Abstract
The present article reviews a growing body of research on the processing of multiple texts, focusing on critical integration as higher-order literacy, and synthesizes that literature. Critical integration was defined as the processes and products of integrating information from multiple texts, based on critical thinking, in contrast to complimentary integration. Critical integration is particularly important with respect to discipline practice, discipline-based education, and involvement in civic society. The present author proposes that critical integration is composed of 3 key components : textual evaluation, understanding of intertextual relations, and reconciliation. Reasons why novice students have more difficulty than discipline (quasi-) experts in critical integration were discussed in terms of reader variables, namely, strategy use, task representation, and personal epistemology. Finally, intervention programs aimed at improving students’ competence in critical integration were evaluated, and directions for future research were discussed.
