<![CDATA[Purpose – This study investigates whether students' critical reading ability in the digital era is a genuine pedagogical emergency or a myth. Methods – A quantitative descriptive-correlational study was conducted with 53 Tadris Indonesian language students at UIN Abdul Muthalib Sangadji Ambon, selected by stratified random sampling. Critical reading ability was measured using a multimodal test based on online academic articles, infographics, and academic videos, and digital reading habits were measured using a questionnaire; both were delivered through Google Forms and analyzed using Pearson ’scorrelation and simple linear regression. Findings – Critical reading ability was low (mean 30.75%), with 84.9% of students in the two lowest categories and none reaching the highest category. Identifying assumptions was the weakest aspect, suggesting that most students remained unreflective thinkers in Paul and Elder’s terms. Digital reading habits were moderate but explained only a small share of the variance in critical reading ability (r = 0.282; R² = 0.080; p = 0.041), indicating a pedagogical emergency. Research implications – The findings are limited to a single Islamic higher education institution (PTKI) in Eastern Indonesia, and the correlational design precludes causal inference. Digital learning technologies, such as adaptive e-reading platforms, learning-analytics dashboards, and AI-based reading tutors, should target assumption identification, inference, and evaluation, which are key digital competencies for graduates. Originality – This study provides original empirical evidence on critical reading in a multimodal digital reading context in an under-researched Islamic higher education setting and translates the findings into design implications for digital learning technologies.]]>
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