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Revista Universidad y Sociedad

versión On-line ISSN 2218-3620

Universidad y Sociedad vol.15 no.3 Cienfuegos mayo.-jun. 2023  Epub 30-Jun-2023

 

Artículo Original

Reading comprehension and critical thinking, a contribution strategy to society.

Compresión lectora y pensamiento como elemento articulador para la adquisición de competencias

0000-0001-8581-3104Edgar Olmedo Cruz Mican1  *  , 0000-0001-8149-9963Fernando Augusto Poveda Aguja2  , 0000-0002-3608-1370Yenny Marcela Lozano Monguí1  , 0000-0001-8206-1461Luis Bernal Hidalgo1  , 0000-0001-9515-3189Marcia Andrea Yucuma Guzmán2 

1Universidad Santo Tomas de Aquino - Colombia

2Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios - UNIMINUTO. Colombia

ABSTRACT

This article highlights some elements from the theoretical review that can contribute in the search for a strategy for the formation of critical thinking in the classroom, using reading as an articulating element that promotes the acquisition of critical reading skills, identifying the educational process as a stage in which the human being establishes a series of actions aimed at achieving competencies that define their academic and professional life to then face the challenges of transcending from knowledge as an endless source of new elements, where knowledge is not linear, on the contrary, it is permeated by elements of the context where the argumentation plays a decisive role in the process of each individual.

Key words: Critical thinking; Reading comprehension; Skills; Argumentation

RESUMEN

El presente artículo destaca algunos elementos desde la revisión teórica que pueden aportar en la búsqueda de la estrategia para la formación del pensamiento crítico en el aula de clase, utilizando la lectura como elementó articulador que promueve la adquisición de competencias de lectura critica, identificando el proceso educativo como una etapa en la cual el ser humano establece una serie de acciones encaminadas a lograr una competencias que definen su vida académica y profesional para luego enfrentar los retos de trascender a partir del saber cómo una fuente interminable de nuevos elementos, donde el conocimiento no es lineal, por el contrario se permea de elemento propios del contexto donde la argumentación juega un papel decisivo en el proceso de cada individuo.

Palabras-clave: Pensamiento crítico; Comprensión lectora; Habilidades; Argumentación

Introduction

The formation of critical thinking is a topic that currently has awakened diverse educational views and interest, taking more importance in recent times, evidencing a need that is still latent and is essential to promote in the life of every human being. In the educational sector is one of the problems that are evident at all levels and sectors, a process that cannot be separated from reading comprehension as a skill to acquire learning, we begin this reflection from the international level with Barzola et al. (2020) who propose the application of reading comprehension activities executed sequentially with the rigor of the case that lead the university student to form critical thinking so that he can put it into practice and strengthen it during the exercise of research; as a main element, it approaches reading comprehension as the articulating axis of the process and methodology strategy insofar as it is used as a source of information and method in their daily activities as well as a leveling strategy to acquire the investigative habit, which is demanded by the formation process in higher education.

For a specific analysis of the development of a value of how to parameterize the search, this as denoted in Vega et al. (2020). It relates the role of search from a matrix model, already starting from categories of analysis and semantic networks allow consolidating a structure that manages to go beyond the description that manages to account for the articulating role of the development of educational bets.

From this same position Guerra (2020) addressed a systematized work plan to investigate about critical thinking and how reading affects training, the truth is that acquiring the habit of reading leads the person to be autonomous in the process of appropriation of knowledge, but this study also highlights that the lack of this, makes it possible to generalize a lack of interest on the part of the group, As has already been said, in higher education these situations arise and are more evident due to the basic competencies with which the student in training must arrive, which he/she has already had at previous educational levels, should be sufficient to contribute and strengthen this type of competencies and skills that at higher levels should not be a problem within the training spaces, on the contrary, they should be an advantage.

To summarize what has been said, there is an imminent need to improve reading skills and promote critical thinking in the classroom from lower levels of education, before student’s reach university life. In this aspect I find the point of convergence with the research interest raised in secondary education, which is the right time to empower students and make critical thinking part of their life projections.

Within this context, other aspects found that affect the problem and are deepened by Azañedo-Alcántara, (2021) highlights the role of teachers as articulator and guide in the formation of critical thinking, evidencing the need to implement continuous actions to train students so that they become aware in the classroom, of the immediate need to create and take advantage of spaces that form critical thinking, while allowing teachers to question themselves about the socio-educational problems that can currently be identified, but that also allows to see with the rearview mirror problems have been evolving or generating others of greater impact from current needs such as the current model of man imposed by societies, the management of information, the progress and scope of the same, the purposes of educational acts, the participations but especially the projections of development generated over the years and the various visions from the political, economic, cultural and social generate changes and mostly occur from the educational act as an element of correlation between society and its different aspects.

