Cover not available
Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 6:2 (2016) ► pp.243–277

Literary reading and critical thinking

Measuring students’ critical literary understanding in secondary education

| University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| Utrecht University, The Netherlands
| University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Previous research suggests that literary reading may involve critical thinking. This involvement may facilitate critical literary understanding (CLU), i.e. understanding the literary text in a reconstructive, de-automatized manner. However, little is known about the cognitive processes this involvement entails. This study aims: (1) to conceptualize CLU, by relating dual process theory to concepts from the domain of literary studies (foregrounding, defamiliarization); (2) to test CLU in an educational context. An instrument to measure CLU was designed. A prospective cohort study was conducted (N = 271, grades 10–12, pre-university education, ages 14–19) at a Dutch secondary school. CLU, critical thinking skills (CTS) and dispositions (CTD) were measured one month after the start of the academic year, CLU was measured again four months later. Results show that students improve in CLU. This improvement is mediated by CTD and moderated by CTS. These results suggest that critical thinking can be engaged in the literature classroom.

Keywords: Literature education, literary reading, critical thinking skills, critical thinking dispositions, dual process theory, literary understanding
Article outline
  • Theoretical background
    • Literary reading and reflection as reconstructive processes
    • Literary reading and reasoning as de-automatized processes
    • Literary reading and focusing on a decision: underlying thinking skills
  • Research questions and hypotheses
  • Method
    • Design
    • Setting
    • Participants
    • Instruments
      • Critical literary understanding (CLU)
      • Critical thinking skills (CTS)
      • Critical thinking dispositions (CTD)
    • Procedures
    • Reliability
  • Analysis
  • Results
    • Descriptive results
    • Growth in Critical literary understanding (CLU)
    • Mediating and moderating variables
      • Mediation
      • Moderation
    • Explained variance per grade
  • Discussion
    • Limitations
    • Deliveries and future studies
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 30 March 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.6.2.04koe
References
Andringa, E.
(1995) Strategieën bij het lezen van literatuur. [Strategies in Reading Literary Fiction]. Spiegel. 13(3), 7–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bean, T. W. & Moni, K.
(2003) Developing Students’ Critical Literacy: Exploring Identify Construction in Young Adult Fiction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46(8), 638–648. [URL]Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E.
(1982) The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1), 116–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Claassen, E.
(2012) Author Representation in Literary Reading. [Doctoral dissertation]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Coninck, H.
(1975) Nog Een Geluk Dat [Still Fortunate That]. In: De Coninck, H. (Aut), Zolang er Sneeuw Ligt [As Long as There is Snow]. Belgium, Brugge: Orion.Google Scholar
Dewey, J.
(1910) How We Think. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dixon, P., Bortolussi, M., Twilley, L. C., & Leung, A.
(1993) Literary Processing and Interpretation: Towards Empirical Foundations. Poetics, 221, 5–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Djikic, M., Oatley, K. & Moldoveanu, M.C.
(2013) Opening the Closed Mind: The Effect of Exposure to Literature on the Need for Closure. Creativity Research Journal, 25(2). 149–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Earthman, E.A.
(1992) Creating the Virtual Work: Readers’ Processes in Understanding Literary Texts. Research in the Teaching of English, 26(4), 351–384.Google Scholar
Elder, L.
(2015) Amendment Needed for Critical Thinking in Education: On the Importance of Federal Congressional Support for the Advancement of Critical Thinking Throughout United States Education – Elementary Through Secondary and Beyond. Retrieved from: [URL]]Google Scholar
Ennis, R. H.
(1993) Critical Thinking Assessment. Theory into Practice, 32 (3), 179–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) The Nature of Critical Thinking: An Outline of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Ennis, R. H., Millman, J., & Tomko, T. N.
(2005) Cornell Critical Thinking Tests Level X & Level Z Manual: Fifth Edition. North Bend, OR: The Critical Thinking Co.Google Scholar
Evans, J. St. B. T., Stanovich, K. E.
(2013) Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3), 223–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H. J.
(1954) The Psychology of Politics. New York, NJ: Praeger. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Facione, P.A.
(1990) Critical Thinking: A statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. Milbrae (CA): The California Academic Press. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Facione, P. A.
(2015) Critical Thinking: What it is and Why it Counts. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Faust, M.
(2000) Reconstructing Familiar Metaphors: John Dewey and Louise Rosenblatt on Literary Art as Experience. Research in the Teaching of English, 35(1), 9–34.Google Scholar
Fialho, O.
(2007) Foregrounding and Refamiliarization: Understanding Readers’ Response to Literary Texts. Language and Literature, 16(2), 105–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fialho, O., Miall, D., & Zyngier, S.
(2011) Interpretation and Experience: Two Pedagogical Interventions Observed. English in Education, 45(3), 236–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frederick, S.
(2005) Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(4), 25–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frost, R.
