On Reflection

Making space for critical reading

A question often posed is: Why bother reading a text when AI can summarise it for you and reduce your workload? In the era of ‘work smarter, not harder’ it’s a valid question. However, if we think – and let us be clear here, we do – that there is still value in reading the full piece of writing, that there is more to reading than just gleaning information, then we have to be able to clearly explain why that is and what the added value is for our students.

For the last couple of years, Mark has moved from solely teaching EAP to also teaching history, his first degree. This has meant that instead of just developing reading skills, he is now also focused on assessing his students’ knowledge. In practice this means setting students a reading list each week and discussing them in seminars, not checking comprehension but actually discussing the learners’ take on the text. While obviously these seminars include a lot of activities familiar to English teachers, this subtle switch in focus has caused us to question how reading is handled in both ELT and more specifically EAP – which is no bad thing, really.

Where does AI fit in?

Well, like every industry, it fits in everywhere and nowhere. Last week, while marking a student’s work, it was clear they had significantly used generative AI (GenAI). Let’s leave aside the academic misconduct aspect of this for a moment and think about the real issue. There was no real evidence that the student had read what she had put into the document. There was nothing of the student in the piece.

While discussing this, we began to ask the question: what is really being lost? We decided on this list, but it is by no means exhaustive.

• Basic knowledge of the topic gained from reading the various texts
• Ability to form opinion from the synthesis of sources
• Ability to respond to the opinions of others and build on them
• Ability to hone research skills and improve reading skills by practising them

For us, reading isn’t just about having completed a task, it’s about thinking for ourselves. Now, at this point, it’s important to mention that we are not anti-GenAI in any way. We see it as a tool that can be used to save time in various aspects of our lives. However, we still see reading and thinking critically as aspects of our lives that, perhaps more than ever, are worth taking the time for. One of Mark’s colleagues recently put it best when writing for BBC History UK magazine:

We must think carefully about how we use AI in the classroom too. Students learn that critical reading and precision writing are the essential tools for engaging with the complex human past. Reading is thinking. Writing is thinking. These core skills cannot be outsourced without losing something fundamental. They can be honed only with practice, and we must protect space for that in our teaching.

– C. Sparks (2025:14)

How can we develop the idea that reading is thinking?

• Images Ask students to create an image inspired by the text. They could use GenAI to do this or draw, or create a graph from the information / ideas in the text. Crucially, however, they then need to explain it, which elucidates the thinking.
• Dig deeper Pull apart specifics. Ask for more. When we read, we very rarely only read, we are often digging into our own background knowledge or sometimes beginning a journey down a rabbit hole in a search for context. We need to build this skill in our students. If we only ask them about the basics of what is on the page, we don’t give them space to develop. What is their next step after reading the text? What does each of them still need to know?
• Facts and opinions Comprehension checking can only take us so far. If we identify an opinion, it’s time to pick it apart. Whose opinion is it? Is it the writer’s or are they bringing in someone else’s opinions. This focus on specific function of writing helps students with both their reading and their writing.
• Synthesis tables Ask students to read multiple sources and think about how they can relate to each other. This is essential for research but has huge value for our ability to develop our own thoughts and not merely parrot one opinion. Our students should be able to say ‘I’ve done my own research’ and for it to be accurate. In a world of AI-generated videos and misleading news stories, it’s crucial our learners can go beyond a single source. And it’s as simple as saying: ‘Now you’ve read this text, find another source on the same topic. How do they differ?’

I think we can all agree that GenAI has a huge part to play in education, but let’s not outsource all of our thinking just yet. If reading is the route to thinking, let’s begin there. For more ideas on how to implement this in the classroom, check out our sample lesson in the Online Resources https://pavilionelt.com/wp-content/uploads/MET-35.1-On-Reflection-Byrne-Heffernan-OnlineResources.pdf

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