“I Don't Teach Reading”: Critical Reading Instruction in Composition Courses

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that many entering freshmen are not prepared for the demands of college reading, yet most higher education institutions do not require stand alone reading courses. Although critical reading is an often-cited objective of some college composition courses, little research exists that describes how composition instructors teach critical reading strategies. This study examined ways that critical reading is taught in freshman composition courses at one university by generating data from teacher interviews and document analysis. The data suggests that reading pedagogy varies widely among composition instructors and that critical reading was generally not taught explicitly by participants in this study.

Keywords:

• academic literacy
• college reading
• composition
• critical reading