(1920) The Road Not Taken. In: R. Frost (Aut), Mountain Interval. New York, NJ: Henry Holt and Company.Google Scholar
Haft, S., Junger Witt, P., Thomas, T. (producers), & Weir, P. (director
) (1989) Dead Poets Society [Motion Picture]. USA: Touchstone Pictures.Google Scholar
(2004) Foregrounding and Its Effect on Readers’ Perception. Discourse Processes, 38 (2), 193–2018. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hakemulder, F. & Van Peer, W.
(2015) Empirical Stylistics. In Sotirova, V. The Bloomsbury Companion to Stylistics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halpern, D. F.
(1997) Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: A Brief Edition of Thought and Knowledge. Mahwah, NK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F.
(2013) Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. New York, NJ: Guilford Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heijltjes, A.
(2013) Cultivating Critical Thinking: The Effects of Instructions on Economics Students’ Reasoning. [Doctoral dissertation]. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Hoorn, J.F.
(1997) Metaphor and the Brain: Behavioral and Psychophysiological Research into Literary Metaphor Processing. [Doctoral dissertation]. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Hoorntje, R. & Doesborgh, D.
(2012, February 14). Het Nut van een Gebroken Hart [The Benefit of a Broken Heart]. NRC. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Iser, W.
(1978) The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, A. M.
(2015) Neurocognitive Poetics: Methods and Models for Investigating the Neuronal and Cognitive-Affective Bases of Literature Reception. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9(186). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Janssen, T.
(1998) Literatuuronderwijs bij Benadering: Een Empirisch Onderzoek naar de Vormgeving en Opbrengsten van het Literatuuronderwijs Nederlands in de Bovenbouw van het Havo en Vwo. [Approaches to Literature Education: An Empirical Research into the Design and Outputs of Dutch Literary Education in Upper Higher General and Pre-University Education]. [Doctoral dissertation]. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
(2000) “Iets van Herkenning en Opluchting”. Een Onderzoek naar Leereffecten van Literatuuronderwijs. [“Some Kind of Recognition and Relief”. A Study into the Learning Outcomes of Literature Education.] In S. Stawski, et al. (Eds.), Docentengids Voortgezet Onderwijs [Teacher Guide Higher Education]. Houten: Bohn, Stafleu, Van Loghum.Google Scholar
Janssen, T., Braaksma, M., Rijlaarsdam, G. & Van den Bergh, H.
(2012) Flexibility in Reading Literature: Differences Between Good and Poor Adolescent Readers. Scientific Study of Literature, 2(1), 83–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D.
(2011) Thinking Fast, and Slow. New York, NJ: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D. & Frederick, S.
(2002) Representativeness revisited: Attribute Substitution in Intuitive Judgment. In: Gilovich, T., Griffin, D. & Kahneman, D. (Eds). Heuristics of Intuitive Judgment: Extensions and Applications. New York, NJ: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kidd, D.C., & Castano, E.
(2013) Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. Science (New York, N.Y.), 3421, 377–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koek, M.
(2010) De Literaire Mindmap als Alternatief voor het Leesdossier. [The Literary Mindmap as an Alternative Literature Portfolio]. In: Vanhooren & Mottart (Red.), 24e Conferentie Het Schoolvak Nederlands [24th Conference on the School Subject Dutch] (pp. 60–64). Den Haag: Nederlandse Taalunie. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Koopman, E.M., & Hakemulder, F.
(2015) Effects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflection: A Theoretical-Empirical Framework. Journal of Literary Theory, 9(1), 79–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lai, E.R.
(2011) Critical Thinking: A Literature Report. [Pearson’s Research Report]. Retrieved from Pearson Assessments Website: [URL]Google Scholar
Lucebert
(1959/2002) Herfst. [Autumn]. In: Lucebert (Aut), Verzamelde Gedichten [Collected Poems] (pp 315). Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij.Google Scholar
Martin, G. R. R.
(1996) A Game of Thrones. New York, NJ: Bantam Spectra.Google Scholar
McCarthy, K. S.
(2015) Reading Beyond the Lines: A Critical Review of Cognitive Approaches to Literary Interpretation and Comprehension. Scientific Study of Literature, 5(1), 99–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miall, D. S. & Kuiken, D.
(1994) Foregrounding, Defamiliarization, and Affect Response to Literary Stories. Poetics, 22 (5), 389–407. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miall, D.S. & Kuiken, D.
(1995) Aspects of Literary Response: A New Questionnaire. Research in the Teaching of English, 291, 37–58.Google Scholar
(2002) A Feeling for Fiction: Becoming What We Behold. Poetics, 30 (4), 221–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mol, S.E., & Bus, A.G.
(2011) Een Vroeg Begin is het Halve Werk. De Rol van Vrijetijdslezen in de Taal- en Leesontwikkeling van Kinderen en Jongeren. [An Early Start has Benefits. The Role of Leisure Reading in the Language and Reading Development of Children and Adolescents.] In D. Schram (Ed.), Waarom Zou je (nu) Lezen? [Why Would you Read (Now)?] (pp. 91–111). Delft: Eburon.Google Scholar
Murakovsky, J.
