Research and Elementary School Critical Reading Instruction.

thirty years' research has shown that elementary school children are capable of critical reading and critical thinking development. Yet, there has been very little progress in developing critical read ing in the elementary school. The importance can not be mini mized for as Robinson (1964) points out: Critical reading is basic to the appreciation of literature, to arriving at sound conclu sions about personal and social problems, to scientific investigations and ultimately to education in its broadest sense. Robinson (1964) defines critical reading as making a judg ment of the veracity, validity or worth of what is read, based on sound criteria or standards developed through previous experi ences. However, the reader may be affected by many influencing factors such as sex, intelligence, attitudes and values, emotional feeling, emotional stability, the nature of the reading material, persu as ability of the author, group dynamics, and other person ality and character developmental aspects. Today the mass media of communication in print have be come a way of life. Hovland (1954) states that the effect of reading influences one's politics, one's social life, a nation's domestic and foreign relations, and everyday living through ad vertisements. The instrumental effects of reading are the ways information is used for solving practical and personal problems. People identify as they read for self-esteem and prestige and they often read only what agrees with their preconceived opinions or to reinforce and gain support for opinions held. Eller and Dykstra (1959) pointed out the extent of work and research of the mass media to influence the young child while educators have not attempted to deal with this force of persuasion. King et al (1967) stated that, . . limited accomplishments in teaching critical reading might reasonably be attributed to several causes: inadequate treatment of this aspect of reading in college methods course, the tendency of many school systems to avoid topics of a controversial nature, the paucity of materials and practical teaching techniques available to teachers, the gen 453