Implementing Critical Discourse Analysis As An Innovative Model To Improve Learners’ Reading Criticality

Abstract

Traditionally, reading was taught through the top down approach, the bottom up approach and the interactive approach. These traditional approaches were supposed to help learners decode the linguistic meaning, but they did not develop their criticality and their analytical skills. This article draws on the necessity to implement critical discourse analysis as an innovative model to concentrate on the macro level of reading and enhance learners’ reading criticality. Hence, the focus of this study is to explore the effectiveness of this new model which is based on textual and social analysis. Accordingly, thirty participants were exposed to an instructional package on critical discourse analysis then they took part in analysing a political text. The findings revealed that after linking the reading process to the social context, learners’ skills of text analyses have been developed, but they were unable to reveal the ideological agendas of the political speech. Based on these findings, we recommend the incorporation of the field of critical discourse analysis in the educational system to train learners gradually read between the lines and develop their analytical skills.