critical awareness

Meaning

1. 1noununcountable

   The ability to notice and think carefully about the assumptions, biases and context behind information or ideas.

   Grammar: No plural and no a; often followed by of or about.

   Patterns

   • critical awareness of something

   The course builds critical awareness of how advertising works.

   Students need critical awareness when reading online news.

   Critical awareness helped her spot the weakness in the argument.

Common combinations

develop critical awareness

The class helps students develop critical awareness.

critical awareness of bias

He showed critical awareness of bias in the report.

raise critical awareness

Teachers aim to raise critical awareness.

critical awareness skills

Critical awareness skills are useful in every job.

lack critical awareness

Many people lack critical awareness online.

Synonyms and how they differ

critical thinking

Critical thinking is the reasoning skill itself, while critical awareness stresses noticing context.

discernment

Discernment is judging well, often between good and bad quality.

media literacy

Media literacy is the specific skill of reading media critically.

Opposites

Word family

critical adjective

Judging carefully or finding fault.

aware adjective

Knowing about something.

awareness noun

Knowledge that something exists.

Commonly confused: critical awareness or critical care?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “critical awareness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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