enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners

Engaging Students in Critical Thinking in and through a Foreign Language: It Can Be Done!

By Gwendolyn Barnes-Karol and Maggie A. Broner

Most classrooms where we teach about language and culture are far removed from the cultural contexts in which the languages are used. So how can we bring these two worlds a little closer together?

Students may see foreign language classrooms primarily as places to be filled with verbs, vocabulary, and conversations about their daily lives in another language (the L2, in contrast to their first language, or L1). 1 Instructors, especially at the beginning and intermediate levels of instruction, may feel obliged to cover all the material in a textbook, in the belief that students must master the grammar of a language before they are capable of reading unedited texts that provide windows into the culture(s) of the language of instruction and delving into content as compelling as that encountered in other college courses. Yet students’ still-developing language skills often mask their curiosity as well as academic abilities that are waiting to be tapped through the foreign language. By building on the cognitive skills students have in their L1 and their knowledge from other disciplines, instructors can transform language classrooms into spaces of higher-order thinking and learning, even at the introductory level of instruction. In short, language classrooms can and should be reframed as spaces not only where students learn a new language (L2) and culture (C2) but also where they “do college”—in other words, where they employ the same critical thinking and analytic skills that they use in courses in other fields.

Let’s not forget that our students are “multicompetent language users,” or, more specifically, “multicompetent L2 users” who have intellectual capacities beyond their functional proficiency (Cook 185; Scott 19). 2 Remember to engage their brain power as you develop academic tasks in the L2 that are geared to help them combine both language and analytic skills from the beginning of language instruction through upper-division courses (Byrnes).

How Might This Work in the Classroom?

Use texts (visual, aural, written, etc.) and design tasks on the basis of the texts that help students practice higher-order thinking. Just assigning a text is not a task.

Texts and Tasks

Select an overarching theme for a course or unit (e.g., globalization, environmental issues, gender roles), something that sparks inquiry and engages learners in exploring areas of interest that relate to their other fields of study.
Introduce authentic texts that support this theme. For a unit on globalization, for example, choose a key product grown or produced in the country where the L2 is used—coffee, bananas, copper, automobiles, microchips, and so on. Look for a variety of texts (including articles, graphs, maps, and video clips) that trace the path of the product from its source to markets around the globe as well as tell the story of those who produce and buy it.
Choose texts for their topical relevance and the L2-C2 cultural perspectives they convey—not primarily for their linguistic elements (verb tenses in particular).
Avoid reducing texts to a prompt (or excuse) for students to practice verbs and vocabulary or to simply express their own opinions on a given topic.
Texts are full of cultural concepts, values, and perspectives. Exploit them to their full potential, while keeping in mind students’ “learner language” (Tarone and Swierzbin).
Decide what functions (e.g., description, narration, summarizing, argumentation) students will need to be able to understand or perform to get into, through, and out of a text.
Help students respond to texts by giving them sentence frames so that they can go from simple sentences to paragraph-length discourse (even if their proficiency is at the sentence level) as they analyze these texts. For example: “In [article X], the author states . . . because. . . .”
Insist that students use textual evidence to back up assertions they make about a text’s topic (and teach them the language needed to do so—it’s just another set of vocabulary). For example: “according to the author, . . .” or “based on the graph on the second page. . . .”
Encourage students to discover the excitement of uncovering what lies beneath the surface of a text (even if they don’t yet know how exciting it will be).
Invite students to bring their own academic interests and expertise into the classroom. Most of our students are double majors; they have disciplinary expertise. Cultivate an atmosphere of sharing insights from other fields and encourage students to take what they learn in language classes back to their other courses.

Cultural Narratives

Remember the potential afforded by linking individual or sequences of texts to the larger stories that cultures live by and share among members of their respective communities.
Look for opportunities to activate and examine students’ own C1 cultural narratives (e.g., the American Dream) as well as the counternarratives that contest them (Who has been left out of the American Dream?).
Analysis of C1 cultural narratives can set the stage for encountering cultural narratives (and counternarratives) in the C2.

