Teaching through Appraisal: Developing Critical Reading in Iranian EFL Learners

Enhanced critical reading comprehension skill has recently been called for in a variety of contexts including educational (Huijie, 2010, ), academic (Liu, 2010, ), advertising (Pirozzi, 2003; Goatly, 2000), media (Millan, 1995), among others. Presently regarded as the fourth literacy in addition to the conventional “3R” literacies (i.e. reading, writing, and arithmetic) (Huijie, 2010, : 41), teaching critical reading is finding its way into the curriculum of English as a Second / Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) pedagogy. A number of attempts have been made to promote teaching critical reading through a variety of strategies, among them adaptations of CDA techniques (Koupaee Dar, Rahimi, & Shams, 2010), language awareness techniques (Akbari, 2008, ), and critical thinking techniques (Neilsen, 1989, ); however, none seems to be based theoretically on such modern approaches to language and linguistics as Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Despite the underlying assumption in SFL that language operates at three simultaneous meaning-making levels, little research has addressed the issue of developing critical reading proficiency by taking the advantage of a variety of theories which are given birth by SFL. The present study aims to fill this gap. Through instructing 60 BA junior students of English studying at Institute for Higher Education ACECR- Khouzestan Branch who were passing a 2-credit press reading course to know about Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005), their critical reading proficiency prior to and after the study was scrutinized. The independent samples t-test proved the positive effect of familiarity with Appraisal resources on students’ level of critical reading proficiency. The study carries implications for EFL teachers and teacher education centres.