(1932/1964) Standard Language and Poetic Language. In: P.L. Garvin (Ed.), A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure and Style, 17–30. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Orr, D.
(2015) The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong. New York, NJ: Penguin Random House LLC.Google Scholar
Purves, A.C., Beach, R.
(1972) Literature and the Reader: Research in Response to Literature, Reading Interests, and the Teaching of Literature. Urbana, ILL: National Council of Teachers of EnglishGoogle Scholar
Rosenblatt, L. M.
(1938/1995) Literature as Exploration. New York, NJ: The Modern Language Association of America.Google Scholar
Salinger, J. D.
(1954) Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut. In: Salinger, J. D. (Aut), Nine Stories. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Schraw, G. & Bruning, R.
(1996) Readers’ Implicit Models of Reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 31(3), 290–305. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, O. & Rijlaarsdam, G.
(2016) The Impact of Literature Education on Students’ Perceptions of Self and Others: Exploring Personal and Social Learning Experiences in Relation to Teacher Approach. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature (accepted for publication). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shklovsky, V.
(1917/1998) Art as technique. In: Rivkin, J. & Ryan, M. (Ed.). Literary Theory: An Anthology. Malden (MA): Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sopcak, P.
(2011) A Numerically Aided Phenomenological Study of Existential Reading. In: F. Hakemulder (Ed.), De Stralende Lezer: Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Naar de Invloed van het Lezen [The Radiant Reader: Scientific Research into Effects of Reading]. Stichting Lezen Reeks 171, pp. 123–152.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E.
(2011) On the Distinction Between Rationality and Intelligence: Implications for Understanding Individual Differences in Reasoning. In: K. Holyoak & R. Morrison (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (pp. 343–365). New York, NJ: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. & Toplak, M. E.
(2012) Defining Features Versus Incidental Correlates of Type 1 and Type 2 Processing. Mind & Society, 11(1), 3–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trauzettel-Klosinski, S. & Dietz, K.
(2012) Standardized Assessment of Reading Performance: the New International Reading Speed Texts IReST. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 53(9), 5452–5461. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van den Broek, P., Lorch, R. F. jr., Linderholm, T., & Gustafson, M.
(2001) The Effects of Readers’ Goals on Inference Generation and Memory for Texts. Memory & Cognition, 29(8), 1081–1087. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Gelder, T.
(2005) Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons from Cognitive Science. College Teaching, 53(1), 41–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Peer, W., Hakemulder, J. & Zyngier, S.
(2007) Lines on Feeling: Foregrounding, Aesthetics and Meaning. Language and Literature, 16 (2), 197–213. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verboord, M.
(2005) Long-term Effects of Literary Education on Book-reading Frequency: An Analysis of Dutch Student Cohorts 1975–1998. Poetics. 33(5–6), 320–342. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Vipond, D. & Hunt, R. A.
(1984) Point-Driven Understanding: Pragmatic and Cognitive Dimensions of Literary Reading. Poetics, 13(3), 261–277. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Webster, D. M., & Kruglanski, A. W.
(1994) Individual Differences in Need for Cognitive Closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1049–1062. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
West, R. F., Meserve, R. J., Stanovich, K. E.
(2012) Cognitive Sophistication does not Attenuate the Bias Blind Spot. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 506–519. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
West, R. F., Toplak, M. E & Stanovich, K. E.
(2008) Heuristics and Biases as Measures of Critical Thinking: Associations with Cognitive Ability and Thinking Dispositions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(4), 930–941. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Whitman, W.
(1900) When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer. In: Whitman, W. (Aut), Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay. Retrieved from: [URL]Google Scholar
Witte, T.
(2008) Het Oog van de Meester. Een Onderzoek naar de Literaire Ontwikkeling van Havo- en Vwo-leerlingen in de Tweede Fase van het Voortgezet Onderwijs. [The Eye of the Master. A Study of Literary Development of Upper Higher General Education and Pre-University Students.] [Doctoral Dissertation]. Delft: Eburon.Google Scholar
Wolkers, J.
(1969) Turks Fruit [Turkish Delight]. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.Google Scholar
Zwaan, R. A.
(1994) Effect of Genre Expectations on Text Comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(4), 920–933. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Deane, Paul
2020. Building and Justifying Interpretations of Texts: A Key Practice in the English Language Arts. ETS Research Report Series 2020:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Hollis, Helena
2021. An investigation into the relationship between fiction and nonfiction reading exposure, and factors of critical thinking. Scientific Study of Literature 11:1 ► pp. 108 ff. DOI logo
Luo, Meina, Susan Main, Graeme Lock, R. Malatesha Joshi & Chenyin Zhong
2020. Exploring Chinese EFL teachers' knowledge and beliefs relating to the teaching of English reading in public primary schools in China. Dyslexia 26:3 ► pp. 266 ff. DOI logo
Willems, Roel M.
2023. MA-EM: A neurocognitive model for understanding mixed and ambiguous emotions and morality. Cognitive Neuroscience 14:2 ► pp. 51 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.