EFL Learners' Hindrances In Developing Critical Thinking Skills Teachers' Reflections

2016 ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Mourad Touati
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Efl Learners

The Impact of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills on Reading Comprehension of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 1869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotfollah Karimi ◽  
Farshad Veisi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Teaching Reading ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

the purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of teaching critical thinking skills on reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A sample of 50 students from Arshia Language Institute in Ilam, Iran participated in this study. They were both male and female students who were selected among 80 students based on their performances on PET. The participants were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. First, the two groups were exposed to the pre-test of reading comprehension in order to evaluate their knowledge on reading before the treatment. Based on scores obtained from the Pre-test, no significance differences were observed between two groups. After that the treatment was started and the experimental group was exposed to teaching critical thinking skills. Meanwhile, traditional methods of teaching reading comprehension were used for teaching reading comprehension to the control group. Finally, post-test of reading comprehension was delivered to both groups at the end of treatment to check possible differences.  To analyze the collected data, ANCOVA was run using SPSS Software Version 16. The results showed that teaching critical thinking skills positively affect reading comprehension of intermediate EFL learners, but the interaction of gender and teaching critical thinking was not significant.

scholarly journals A Framework for Infusing Critical Thinking into Chinese College EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Chunxia Lu
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Written Argumentation ◽  
Critical Thinking Instruction

Written argumentation, as a language skill and a cognitive skill as well, is not easy for EFL learners. In China, related studies found that college EFL learners are weak in written argumentation due to the deficiency of critical thinking. In order to enhance Chinese college EFL learners’ argumentative writing ability, this paper reviewed the nature of argumentative writing, the relationship between critical thinking and argumentative writing and previous studies on effects of critical thinking instruction into argumentative writing, and then pointed out that it is reasonable to infuse critical thinking into argumentative writing process in Chinese EFL context. With teachers’ feedback and students’ reflection as the pedagogical tool, the author synthesized an instruction framework for infusing critical thinking skills into Chinese EFL learners’ argumentative writing process hopefully to provide reference for further research and instruction.

scholarly journals Boosting EFL Learners Critical Thinking through Guided Discovery: a Classroom- Oriented Research on First-Year Master Students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahida YAICHE
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Discovery Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Experimental Group

Critical thinking is widely recognized as a necessary skill for growth and intellectual development due to a variety of factors, including globalization, the revolution of information technology, modernity, and connectivity. EFL teachers can lay the groundwork for their students to attain critical thinking through various methods, models, and strategies. The present investigation suggests that the teacher could promote EFL learners’ critical thinking through guided discovery model of instruction. Henceforth, the current paper endeavors to enlighten the adequacy of applying guided discovery for developing learners’ critical thinking skills. It is an experimental research that investigates: how may guided discovery contribute to the development of EFL learners’ critical thinking? It attempts to examine the utility of discovery learning in teaching students how to process and think critically about the education they receive where information has become readily available and accessible. To this aim, 40 EFL Master students who took educational psychology courses were nominated from the university center of Naama, Algeria. The researcher selected Peter Honey Critical Thinking test and focus group discussions to attain data on students’ critical thinking skills. The test results demonstrated that the experimental group outperformed the control group. The students become more autonomous, reflect on their learning experiences, and identify the most useful strategies. Furthermore, the analysis of focus group interviews revealed that the experimental group participants hold positive attitudes toward discovery learning. They perceive it as a precious method that can enhance their awareness about the value of thinking critically.

scholarly journals Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing: Inspecting the Association among EFL Learners in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Pei ◽  
Chaoqun Zheng ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Fangzhou Liu
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Efl Writing Instruction ◽  
Chinese Undergraduates

Nurturing critical thinking (CT) has been acknowledged as a core objective of tertiary education, and drawn attention from academia of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China. The thrust of the present study was to determine the association between CT and EFL argumentative writing among Chinese undergraduates. To this end, 110 English majors across three grades at two universities were conveniently selected and given the critical thinking skills (CTS) test and EFL argumentative writing test. The results of this study indicated that undergraduate English majors in China did not possess strong CTS. Though their CTS was not found to be significantly correlated with EFL argumentative writing performance, textual analysis of typical essays showed that strong-CTS learners outperformed weak-CTS ones in relevance, clarity, logicality, profundity and flexibility of argumentative writing. The obtained results suggest a need to integrate CT into EFL writing instruction.

