextualizing,
reflecting, and outlining and summarizing strategies yielded a ―slightly significant‖correlation.
Table 4:- Correlation between critical reading strategies and analytical writing performance of the respondents.
STRATEGY PEARSON’S R INTERPRETATION SIGNIFICANCE INTERPRETATION
F
Previewing .181** Weak (+) .235** NON-SIGNIFICANT
Contextualizing .308 Moderate (+) .039 SLIGHTLY
SIGNIFICANT
Questioning .214** Weak (+) .158 NON-SIGNIFICANT
Reflecting .396 Moderate (+) .007 SLIGHTLY
SIGNIFICANT
Outlining and .349 Moderate (+) .019** SLIGHTLY
Summarizing SIGNIFICANT
Comparing and .404** Moderate (+) .006** SIGNIFICANT
Contrasting
Evaluating .214** Weak (+) .158 NON-SIGNIFICANT
Combined .385** Moderate (+) .009 SLIGHTLY
strategies SIGNIFICANT
** rounded off to the nearest thousandths

Questioning and evaluating are also positively correlated to reading comprehension; however, the coefficient value
is only 0.214 which shows weak correlation based on the guide provided by Evans (1996).

It is evident from these data that students used different critical reading strategies while answering reading
comprehension test and writing analytical essay. In reading comprehension test, both evaluating and contextualizing
as a critical reading strategy served as a significant strategy to utilize, while in analytical writing, comparing is the
only strategy that shows high level of significance. However, reflecting and outlining served as slightly significant
in both reading comprehension and in analytical writing, and these are the only strategies which posted relevance in
both areas.

Perhaps, the reason behind this phenomenon is that the value of reflection in learning lies in the ability of the
learners to clarify their thoughts, to gain insights and to deepen their understanding of the information that they
received.Reflection is a deliberate cognitive activity where learners connect thoughts, feelings, and experiences
related to the learning activity in which they are involved in. It allows learners to internalize and interlace the
information gathered by reading and concretize these abstract ideas by writing. And when we both read and write,
we need to clarify and comprehend the information which we read and/or write by making connection with our own
ideas and insights that we have gained previously from our own experiences.

Aside from reflecting, outlining and summarizing also help organize our thoughts, the information obtained from
reading, and the ideas that are about to be written. A descriptive outline leads to discover the main ideas together
with the details, facts, explanations, and other additional supporting ideas. Thus, figuring out the main idea, details,
facts, and explanation while reading and before writing are the fundamental steps that both readers and writers must
undergo in order to comprehend the text fully and to create an organized writing.

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Correlation between reading comprehension and writing performance:-

Results in Table 5 show positive correlation (r=0.19)between reading comprehension and analytical writing
performanceof the respondents. Though the relationship is weak, correlation still exists. Had the respondents been
increased in size, correlation value would more likely increase as well. Hence, increase in the size of respondents is
recommended to make the results conclusive.

Table 5:Correlation between reading comprehension and the analytical writing performance of the respondents.
PEARSON’S R INTERPRETATION SIGNIFICANCE F INTERPRETATION
0.349 Moderate (+) 0.019** SLIGHTLY SIGNIFICANT
** rounded off to the nearest thousandths

91% of the respondents scored average, 27 points out of 35 items, in the reading comprehension test and the
weighted mean of the strategies used by these respondents is 3 out of 5. This data reveal that students who used
strategies at average frequency also gained average scores in reading comprehension.

The findings of the study are not conclusive because there are also other variables that might have come into play
during the administration of the study. In the tests administered, the researchers were not able to note which
strategies the respondents used or whether the respondents used other strategies not mentioned in the study as they
answered the tests.The researchers were also not able to take into account the other factors that might have affected
the results of the tests such as internal or external problems experienced by the participants and the affective and
cognitive factors such as attitudes, reading and writing skills(Unal&Iseri, 2012).

Discussion:-
Four major findings emerged in this study and these are discussed in each subheadingbelow.

Critical Reading Strategies Employed by the College Education Students:-

Reflecting on challenges to the beliefs and values of the readers served as the most frequently used by the
respondents of the study because in this strategy, the readers mark the concepts that challenged their beliefs and
values (Salisbury University 2009) which creates a personal connection between the text and the reader by
examining his personal responses (Salisbury University 2009) that will both help him understand the text and
himself as a reader. Moreover,this strategy requires highlighting which serves as a good and easy way to understand
and recall a concept from a certain text. Students are said to most likely answer a question correctly if they had
highlighted the important word or phrase than if they did not (Peterson, 1992).

Contextualizing, the second most frequently used critical reading strategy,allows the readerto read the text with the
lens of his own experience (Salisbury University 2009). But according to Salisbury University (2009), a reader must
consider the difference of the past to current time. In that way, it is believed that the reader understands the text
better by reading, keeping in mind the values and beliefs of the time when the text was written and the culture of the
people in which the author is in. Although this strategy serves as a good way to comprehend a text, it only served as
second as the most frequently used critical reading strategy for the reason that it is not as feasible as reflecting on
beliefs and values because contextualizing is not always applicable since there are texts wherein knowing the
authors’ backgroundsand the texts’ context does not affect the reader’s understanding of the text (Rodriguez, 2003).
Moreover, contextualizing requires the reader to place the text in its historical, biographical, and cultural context and
readers may not have ample information to perform contextualization while reading.

