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Reading for Information or Reading for Reflection? Text-based Nature of Thinking Skills: Lower Vs. Higher Order Thinking Skills
Ezzeddine Saidi *
University of Gabes, Tunisia
Abstract:   (27 Views)
This study explores the cognitive levels targeted by reading-comprehension activities in two textbooks of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) authored by the Tunisian Ministry of Education. It adopts Freeman’s (2014) Taxonomy of Reading-Comprehension Questions to provide a quantitative analysis of the ‘categories’ vs. ‘types’ of questions used in reading activities in the two textbooks, and the ‘lower’ vs. ‘higher’ order thinking skills they require. The Analysis unveiled a recurrent pattern in the two textbooks favoring (1) question categories focusing on content and language as opposed to affect, and (2) question types focusing on explicit information and language input as opposed to questions requiring inferences, personal responses, and evaluations of the claims and views presented to learners. The diagnosed pattern is useful in developing the learners’ linguistic repertoire, but it has limited impact on developing their critical views towards the ideas presented to them and enhancing their awareness about the cultural content embedded in the reading materials.    

 
Keywords: reading comprehension, higher-order thinking, lower-order thinking, EFL textbooks, question taxonomy
     
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
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