The old adage “Test what you teach” has never been more important.

Develop means of evaluation that tap into the richness of this type of learning experience instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts (verbs and vocabulary). Be creative: evaluations can be written, oral, visual, or multimodal.
Make students responsible for analyzing and evaluating the content of texts. Once again, avoid asking only for students’ opinions on topics featured in texts.
Expect students to produce the academic language (including use of sentence frames, etc.) that they use in class to analyze texts and share your expectations with students.
Remember to emphasize in assessment that culture is not a laundry list of facts but is dynamic, fluid, complex, and intersectional.

How Can You Start?

Images can be effective “springboards” (Barnes-Karol and Broner).

Images are accessible to students developing learner language and invite further exploration.
Look for multiple images; avoid creating or reinforcing stereotypes by using just one.
Images can in themselves be complex texts that merit careful analysis and critical thinking.
Link images to other types of texts (e.g., statistical data, maps, periodical press articles, interview, biographies).

Why Do All This?

Reframing our language classes as places where students “do college” may be one way to address the perennial gap between language and content courses (MLA Ad Hoc Committee). Through nuanced, scaffolded language work, we can help students analyze, examine, and contest their own cultural assumptions and narratives and encounter texts, perspectives, and narratives from other places and voices. Rigorous academic work simply cannot be the purview of upper-division courses only. Because most students don’t complete more than a year or two of language study, it behooves us to do the real work of engaging students in critical thinking from the very beginning.

This how-to piece draws from the workshop Reimaging FL Curricula a Decade after the MLA 2007 Report: Culture, Innovation, and Critical Thinking, presented at ADFL Summer Seminar North in East Lansing, Michigan, 30–31 May 2018.

1. Foreign language is the conventional term for curricula and instruction in a language different from one’s first language. However, it is increasingly inaccurate (e.g., Is Spanish really a foreign language in the United States in the twenty-first century?) or reductionist. Scott reminds us to consider the diversity of learners we teach (8). Given the changing demographics in colleges and universities in the United States, the foreign language (L2) taught in any given classroom may simultaneously be the first language (L1) of some students (including heritage users), the literal second language of other students, and the third, fourth, or successive language of yet others (oftentimes international students, whether degree-seeking or on short-term exchanges). In the context of postsecondary education in the United States, Scott uses foreign language to refer to the “classroom experience in which students are learning a particular target language” (8). Here we use foreign language for readability and L1, L2, and their corollaries pertaining to culture (C1 and C2, respectively) for brevity.

2. For a comprehensive examination of multicompetence, see Cook and Wei.

Works Cited

Barnes-Karol, Gwendolyn, and Maggie A. Broner. “Using Images as Springboards to Teach Cultural Perspectives in Light of the Ideals of the MLA Report.” Foreign Language Annals , vol. 43, no. 3, 2010, pp. 422–45.

Byrnes, Heidi. “The Role of Task and Task-Based Assessment in a Content-Oriented Collegiate Foreign Language Curriculum.” Language Testing , vol. 19, no. 4, 2002, pp. 419–37.

Cook, Vivian. “Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching.” TESOL Quarterly , vol. 33, no. 2, Summer 1999, pp. 185–209. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/3587717.

Cook, Vivian, and Li Wei. The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Multi-competence . Cambridge UP, 2016.

MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. “Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World.” Modern Language Association , 2007, www.mla.org/New-Structures.

Scott, Virginia M. Double Talk: Deconstructing Monolingualism in Classroom Second Learning . Prentice Hall, 2010.

Tarone, Elaine, and Bonnie Swierzbin. Exploring Learner Language . Oxford UP, 2009.

Gwendolyn Barnes-Karol is professor of Spanish at St. Olaf College, where she teaches language, culture, and Spanish literature courses. Her publications on content-based instruction, critical thinking, and the role of literature in the undergraduate foreign language curriculum have appeared in the ADFL Bulletin , Foreign Language Annals , and Hispania .