scholarly journals Boosting EFL Learners Critical Thinking through Guided Discovery: a Classroom- Oriented Research on First-Year Master Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-89
Author(s):  
Wahida YAICHE
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Discovery Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Experimental Group

Critical thinking is widely recognized as a necessary skill for growth and intellectual development due to a variety of factors, including globalization, the revolution of information technology, modernity, and connectivity. EFL teachers can lay the groundwork for their students to attain critical thinking through various methods, models, and strategies. The present investigation suggests that the teacher could promote EFL learners’ critical thinking through guided discovery model of instruction. Henceforth, the current paper endeavors to enlighten the adequacy of applying guided discovery for developing learners’ critical thinking skills. It is an experimental research that investigates: how may guided discovery contribute to the development of EFL learners’ critical thinking? It attempts to examine the utility of discovery learning in teaching students how to process and think critically about the education they receive where information has become readily available and accessible. To this aim, 40 EFL Master students who took educational psychology courses were nominated from the university center of Naama, Algeria. The researcher selected Peter Honey Critical Thinking test and focus group discussions to attain data on students’ critical thinking skills. The test results demonstrated that the experimental group outperformed the control group. The students become more autonomous, reflect on their learning experiences, and identify the most useful strategies. Furthermore, the analysis of focus group interviews revealed that the experimental group participants hold positive attitudes toward discovery learning. They perceive it as a precious method that can enhance their awareness about the value of thinking critically.

scholarly journals From Narativity to Criticality: Developing EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking Skills through Short Narratives/Stories Reading

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashkan Pashangzadeh ◽  
Moussa Ahmadian ◽  
Hooshang Yazdani
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Difference

<p class="Default">Regarding the ever presence of narratives/stories in almost all aspects of human beings’ lives and the significance of Critical Thinking (CT) as an important factor in directing students to avenues of success in both educational and non-educational contexts, this study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of reading short narratives in EFL learners’ CT skills development. To this end, 59 undergraduate EFL learners majoring in English translation participated in the study. Taking into consideration the participants’ homogeneity in language proficiency and CT skills, 54 were finally selected and put into two experimental and control groups, namely, Narrative and Non-narrative groups, and 27 participants in each group. Short narrative and non-narrative (expository) texts, as elicitation tasks, were used for Narrative and Non-narrative groups respectively. Using a learner oriented approach, communicative reading strategies were incorporated into the course design for both groups. Statistical results, under the influence of 12 treatment sessions, indicated the out-performance of Narrative group, in comparison with Non-narrative one, from the pretest to the post-test (California Critical Thinking Skills Test, CCTST). Possible explanations for the difference in participants’ CT skills and potential pedagogical implications of the findings for language learning and teaching have been discussed.</p>

A Pedagogical Approach to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Japanese EFL Learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Yuya Akatsuka
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Context ◽  
Central Council ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

This chapter suggests a pedagogical approach that promotes students' critical thinking (CT) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses. The Japanese Central Council for Education has stressed its importance, which was reflected in the revised 2021/2022 Japanese National Curriculum. However, although the curriculum describes approaches for fostering CT, concrete approaches are not sufficiently presented. The pedagogical approaches of the IB may contain some suggestions for developing CT in Japanese EFL contexts. First, this chapter introduces the transitions created by Japanese educational reform and their relationship with fostering CT. Second, CT approaches in the EFL context and the IB's theoretical background relating to CT are extracted and examined. Finally, a possible integrated CT approach is suggested based on the IB's framework and alignment with the revised curriculum. The analysis indicates that an integrated CT approach to EFL learning should be balanced between levels of CT attributes and Japanese EFL learners' English proficiency levels.

The Effect of Teaching Critical Thinking on Iranian EFL Learners' Essay Writing

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Miri ◽  
Danial Babajani Azizi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study made an attempt to determine the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on Iranian EFL learners' essay writing ability. To do this, a sample of 60 EFL learners was selected based on their performance on Preliminary English Test (PET). The participants were randomly assigned to two equal groups of control and experimental. An essay-writing test functioning as pre-test was administered on both groups in order to ensure their homogeneity in terms of writing ability. The groups received 10 sessions of writing instruction; however, experimental group received additional instruction and practice regarding the techniques of critical thinking. Finally, both groups took an essay writing posttest in order to compare their writing achievements. Both pretest and posttest were scored by two raters using TOEFL rating scales. The results of paired and independent sample t-tests showed that critical thinking techniques significantly enhanced EFL learners writing ability.

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