Look and Listen... | Regardez et écoutez ...


Evaluate | Évaluer

Critical readers judge and evaluate texts for personal reflection and understanding.


 Download this Reading Strategy as a PDF.

Evaluating is a comprehension strategy that involves measuring the value of a text and making informed judgements about the text. The reader combines his/her background knowledge/experiences with information from the text and makes judgments based on standards or criteria.

A reader judges, justifies, and/or defends his/her understandings by applying criteria such as importance, accuracy, credibility, usefulness, appropriateness, and personal enjoyment to ideas and/or information obtained from the text and from his/her prior knowledge/ experiences or schema.

When a reader evaluates a text, he/she assesses and makes judgments about:

  • the suitability of the text for the intended purpose*
  • the quality of the writer’s craft*
  • the authenticity, accuracy or reliability of the content*
  • the validity of the perspectives presented*
  • the relative merit of a piece of work

* (The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, resources.curriculum.org/LNS/coaching/files/ppt/Comprehending_Module2.ppt)

When evaluating various texts consider the following:

  • This information is/is not accurate because …
    Cette information est/n'est pas exacte parce que ...

  • The information appears to be valid and well-researched because...
    Les informations semblent être valides et bien documentées parce que ...

  • This is effective/not effective because …
    C’est efficace/ce n’est pas efficace parce que ...

  • The author’s qualifications, credentials and connections to the subject are...
    Les qualifications, l'expérience professionnelle et les connaissances de l’auteur à ce sujet sont ...

  • I (don’t) think ... is fair because …
    Je (ne) pense (pas) que... est juste parce que ...
 
  • That sounds biased to me because …
    Cela me semble préjugé parce que ...

  • The author is taking a personal stand on ...
    L'auteur prend une position personnelle sur ...

  • The pros and cons of ... are...
    Les pours et les contres de ... sont ...

  • I agree/disagree that...because...
    Je suis d’accord/en désaccord avec ...parce que...

  • In my opinion...
    À mon avis ...

  • My position on this issue...
    Ma position à ce sujet...

  • I think that the value or importance of... is...
    Je pense que la valeur ou l'importance de ... est ...