Maggie A. Broner is chair of the Department of Romance Languages at St. Olaf College, where she teaches Hispanic linguistics and second language acquisition. Her current research interests include content-based pedagogy, teaching environmental literacy through design thinking, and critical thinking in foreign language classes. She has published in Foreign Language Annals and The Modern Language Journal.

One comment on “Engaging Students in Critical Thinking in and through a Foreign Language: It Can Be Done!”

Steven Hess says:

In the PMLA Forum (Jan. 2015) I published “The Decline of Spanish Pedagogy,” criticizing PMLA for its margination of articles on the classics of Spanish literature, in favor of political, social, and trendy theoretical approaches to often obscure texts. Having taught Spanish language courses for more than 40 years, I do agree that the texts in elementary and intermediate level language courses cannot serve only as vehicles to illustrate ‘ the “:grammar’ and ‘”vocabulary” which usually dominate each chapter of the traditional textbook. However, the very relevant suggestions overlook the main problem in teaching FLs at the college level in the USA in the 21st century: the lack of enthusiasm, often even minimal interest, on the part of most students, some “heritage learners” excepted. Perhaps overly nostalgic , I would like to read once again in PMLA articles written in French, German, Italian, and Spanish- the most commonly studied languages, accompanied by abstracts in English. Wouldn’t advanced students like to see that the FL still “matters” to the professors who are teaching them? If “everything is in English,” why bother to become proficient in Spanish?

Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners through ongoing assessment

2011, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences

Critical thinking refers to the individuals’ ability to think and make correct decisions independently. Nowadays enhancing critical thinking in learners is considered one of the foreign language teachers’ tasks due to its high position in foreign language classrooms. There are various factors affecting language learners’ critical thinking skills. Among these factors is the assessment methods used. Therefore, through managing the ways of assessing language learners’ ability, language teachers can help them develop critical thinking skills. In this presentation, some suggestions for language teachers to make sound choice of assessment methods and activities will be presented.

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Enhancing EFL students’ critical thinking skills using a technology-mediated self-study approach: EFL graduates and labor market in perspective

Sami algouzi.

Department of English, College of languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia

Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi

Associated data.

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

This research project bridges the gap between Saudi Vision 2030 and labor market needs by strengthening English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ critical thinking skills. The increasing unemployment rates may not be due to insufficient vacancies in the labor market, but graduates’ lack of the general abilities deemed vital to meet the labor market needs. With employability in mind, this study reiterates that graduates should ideally be advanced specialists, critical researchers, creative initiators, and active communicators to be more competitive and contribute to the prosperity of their nation. Therefore, this research employs a quasi-experimental design (time series design) to investigate how effectively students’ critical thinking skills are enriched using a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram. Studies in this respect, regarding the Saudi EFL context, are limited. Therefore, this research employed a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram on learning critical thinking skills for EFL students majoring in English or Translation. The data collection included a pre-and post-test on critical thinking skills and a semi-structured interview. The findings showed that students improved their critical thinking skills due to the training program compared to their performance before the treatment at a low level. Besides, the participants evaluated learning critical thinking skills from thinking ways, feelings, benefits, motivation, challenges and problems, and suggestions. In light of the findings, recommendations were presented.

Introduction

Critical thinking is a highly demanded skill nowadays. It is one of the most important talents to develop for future success. Being critical of everything is what critical thinking entails. It comes down to objectivity and keeping an open mind. To think critically is to assess topics based on authentic information rather than personal beliefs and biases. Critical thinking assists people in developing deep knowledge that allows them to make better decisions and handle issues more efficiently. When addressing issues and making decisions that affect ourselves, our families, our country, and our planet, we all require critical thinking abilities and habits of mind. Learning necessitates critical thinking skills since it necessitates the interpretation and integration of new information, as well as its practical and suitable application when confronted with fresh scenarios, issue conditions, and inventive chances [ 1 ]. In other words, critical thinking is coming to your well thought conclusions rather than accepting facts at face value [ 2 ].

