Critique generation promotes the critical reading of multiple texts

Background: This study is focused on students’ abilities to critically evaluate or critique the content in texts. Beyond comprehension, critique is an essential, yet underexamined, learning process in an increasingly complex and persistently inequitable world. Aims: Students were randomly assigned to a comprehension condition (i.e., asking them to summarize each text after reading), a critique condition (i.e., asking them to critique each text after reading), or to a control group, to examine whether these task assignments improved critical reading performance. Sample: The sample consisted of 172 online participants. Methods: Participants completed individual difference measures; read three texts, in accordance with their experimental condition; and completed measures of critical reading, comprehension, and source recall. The texts used in this study were designed to provide limited and women-blaming arguments for declining birth rates, with these flaws intentionally introduced to foster critique. Results: Students assigned to the critique condition performed better on one of the critical reading questions, as compared to students in the comprehension condition, but not on the other question, and not as compared to students in the control group. The extent of students’ critique generation during reading significantly predicted performance on both critical reading questions as well as source recall performance. Conclusions: We link critique generation during processing with critical reading performance; however, we do not find that explicitly directing students to engage in critique is necessarily the most fruitful means of fostering critical reading. The range of critiques that students generated when reasoning about flawed texts are analyzed and directions for future intervention introduced.