LA LECTURA CRÍTICA: HERRAMIENTA PARA LA PROMOCIÓN DEL PENSAMIENTO CRÍTICO EN LA FORMACIÓN INICIAL DOCENTE

Abstract

Reading is an interactive process between reader and writer. It implies to encourage consciousness about the act of reading, promote analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and judgment aimed at fostering reflection about one's own learning disposition for auto regulation and decision making to improve. In other words, a reader should assume a critical position about a text. This study reports the partial findings of a bigger study about critical reading and thinking. The purpose was to explore the critical reading abilities of a group of prospective teachers majoring in Mathematics at the University of Los Andes, Dr. Pedro Rincon Gutierrez, Tachira. Students were asked to read a selected chapter, and then write about its content. Framed on a qualitative approach, Content Analysis was used as a technique to analyze students’ compositions with the help of the software Atlas-ti 6.0. Previous categories framed on Facione´s (2007) criteria about a critical thinker were established. Results showed that most compositions were mainly descriptive, based on understanding of the author´s ideas and points of view, which indicates that the participants lacked the abilities of evaluation and auto regulation that characterize a critical thinker. Thus, it is essential that teacher programs consider the implementation of strategies that foster critical thinking in order to help prospective teachers acquire the necessary competences that critical thinkers need to promote educational changes.