PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITIONS OF EFL LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY AT A FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Regarded as one of the influential 21st century skills, alongside creativity, communication and collaboration and having roots in critical philosophy, critical thinking has long been a fundamental component in Western educational context. Consequently, enhancing the critical thinking abilities of learners has gained prominence in educational research worldwide. The current study attempted to address this issue and aimed at investigating how EFL learners perceive the benefits of training in critical thinking strategies in the EFL classroom. In addition to this, another aspect of the study is to analyze whether training in critical thinking strategies results in a change in EFL learners’ perceived critical thinking dispositions. In order to conduct the study, 16 B1-level participants, who were enrolled in a foundation university English preparatory program, underwent a seven week study. Throughout the course of seven-week experimental study, the participants received strategy training supported by critical thinking activities for five hours each week. The instruction involved employing nineteen critical thinking strategies in order to address the research questions raised. Data were collected through both qualitative and quantitative instruments. Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTHD) was administered at the beginning and at the end of the study for the quantitative data collection. Qualitative data were collected through student interviews and the researcher’s diary on a weekly basis. Findings gathered from the quantitative data revealed that there has been a statistically significant improvement with respect to two critical thinking disposition levels of the participants, namely metacognition and open-mindedness. Findings of the qualitative data suggest that training in critical thinking strategies had markedly positive effects on the views of the participants in relation to benefits of the new instructional approach.