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The exploitation of case studies in developing critical reading skills

Adopting the action research design, the article reports the ratings and feedback of 80 participants on these early initiatives. The findings suggest that case studies could foster critical awareness, critical reading skills as well as the authenticity of classroom texts and tasks. However, test washback, a lack of recency and coherence across the curriculum stood out as the major obstacles to improving the efficiency of this activity. | VNU Journal of Science: Education Research, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2015) 15-26 The Exploitation of Case Studies in Developing Critical Reading Skills Vũ Hải Hà* VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Phạm Văn Đồng Road, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 02 February 2015 Revised 26 February 2015; Accepted 22 June 2015 Abstract: Despite the significance of critical reading in the new information age in general and English language teaching in particular, the demonstration of critical reading skills among the English language teacher trainees at the University of Languages and International Studies leaves much to be desired. As among the first attempts to enhance these vital skills, this article hypothesizes that the use of case studies would be beneficial for the development of critical reading skills in the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education. Adopting the action research design, the article reports the ratings and feedback of 80 participants on these early initiatives. The findings suggest that case studies could foster critical awareness, critical reading skills as well as the authenticity of classroom texts and tasks. However, test washback, a lack of recency and coherence across the curriculum stood out as the major obstacles to improving the efficiency of this activity. Keywords: Critical reading, case studies, reading skills, authenticity. 1. Introduction* studies have suggested that only a low proportion of the students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies (Vietnam National University) (thereafter referred to as FELTE) could demonstrate critical reading at a basic level [see [2] for instance]. This conclusion is alarming because many of these students are being trained to become English language teachers in Vietnam, whose critical thinking is mandated to be part and parcel of their professional competency in the 21st century [3, 4]. Hence the failure to .