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Literacy Online. Every child literate - a shared responsibility.

Evaluating ideas and information

Thoughtful readers respond to the texts they read in a personal, informed way. They generalise from the ideas and information in a text and make judgments about them in the light of their prior knowledge and experience (including their experiences of other texts), their cultural values, and their purpose for reading. They examine and evaluate the ideas and information in the text and may consequently go on to confirm, extend, or change their personal views. They may disagree with the message of a text or explain why they find an argument unconvincing (for example, if they feel that the writer has used unsound evidence in an attempt to influence or “position” their thinking).

As students develop information literacy, they learn to recognise relevant and valid information, interpret it, and evaluate it in terms of its usefulness and reliability (see page 38). Thoughtful readers also evaluate the writer’s style, including their choice of language and other text features.

What readers do

  • focus on selected ideas and information in the text and consider these in relation to their own world view and their purpose for reading
  • make thoughtful, evidence-based judgments about the selected ideas and information (“What do I think about this? Do I agree, or do I have a different view? What is my view based on?”)
  • consider how these judgments affect their response to the text and whether they need to seek further information or check how others have responded to the same text.

How teachers can support learners

  • This information fi ts with what I already know about … I think that the writer uses it in a very sensible and logical way to support her point of view, for example, …
  • Would you please say that again for everyone to hear? That puts the whole question of how the boy shows that he cares about his brother into a new light for me.
  • Does the writer convince you that the information he presents is valid? If so, how does he do this?
  • Would you want to read another book by this writer? Why? Why not?
  • This article put forward an argument for … that I hadn’t heard before. Reading it has led me to change my views in some ways; I used to think that …, but now I believe that …
  • If you were the writer, what part of the text would you feel most proud of having written? Why?



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