This research is aimed at investigating (1) students' experiences of the critical reading process during capturing and analyzing the content of literary texts and (2) the role of literary texts as learning materials that encourage students’ critical reading process based on their experiences. This research applied narrative inquiry as the research method. The research was conducted at one of the universities in Surakarta. The researcher recruited two undergraduate English language education students who had taken the Prose course in the 2020/2021 academic year as participants. The data collection techniques used in this study were interviews as the main data source and student’s assignment results as the supporting data. The researcher conducted interviews to explore students' experiences in carrying out the critical reading process when reading short stories as learning material in the Prose course and to examine the role of these short stories in the involvement of students' critical reading skills. The result of the research showed that students had gone through a critical reading process when they encountered short stories, and the short story material had a significant role in helping students to engage critically in reading them. The findings revealed in this study were that based on students' experiences, they carried out the process of (1) questioning, (2) analyzing, (3) assessing, and (4) interpreting the literary short stories they read. These illustrated how they had a critical connection with the texts they read. Then the researcher also found some significant benefits from the short story, (1) it required students to search for the meaning inside the text, (2) it required students’ ability to comprehend the text, and (3) it encouraged students to engage critically. The elements contained in literary texts were indications that forced students to engage critically. In conclusion, English literary texts; short stories as students’ learning materials have a positive impact and strong encouragement for students to engage their critical reading skills in English Learning-Teaching. This research suggests the efficient use of literary texts in ELT activity in view of their benefits for students' critical and language skills improvement.