Critical Reading Strategies and Reading Comprehension:-

There is a moderate positive correlation between critical reading strategies and reading comprehension (r=0.396). It
means that the more frequent learners use critical reading strategies, the more improved their comprehension would
be. This finding corroborates the results of other researches in the field (Muhandiki, 1984; Duke & Pearson (2002);
Khabiri&Pakzad, 2011;Sandy Ming –San Chang, 2013; Kadir et al., 2014). Thus, language teachers should provide
direct instruction on critical reading strategies and design learning tasks for students to apply critical reading
strategies.

Contextualization, which gained the second most significant correlation with comprehension, allows the reader to
understand the text better by placing it in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts (Salisbury University,
2009). Moreover, it is an approach in which skills are taught with direct reference to real-life situations in order to

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make the skills meaningful to students (Johnson, 2002), instead of teaching reading and writing skills in abstract
way,it has to be taught meaningfully (contextualized literacy instruction) focusing on authentic content(Perin& Hare,
2010). When a student is able to contextualize a text, he/she has the better grasp of the text; he can scrutinize it
better and becomes information literate who can ―evaluate information critically and competently‖ (AASL and
AECT 1998:14).

The combined strategies posed moderate correlation (0.396) with reading comprehension almost similar when they
are used individually. The study yielded almost similar results to the four strategies: contextualizing, reflecting on
the challenges to beliefs and values, outlining and summarizing, comparing and contrasting which signifies that the
combined strategies do not make any difference when applied to reading. Hence, it can be surmised that one
strategy could be enough to attain the same level of performance of combined strategy as long as that particular
strategy is optimally used.

Critical Reading Strategies and Analytical Writing:-

A moderate positive correlation exists between critical reading strategies and analytical writing. This indicates that
as learners frequently use critical reading strategies, they perform better in analytical writing. Among the critical
reading strategies that posted moderate positive correlation with analytical writing include comparing and
contrasting (r=0. 404), reflecting (r=0.396), outlining and summarizing (r=0.349), and contextualizing (r=.0308).
All these strategies are relevant in analytical writing in the sense that before one can critically analyze a text, he/she
needs to compare it with other texts in terms of content including arguments and pieces of evidence; he/she also
must reflect on whether or not it challenges his/her beliefs and values; he/she should consider the text organization
considering its outline and main points presented; and finally, he/she needs to study the context or historical
background of the text to formulate sound judgment on its content and logic.

As what the University of Leicester’s (n.d.) states, ―critical reading is an important precursor to critical writing‖
(para. 1). Knott (2002, para. 1) likewise posits that, ―critical writing depends on critical reading.‖ Since results of
the study show that these three essential techniques present substantial correlation to both enhanced reading
comprehension and improved analytic writing performance, namely: 1) evaluation of the text read; 2)
contextualizing the information from the text; and 3) reflecting on the reader’s values and beliefs in relation to the
texts read, focus can be made in teaching these three critical reading strategies to students to make them not only
critical readers, but also critical thinkers and writers.

Writing Performance and Reading Comprehension:-

Results of the study show that there is a positive moderate correlation between analytical writing performance and
reading comprehension. Likewise, it supports previous studies that reading andwriting are two aspects that are
interrelated. In the study of Al-Saadat(2004), it shows that even though reading and writing are not what is defined
as reciprocals, reading and writing have important relationship with each other ―They share many cognitive skills
and are viewed as mutually reinforcing interactive processes‖ (p.226). Moreover, Fountas and Pinnell (1996) stress
that reading and writing are interrelated implying that the skills learned in one influences and reinforces the other.
Hence, educators should strive to develop these two macro skills among learners across age groups.

Conclusion:-
This study reveals that the critical reading strategies somehow influence students’ reading and writing performance.
Hence, learners may try to learn and to adapt these strategies. As proven by studies cited in this research, critical
reading strategies affect positively reading comprehension and writing performance.

The study also sought to identify the extent to which critical reading strategies were used, on how these strategies
were utilized or whether the participants were able to maximize the use of these strategies. While the findings of the
study show reflecting and contextualizing as the frequently used critical reading strategies by college education
students, it is best to remember that amidst the numerous strategies available, there is no single best strategy that
would fit all individuals and texts. Hence, educators may introduce several critical reading strategies in their
classroom instruction to make their students become critical thinkers and analytical writers.

Another major finding of this study is that there is a moderate correlation between reading comprehension and
critical reading strategies. Despite its moderate correlation value, we cannot deny that reading should be done in a
systematic way where readers know how to gain the information and know whether to accept or not to accept the

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information gained. It is highly suggested that teachers cultivate the students’ habit of using critical reading
strategies so that they will become active processors of knowledge where meaning-making is facilitated. This
intellectual exercise will eventually make these learners proficient critical readers who will not just accept things
that they read but rather evaluate the veracity of information and the logic of ideas presented in the text.

For further research undertakings, a follow up study can be conducted to find out whether correlations among the
variables under study exist among respondents acrossability levels (e.g. proficient, average and poor readers). The
study may also investigate on the frequently used critical reading strategies employed by different types of readers.
Furthermore, a study on what critical reading strategies can be used in reading and writing different types of
genrescan also be conducted.Thus, this study may serve as a springboard for more research in the development of
critical reading strategies in relation with reading comprehension and writing performance.

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