A Study on Critical Thinking Skills and Competencies in Children’s Literature: The Case of The Child Who Was Afraid of Books
Öz
This study examines Susanna Tamaro’s The Child Who Was Afraid of Books in terms of critical thinking skills and competencies within the context of children’s literature. Critical thinking is considered a developmental process that enables children to organize their thoughts, question assumptions, evaluate situations, and make reasoned decisions. Therefore, literary texts addressed to children play an important role in supporting this mode of thinking. The study was designed as qualitative research. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was employed, and the data obtained from the text were analysed through descriptive analysis. The findings indicate that the work frequently includes the critical thinking skills of analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and inference. These skills are reflected through the protagonist’s inner questioning, conflicts with authority, and individual decision-making processes. In addition, among the critical thinking competencies, formulating questions, analysing problems, and interacting with others were identified as prominent. Overall, the findings suggest that The Child Who Was Afraid of Books has the potential to contribute to the development of children’s critical thinking and may be regarded as a valuable example of children’s literature.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
- Aybek, B. ve Destegüloğlu, B. (2021). Kurgusal nitelikli çocuk kitaplarında bulunan karakterlerin eleştirel düşünme özellikleri üzerine bir inceleme. Uluslararası Türkçe Edebiyat Kültür Eğitim (TEKE) Dergisi, 10(4), 1551–1565. https://doi.org/10.7884/teke.5392
- Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press.
- Demirel, Ö. (1999). Kuramdan uygulamaya eğitimde program geliştirme. Pegem-A Yayıncılık.
- Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
- Ennis, R. H. (1987). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J. B. Baron & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice (pp. 9–26). W. H. Freeman.
- Erol, S. ve Kara, Ö. T. (2020). Çocuk yazınında eleştirel düşünme becerileri, yeterlikleri ve tutumları üzerine bir inceleme: Küçük Kara Balık örneği. Uluslararası Türkçe Edebiyat Kültür Eğitim (TEKE) Dergisi, 9(3), 1125–1135. https://doi.org/10.7884/teke.5126
- Facione, P. A. (1990). Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction: Research findings and recommendations (ERIC No. ED315423). American Philosophical Association. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED315423
- Facione, P. A., Facione, N. C., & Giancarlo, C. A. (2000). The disposition toward critical thinking: Its character, measurement, and relationship to critical thinking skill. Informal Logic, 20(1), 61–84. https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v20i1.2254
Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Çocuk Edebiyatı
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Emrah Türk
*
0000-0003-2538-5501
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
24 Eylül 2026
Gönderilme Tarihi
22 Şubat 2026
Kabul Tarihi
2 Eylül 2026
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2026 Cilt: 9 Sayı: 2026