The teacher has an exceptional ability to be trained to understand the world and find the way to relate it to knowledge and each of the advances that occur daily through science, technology and many other aspects that form from an integral perspective and make him/her an agent of social change through education. For Vargas (2020) the teaching role consists of being an articulator and guide in the formation of critical thinking, which leads us to say that there is a need to implement continuous actions to train students in such a way that knowledge is transversal and is not seen as an isolated or individualized process for some knowledge.

In view of this reality, Carlino (2005) argues that the difficulties presented by higher education students in understanding what they read are not due to an elementary and generalizable technical deficiency; on the contrary, the author states that when students enter high school, they face new written cultures, new fields of knowledge that correspond to the different areas of study, and it is there where students must learn new cultures in order to transform their consciousness and thinking.

At present, there is still a common problem that worries education, and it is the fact that students do not know how to read or write even when they pass from grade to grade in school until they reach university education. Problems such as; low level to write argumentative texts, little integration in class discussions, passive and non-critical attitude, lack of autonomy in learning, no motivation for research, allow rethinking teaching and learning, so that both teachers and students contemplate actions or strategies that promote attitudes of participation and understanding for meaningful learning.

Imac & Concha (2021). contextualize the problem in higher education, emphasizing how the reading level of students affects their academic process, and also highlights the need to educate from lower levels to prevent students from suffering delays in their processes in higher education, The study affirms that when evaluating the formation of critical thinking, it can be seen how students present problems in understanding texts, due to the absence of a lexicon built with a grammatical maturity that can only be achieved with deep comprehensive reading processes that can provide academic expertise.

The relationship that exists between the acquisition of critical thinking and the way in which the efficiency of knowledge is perceived in educational processes, makes it a subject that is not only addressed from the teachers' perspective but also from the levels of training and didactic strategies that promote its continuous development, One of the aspects that stands out is the technological component due to the fact that we currently live in an information age, where knowledge is accelerated, "the speed, volume and scope of information flows" (HABEMUS, 2021), have generated an inability to apply elementary reading-writing skills. It is observed then, that the habit of reading and writing in the XXI century, is not the expected that is on par with scientific and technological advances, there is a slowdown in the correct use of basic communication skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing. This process has been focused on doing it in a very instrumental way and it is not really trained for critical thinking.

Recently the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), published the report Skills Outlook 2021: learning for life (Skills 2021: learning for life), in which it states that Spain, after Greece, is one of the European Union countries with the least progress in terms of reading comprehension between 15 and 27 years of age, so the report highlights that one of the factors that most influences the levels of information processing comes from education, In Colombia, we are no strangers to this situation, and the problem is even more pronounced than in the countries mentioned above.

The proposed dialogue on the perspectives of the curriculum is based on the following question: how are comprehensive strategies applied to promote research in the curriculum? For Ortiz-Hernández (2006) a scenario of knowledge of the environment that involves the curriculum is built, which from the perspective of Vars (1991) is called "core curriculum", integrating in an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary way the dynamics of associativity, which through didactic transposition involve the daily problems that relate the purpose of an academic bet: "holistic curriculum", "cross curriculum" and "connected curriculum". Their historical relationship becomes a purpose of interaction and interactivity, for research to highlight the learning outcomes that are operated in the programs from the courses or subjects.

Beane (1991) recognizes the limits that these processes face, if separation or fragmentation are adequate to dissolve knowledge barriers, if knowledge is investigated, explored, and interpreted, it invites to a development, where the ways of evaluation will be arranged for the concretion of such learning moments. Several authors recognize on the praxis related to learning and skills, the added value of the individual's participation in the construction and reflection of knowledge (Drake, 1991; Brant, 1991; Green, 1991; Mollet, 1991).

For Jacobs (1989) the curriculum is defined by necessity and importance, where the scenario offers values associated with meaningful learning, which relates mental and thinking structures. Knowledge is not static, it is in continuous validation or plausibility tests, the fragmented itinerary is not a conductive value of response, the association of concepts is more valued, thus highlighting the value of the curriculum. Also, each discipline has a continuous search for complementarity with others, if this knowledge obtains an added value for the individual. Ivanitskaya, et al. (2002). Interdisciplinary learning: Process and outcomes. Innovative higher education, 27, 95-111propose an integration on curriculum, meta-curriculum and hidden curriculum, which supports the application of metacognitive processes, which are not affected by the preconceptions that the individual relates by the area of knowledge but recognizing the essential purpose or central issue to which, in a cognitive bet involves different multidisciplinary teams.

