Reading strategies for specific purposes designed to develop the reading and critical thinking skills in the pre-intermediate english classes at the University of Azuay

Abstract

This is a study of reading strategies for specific purposes and its goal is has the to design a booklet to develop the Reading and Critical Thinking Skills in the Pre-Intermediate English classes at the University of Azuay, located in Cuenca , Azuay, during the 2014 school year. The main purpose of the research is to design a booklet containing a series of activities and classroom exercises related to the identification of word meaning in different contexts and the retention of vocabulary to help students develop strategies for reading comprehension and critical reading skills in the pre-intermediate English classes at the School of Psychology at the University of Azuay. The research applied The Descriptive Method to explain features that facilitate the gathering of data and knowledge of the English language learning process, so that we can have an overview of the current situation of English language teaching. The participants are twenty-seven pre –intermediate level students of the school of Psychology of University of Azuay. Three research tools were used to collect information: a questionnaire for finding were used to collect information: a questionnaire for finding out their comments about their experiences in learning English at the school of Psychology, a pre test to determine the students’ level at the moment the research started, and a post test after our booklet was used in order to find out whether the students had made some progress. The main conclusion is that, after using the new booklet in class students increased their level of reading comprehension, considering the fact that activities of the booklet were specially designed for students of the school of Psychology.