Education should adapt to the needs of the labor market. In this regard, Saudi Vision 2030, being a unique transformative economic and social reform blueprint, identifies the ways to enrich the services offered by the sectors like health, infrastructure, recreation, tourism, and education. Several fundamental concepts are presented, such as the attributes of university graduates who possess critical thinking skills to meet the labor market needs and make education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a leading example. Numerous reports in various publications imply that Saudi university graduates struggle to find employment opportunities [ 3 – 5 ]. The reports suggest that the increasing unemployment rates may not be due to insufficient vacancies in the labor market, but graduates’ lack of the general abilities deemed vital to meet the labor market needs, especially in light of the national Saudization program.

With employability in mind, graduates should ideally be advanced specialists, critical researchers, creative initiators, and active communicators to be more competitive and contribute to the prosperity of their nation. Therefore, recent years have witnessed numerous innovative instructional models for developing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ learning skills, including critical thinking skills. Researchers have conducted various experiments to explore, examine, and assess the effectiveness of many methods, approaches, and strategies and suggested many pedagogical models to strengthen EFL students’ learning skills. There are reasons for implementing critical thinking in language education. Atkinson [ 6 ] argues that critical thinking is a social practice that everybody can learn and practice in any environment unconsciously. Also, Afshar and Movassagh [ 7 ] claim that by learning critical thinking skills, students do not take things for granted and respect for intelligent criticism and direct statement. In addition, a plenty of studies cited a bilateral connection between critical thinking and foreign language learning [ 8 – 15 ].

In addition, the utilization of digital practices has the potential to be very interesting and helpful because they integrate very efficient activities and are of interest to students. Nevertheless, the synthesis of literature highlights a lack of research investigating the impact of a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram to boost EFL students’ capabilities to think critically. The significance of the current study lies in blending utilizing a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram to strengthen EFL students’ critical thinking skills. Therefore, this study, while supporting earlier studies that investigated critical thinking skills in various contexts, intends to investigate how well a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram works at improving EFL students’ critical thinking skills. The study is aimed at

investigating how a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram would improve EFL students’ critical thinking skills.
examining students’ learning experience and attitude toward critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram.

Theoretical framework

Critical thinking.

Facione [ 16 ] defined critical thinking as “the process of purposeful, self-regulatory judgment. This process gives reasoned consideration to evidence, context, conceptualizations, methods, and criteria.” This definition entails the mental talents and habits related with critical thinking strength. Critical thinking is the process of making deliberate, reflective decisions about what to believe or do. Critical thinking is an all-encompassing human phenomena; people examine information, understand events and circumstances, and evaluate assertions and the explanations presented to support them several times every day. Also, they draw conclusions and make thoughtful decisions about what to believe and what to do based on such analyses, interpretations, and assessments. The focus of critical thinking is on these thoughtful judgements. The ideal critical thinker is inquisitive by nature, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in the face of “personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results” that are as precise as the subject and circumstances of inquiry [ 16 , p.3]. As a result, developing effective critical thinkers entails striving towards this goal. It combines the development of critical thinking abilities with the cultivation of attitudes that consistently provide helpful insights and serve as the foundation of a rational and democratic society.

Critical thinking approach [ 16 ]

Facione’s [ 16 ] approach proposes six skills, each of which is subdivided into subskills. It involves interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, explanation, and self-regulation [ 16 , p.12]. Interpretation is “to comprehend and express the meaning or significance of a wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgments, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures or criteria.” [ 16 , p. 13]. Analysis refers to “to identify the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions or other forms of representation intended to express beliefs, judgments, experiences, reasons, information, or opinions.” [ 16 , p. 14]. Evaluation means assessing “the credibility of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a person’s perception, experience, situation, judgment, belief, or opinion; and assessing the logical strength of the actual or intend inferential relationships among statements, descriptions, questions or other forms of representation.” ([ 16 , p. 15]. Inference is “to identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions; to form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider relevant information and to educe the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, judgments, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation.” [ 16 , p. 16]. Explanation refers to “state the results of one’s reasoning; to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological and contextual considerations upon which one’s results were based; and to present one’s reasoning in the form of cogent arguments.” [ 16 , p. 18]. Self-regulation is “Self-consciously to monitor one’s cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis and evaluation to one’s own inferential judgments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting either one’s reasoning or one’s results.” [ 16 , p. 19].

