Objective: To examine the relationship between reading comprehension and critical thinking.

Design: Theoretical study, reviewing literature on the relationship between reading comprehension and critical thinking.

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Outcome Measure(s): N/A

Results: Reading comprehension can be defined as the meaning that the reader constructs from a text from a combination of his or her critical thinking, prior knowledge, and ability to make inferences. Schema theory, which describes how knowledge is represented and organized, may help explain the theoretical link between reading comprehension and critical thinking. Critical thinking can be broadly defined as practical, reflective thinking that helps one decide what to believe or do. One’s schemas help facilitate the use of prior knowledge to improve comprehension of new information.  The psychologist Piaget provided one of the most useful and well-known descriptions of the cognitive processes that explain how children develop schemas, including the addition of new information into existing concepts, the creation of new concepts, and the balancing of new and old information.

Conclusion: Both research and theory suggest that reading comprehension is related to critical thinking through an individual’s prior knowledge and his or her use of schemas, or the representation and organization of knowledge, to understand new information and decide what to do or believe.  © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn