From planning to the classroom: Application of critical reading strategies in basic education

Abstract

Critical reading constitutes a fundamental skill for educating students capable of understanding, interpreting, analyzing, evaluating, and critically assessing the information they encounter in textual formats. Within basic education, this skill requires moving beyond practices that remain limited to decoding and merely reproducing information, and implementing planned teaching strategies that promote literal, inferential, and critical comprehension. This article aims to analyze the strategies most commonly used in the development of critical reading among students in basic education, considering planning, classroom implementation, teacher mediation, the use of digital support resources, and assessment procedures. A documentary review of scientific publications on the development of critical reading was conducted, focusing primarily on the period from 2021 to 2025, with particular attention to studies conducted in Latin American contexts. The analysis identified strategies associated with guided reading, question formulation, information analysis and synthesis, the use of narratives, problem-solving related to socially relevant issues, digital resources, and collaborative activities. The reviewed studies reflect the need to establish coherence among objectives, reading activities, and assessment. Based on these findings, it is concluded that critical reading requires intentional planning, contextualization, and participation in situations that enable students to analyze and evaluate texts within specific educational contexts.