Proceedings of the 1 st Annual International Conference on Language and Literature, 18-19 April 2018, Fakultas Sastra, UISU, Medan, Indonesia. 330 PROPAGATING CRITICAL READING AND CREATIVE WRITING LITERACY USING READER’S DIGEST MAGAZINES 1* Wan Zumusni Wan Mustapha and 2 Sheela Paramasivam 1,2 Academy of Language Studies, UiTM Negeri Sembilan *Corresponding author: zumusni178@ns.uitm.edu.my Abstract Reading and writing have been seen as solitary, boring and individualized among ESL learners. Hence, teaching and learning critical reading and creative writing, can pose even a challenge to educators and learners of a second language, at all levels. The challenge is even greater in the digital era where students would rather spend time online on gadgets than flipping pages of magazines. As a receptive skill, reading a textbook outside the classroom would be next to impossible. This paper shares how second language educators can use an authentic material like Reader’s Digest magazines to propagate fun, engaging and outdoor critical reading and creative writing activities. It incorporates various elements such as team building, collaborative learning and problem-based learning while engaging students to learn vocabulary, sentence construction and paragraph writing in an outdoor setting. Keywords: authentic materials, critical thinking, creative writing, Reader’s Digest magazines, ESL reading program Introduction Teaching and learning critical reading can be challenging to educators and learners of a second language at all levels. The challenge is even greater in the digital era where students would rather spend time online and on gadgets than flipping magazines to read (Hopper, 2005). Although those skills are fundamental in developing other language skills namely listening and speaking, there is an emphasis on students being good in reading in order to be successful in their academic pursuit. The heavy dependence on textbooks has stifled students’ creativity and critical thinking, making reading and writing even more boring. Engaging students in reading a textbook outside the classroom or doing writing activities would be next to impossible as students prefer to do other activities than reading. However, despite being one of the most important skills, reading is still not welcomed by students. Pandian (2000) conducted a study on the reading habits among Malaysian students and posited that 80.1% of the respondents are “reluctant” readers. In another survey among UiTM diploma students, Wan Zumusni, Norhaiyati and Wan Aida (2005) found that only 50% of the students were willing to buy Reader’s Digest magazines and only 32.4% were reported reading newspapers. In a study on Saudi EFL tertiary students, Al-Nafisah and Al-Shorman (2017) found that accessibility is one of the factors that hinder reading among university students.