PROFICIENCY IN CRITICAL READING CAN BE ACCELERATED BY MAKING STUDENTS AWARE OF VARIOUS SEMANTIC DEVICES THAT HELP CLARIFY MEANINGS AND PURPOSES. EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE "TEEN-AGE CORRUPTION" FROM THE NINTH-GRADE SEMANTICS UNIT WRITTEN BY THE PROJECT ENGLISH DEMONSTRATION CENTER AT EUCLID, OHIO, ARE USED TO ILLUSTRATE HOW SEMANTICS RELATE TO CRITICAL READING. IF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH CONSIDER THE IMPROVEMENT OF STUDENT READING SKILLS AS ONE OF THEIR GOALS, SEMANTIC TECHNIQUES SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING NEED TO BE DEVELOPED-- (1) UNDERSTANDING THE AFFECTIVE AND INFORMATIVE CONNOTATION OF WORDS, (2) DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN FACTUAL REPORTS AND OPINIONS, (3) DETERMINING REFERENTS FOR ABSTRACT SYMBOLS, (4) RECOGNIZING LOGICAL FALLACIES AND GENERALIZATIONS, AND (5) DISCOVERING THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE. SEMANTIC ANALYSIS HELPS THE READER TO ARRIVE AT THE AUTHOR'S EXPRESSIONS OF FEELING AND MEANING, CLARIFIES THE READER'S THINKING, AND CONTRIBUTES TO GENERAL READING PROFICIENCY. THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN "ENGLISH JOURNAL," VOLUME 55, SEPTEMBER 1966. (NS)