The current study relied upon the APA Delphi Consensus Definition of Critical Thinking to specify the areas of critical thinking skills: analysis, interpretation, evaluation, induction, and deduction. Analytical abilities allow people to recognize assumptions, reasons, and assertions, as well as investigate how they interact in the creation of arguments. Analysis is used to extract information from charts, graphs, diagrams, spoken language, and texts. People with high analytical abilities pay attention to patterns and details. They recognize the components of a situation and how those components interact. Strong interpretation abilities can help to assist high-quality analysis by elucidating the meaning of what someone is saying or what something implies. Inference skills show the essential or extremely likely outcomes of a given set of facts and situations. Conclusions, hypotheses, suggestions, or judgments based on flawed analysis, disinformation, poor data, or biased evaluations may turn out to be incorrect, even if they were obtained with strong inference abilities. Evaluative abilities allow us to appraise the reliability of information sources and the assertions they make. These abilities are used to assess the strength or weakness of arguments. We may appraise the quality of analyses, interpretations, explanations, inferences, alternatives, views, beliefs, ideas, proposals, and judgments using evaluation abilities. Strong explanation abilities can help to assist high-quality evaluation by presenting evidence, reasons, techniques, criteria, or assumptions underlying assertions and findings. Inductive reasoning is used to make decisions in ambiguous situations. When we make conclusions about what we think must be true based on analogies, case studies, past experience, statistical analyses, simulations, hypotheticals, and familiar events and patterns of behavior, we employ inductive reasoning abilities. Inductive reasoning exists as long as there is the potential, however distant, that a highly probable conclusion may be incorrect. Inductive reasoning, while not providing certainty, can give a firm foundation for trust in our findings. Deductive reasoning proceeds with exactitude from the presumed reality of a set of beliefs to a conclusion that, if those beliefs are true, cannot be wrong. Deductive validity is strictly logical and straightforward. Unless the meanings of words or the syntax of the language are changed, deductive validity provides no possibility for ambiguity [ 1 ].

Self-study approach to critical thinking

A critical thinking skill, like any other skill, is the ability to do a certain action, process, or operation. In general, having a skill entails doing the correct thing at the appropriate moment. So, being proficient in critical thinking entails understanding, maybe intuitively or without the capacity to describe it, a set of procedures as well as when to employ those methods. Being skillful also entails having some level of expertise in carrying out those processes and being ready to do so when necessary. Reflecting on and developing one’s critical thinking abilities entails determining when one is or is not performing well, or as well as one might, and thinking about strategies to improve one’s performance. Learning critical thinking entails developing the ability to make such self-reflective decisions [ 16 ]. Critical thinking abilities may be taught in a variety of methods, including making processes explicit, detailing how they should be applied and implemented, explaining and modeling their right usage, and justifying their use. Teaching critical thinking skills also entails introducing learners to scenarios when the desired processes are justified, rating their performance, and offering constructive feedback on both their competency and strategies to improve it. Instruction may begin with intentionally simple scenarios but should end with ones that are truly complicated. Learners must devote a significant amount of own work, attention, practice, desire, and, when they learn how, self-monitoring, particularly in the case of critical thinking. Teaching skills include encouraging students to reach increasing degrees of competency and, especially in the case of critical thinking, independence. It also entails advising students on how to reach their objectives [ 16 ].

Self-study, according to [ 17 ], is an approach focusing on teaching and learning experiences that inspire students to see their learning and practice in new ways. Scholars have recognized five features for self-study: the work is self-initiated and targeted; it is oriented at improvement; it is interactive; it employs numerous, mostly qualitative methodologies; and its validity is based on trustworthiness [ 18 ]. In self-study, learners can construct new knowledge, find new solutions to problems, recognize new challenges to address, and respond to various contexts [ 19 ]. According to [ 20 ], self-study learning enables students to develop a foundation for continued education, allowing them to constantly enhance their abilities and be flexible socially and professionally given the need to identify and justify the practical use of techniques for critical thinking which contributes to the development of independent work of students. In this regard, Morozova et al. [ 20 ] showed evidence of the connection between critical thinking ability and independent learning; students who learned to think critically boosted their independent learning. According to [ 21 ], interactive e-books in scientific education are interactive and may be utilized for self-study to improve students’ critical thinking abilities.

