Intertextuality: A Superhighway to Critical Thinking in The Reading and Writing Classroom

• Main Authors: Fariza Puteh Behak, Norhaili Massari
• Format: Conference Paper
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/xmlui/handle/123456789/1560; http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1560

One of the major concerns in the ESL classroom is the lack of critical responses/voice of the ESL learners. The \"missing voice\" brings a gap in the knowledge and language acquisition in the ESL classroom. Among the reasons that inhibit the students\' personal expressions are their lack of critical reflections/analyses and their inability to structure their ideas/opinions. This paper will show a technique that combines the use of print (a short story) and visual (a movie) text to generate Critical Thinking and how to use the texts as exemplification materials in the ESL classroom. This is based on the perception that fiction not only engages students and entices them to read, but also builds critical thinking and writing skills (Boyd, 2004). Nuraihan and Zamnah (2004) assert that the background, characters and their motives are among those that invite critical inquiry and interpretation. It is hoped that this paper is able to highlight the potentials of intertextuality to affect the students both at their intellectual and personal levels as to prompt the desired critical response and to later initiate critical analyses and reflections.