A scenario that leads to strengthen the curriculum from the scientific, technological appreciations, associated to reflect on the dynamic and appropriate change of the cognitive models of learning is raised by Ramírez (2014) when he recognizes that the curricula must establish the articulation of the sectors involved: business, state and academic, realizing a dialogue from the human with productive principles, granting an intrinsic value to the intention of the same in its surrounding reality; the curriculum cannot remain in a purely theoretical dialogue, its association leads to think about moments of application, which according must draft curricular models for all audiences regardless of the time, the transformation of the same must allow access and participation of the curricular field. Aguilar Nery (2013) from the mechanisms of production of absences, states that developments should not be established from the framework, monocultures, knowledge and participating dialogues, which allow achieving significant progress in local development.

Methodology

The research starts with a critical hermeneutic analysis, where a review matrix is made from more than 250 articles, books and chapters in databases such as scopus, Wos, Redalyc, Dialnet, latindex, allowing the systematic selection of a model focused on the added value of education from a disruptive role, then separated by reference categories that make through a color diagram to establish the prioritization and level of deepening of the selected material, an analytical that establishes models focused on the reserved words is performed.

In order to collect the information and its analysis process from the text, qualitative research was used and characterized in the interpretative paradigm, from the educational field, it establishes an analysis of literature that covers approach from the perspective of the formation of the individual at various educational levels, highlighting studies focused on higher education, From the same, reading comprehension is taken as a category of analysis as an element that stands out in the various actions and methodologies that seek to identify causes and methodologies in common for the low assimilation of critical thinking by students, for this purpose, several international articles were consulted where education systems have some similarities.

According to Vacilachis (2012, p. 23) there are trends, traditions, and multiple data collection techniques in qualitative research, which becomes a strategic approach because of the possibility it offers to organize, codify and select elements that can become points of convergence to define methodologies, conceptual aspects, forms of triangulation and comparison in relation to existing data with the problematic object of study.

Results

This is how the search for complex thinking motivates to reflect on realities that become specific needs in the educational exercise from the following dilemma: what is the impact of reading in the formation of critical thinking in students? A problematizing look from this section that began to shape as a response to the need to make an impact from science as a social responsibility in the exercise of the teaching profession, aimed at producing transformations the insistent opportunity to rethink each of the environments in which we interfere and play a historical role, what better strategy than education to achieve it.

This leads us to take into account discussions that have already been given as Cassany (2017) the critical person is the one who maintains a belligerent attitude in achieving their personal purposes, through reading and writing; This means that there is a latent need to promote the development of these skills, if to this we add that nowadays the amount of information that can be received, handled and even omitted, demands from the human being a series of skills that allow him to be competent to the extent that he appropriates knowledge, transforms it and uses it for his benefit and the common good, the human being uses the word as a means of interaction with others from the moment he acquires the language and it is through this that an argumentative discourse is built that evolves as the reading skills are worked on.

All that has been said so far implies that the formation of critical thinking in the educational environment demands a series of skills and competencies that are acquired throughout life, both in formal education and outside it, but it is there where the educational system plays the role of guide. From the point of view of Guzmán & Flórez (2020), argumentative competence (AC) is an important ability to promote when people are expected to know how to substantiate their points of view, as well as to refute those discordant with their own. Argumentation then becomes the starting point to begin to provide the necessary elements to achieve a critical capacity, but it is almost impossible to argue without a good process of reading comprehension, here is a detail that deserves attention the ability that can be included in questioning the context of things, the ability to interpret information, let evolve to literal reading to move to the inference as a tool to reach the critical analysis, all this leads to personally confront the ability to produce knowledge.

With what has been described above, it is evident that in the educational sector there is an imminent need to make contributions from the educational context to implement and maintain strategies that in the classroom and outside it guide the learner to acquire critical thinking, in a natural way, But where the need to increasingly strengthen all aspects that promote a significant progress that is reflected in the academic results and allow to respond to both internal and external evaluative tests that are designed from critical reading, is enough to understand that in order to achieve progress we could talk about the role of education as an agent of change in the XXI century, where each of the actors from the role articulates critical thinking naturally to their daily actions.

Another essential point from the vision of the authors López et al. (2022), there is a statistical relationship between the disposition to critical thinking and the perceived performance in terms of academic self-efficacy, which means that there must be a permanent desire for the appropriation of knowledge, which is defined as metacognition, the mastery of cognitive skills that the student is willing to use, it is seen that to a high degree students are not willing to achieve this metacognition. Undoubtedly, to achieve a change, it is necessary to reach this goal that allows them to deepen from different scenarios that are part of the educational system.

According to Portela, Guarnizo and Poveda (2021), the starting point is to integrate the necessary components to dynamize systematic searches, without ignoring or omitting the dialogue and interpretation of the information, it is always crucial to determine a value is that the researcher focuses his approach on how to develop a conception that allows relating the educational role and how it is involved in all stages of knowledge.

For Aguilar, et al. (2020),

due to theconstant increase in the information available and the vertiginous changes in the work environment, people must possess competencies that allow them to face them. This could be understood as specific competencies materialized in learning skills that form critical thinking, learning opportunities, which currently requires us to be diverse, multicultural and transform the context from the human relationships that can be established from thinking, this will have positive or negative effects on academic and working life, of course the ability of education to improve these aspects can begin to reduce the educational gap.

One value is to recognize the global trends in education from the futurible and future elements that start from the Latin American diagnosis of the educational state, post-pandemic and as addressed by Morales & Poveda (2022) it is recognized that the associative value of technological mediation strengthens the discourse on which progress is made in education and how it manages to account for the systematic and developmental role.

Having said this, we cannot ignore the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as they can complement, enrich and transform education, being used as didactic strategies for teaching. UNESCO shares knowledge on the various ways in which technology can facilitate universal access to education, reduce learning gaps, support teacher development, improve the quality and relevance of learning, reinforce integration and improve educational management and administration. All of the above contributes to direct actions to reinforce the capabilities of human beings to be critical in an active and proactive way in a society of accelerated change, where knowledge must evolve every day for the well-being of the individual. conclusions.

In short, critical thinking implies permanent stimulus in the classroom, so that students can be encouraged to construct an argument based on thought and take the leading role in transforming knowledge for their benefit and that of society in general.

The classroom can become a pedagogical laboratory that guarantees a series of established contents according to the level of training but, with the teaching skill, the articulation with research and the transversalization of knowledge, conditions can be created to generate a novel proposal as an agent of social and pedagogical change, providing spaces that in a natural and articulated and sequential way can enhance critical thinking through reading, a strategy that allows establishing a series of continuous actions to reach levels of thought that are often unexplored and unexploited.

The teacher's commitment to continuous training and interaction in the classroom must establish improvement actions that allow students to question knowledge, select the information that can contribute, build their discourse based on their experiences, needs and find arguments. Using reading as a means of consultation and permanent training, but above all as a pedagogical strategy, is part of their daily life in the interrelation with other cultures and ways of thinking. It is essential to contribute to the formation of discourse from reading skills, an element that will allow the possibility of arguing ideas, make proposals, defend them and even shape them in such a way that will lead the learner to be active from thinking with the conviction that they can improve their environment through the implementation of their ideas.

It should also be said that the above statements are opportunities for academic growth, where the role of the teacher and the school plays a leading role in providing the scenarios from the academic and technological environments, but above all of potentiation and accompaniment; In this regard it should be said that education based on critical training, becomes a juncture of educational innovation to identify forces of change such as reading skills, comprehensive reading and even other aspects such as technological advances, continuous assessment, reading as an element that permeates education and the recovery of the leading role of the student, becomes the desire of each individual to be competent in a space where being at the forefront involves innovating, transforming from the context and learning daily and what better way to achieve this through critical reading.

From these circumstances arises the fact that the formation of critical thinking through reading is the right way to find each of the elements that form the human being in constant construction and deconstruction, because this environment allows continuous growth from reflection, broadens the vision to a universal field, where discipline, experience and initiative provide the opportunity to build skills to solve problems and contribute from science.

Conclusions

Reading comprehension and critical thinking are essential skills that contribute to the development of individuals and society.

A critical hermeneutic analysis of more than 250 articles, books, and chapters was used to develop a model focused on the added value of education from a disruptive role.

The selected material was separated by reference categories, and an analytical model was established to identify patterns and common methodologies for low assimilation of critical thinking.

The research methodology used was qualitative and interpretative, based on an analysis of literature from various educational levels, with a focus on higher education.

The prioritization and level of deepening of the selected material were established using a color diagram, which facilitated the identification of relevant information.

This research can serve as a valuable resource for educators and policymakers looking to develop strategies to improve reading comprehension and critical thinking skills in students, ultimately contributing to a more informed and engaged society.

Bibliographic references

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Received: April 02, 2023; Accepted: June 07, 2023

*Autor para correspondencia E-mail: edgarcruz@ustadistancia.edu.co

Los autores declaran no tener conflictos de intereses.

Los autores participaron en el diseño y redacción del trabajo, y análisis de los documentos.

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