DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS THROUGH LITERATURE

Abstract

This article deals with the problems of literature that can serve as an effective tool for developing students’ critical thinking skills. Through literary analysis, students engage in activities that go beyond surface-level understanding, encouraging interpretation, reasoning, argumentation, and reflection. Literary texts — with their symbolic language, moral complexity, and layered meanings — provide an ideal context for cultivating these higher-order thinking skills. This study highlights practical strategies such as Socratic seminars, creative tasks, dramatizations, and interpretive discussions, and explores how each contributes to learners’ analytical growth. Furthermore, the paper discusses multiple methods for assessing critical thinking in a literature-based curriculum. It aims to offer both theoretical insights and applicable tools for educators seeking to foster critical thinking through literature instruction.