Teaching critical thinking utilizing technology

Incorporating technology into critical thinking skills training has seen extremely timid attempts. According to [ 22 ], the literature revealed that studies rarely attempted to directly explore the effect of new technology, such as websites about teaching and promoting students’ critical thinking, and there is a need for additional research on technology and its impact on fostering critical thinking skills. Past research examined the use of some technologies as mediating tools for teaching critical thinking skills directly and indirectly, such as simulation-based learning [ 23 , 24 ], Blackboard [ 25 ], online discussion [ 26 , 27 ], WebQuest [ 28 ], social networking [ 29 ], online social interaction [ 30 ], short film clips [ 31 ]. The results of those studies indicated the positive impacts of utilizing technologies that boost learners’ critical thinking skills. In the current study, Telegram, a smartphone application, was used to mediate students’ self-study of learning materials in form of videos, discussions, and exercises on cultivating critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking and learning a foreign language

The talk on integrating critical thinking in foreign language learning started in the 1990s [ 7 ]. There were reasons for the need for TESOL educators to implement critical thinking in language education, as argued by Atkinson [ 6 ], these reasons indicate critical thinking is a social practice that everybody can learn and practice in any environment unconsciously. Also, it is exclusive and reductive; it reduces all beneficial academic thinking skills. The same notion is supported by [ 32 ], who argues that second-language learners require exposure to critical thinking precisely because it is foreign to their cultural patterns of reasoning. Afshar and Movassagh [ 7 ] recommended that English teachers deliberately educate EFL learners’ critical thinking abilities, such as reasoning, questioning, deduction, and induction so that the students do not take things for granted and respect for intelligent criticism and direct statement. As a result, second-language instructors have more reasons than first-language teachers to design courses that introduce and expose students to diverse facets of critical thinking. A plenty of studies cited a bilateral connection between critical thinking and foreign language learning. Citing some studies, In Iranian undergraduates’ EFL writing, Nejad et al. [ 13 ] revealed a strong association between learners’ critical thinking skills and language learning techniques. Fahim et al. [ 33 ] discovered a favorable relationship between students’ critical thinking abilities and their performance on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) reading part. Critical thinking was also linked to ESL writing [ 34 ] and total language competency [ 35 ]. Khamkhong [ 11 ] found that the reading literacy assessment framework increased Thai EFL students’ English critical reading competency and may be utilized as a teaching model for developing the EFL learners’ critical reading and thinking abilities. The students were also pleased with the subject’s new instruction. Chason et al. [ 9 ] revealed that critical thinking instruction positively affects L2 learners’ writing quality. According to [ 8 ], raising awareness of explicit critical thinking improved Iranian postgraduate TEFL students’ reading comprehension and the correct creation of argumentative essays. According to [ 15 ], the infusion strategy increased students’ critical thinking and L2 writing scores significantly, and there was a strong positive association between students’ critical thinking and L2 writing scores. El Soufi and See [ 10 ] evaluated existing evidence on the influence of critical thinking teaching on English language learners’ critical thinking skills in higher education. The best proof of effectiveness was found to be explicit education in general critical thinking abilities. According to [ 12 ], collaborative writing encouraged Thai EFL students to employ critical thinking abilities while writing. Starichkova et al. [ 14 ] revealed that students’ growth of English as a second language can be utilized to successfully create students’ critical thinking abilities. However, there has been research to have cited no correlation between critical thinking and second language learning. For example, Floyd [ 36 ] investigated the impact of second-language thinking on critical thinking proficiency. According to the findings, critical thinking achievement is more challenging in English as a second language. According to [ 37 ], reading and writing techniques increase student argumentation capacity; nonetheless, they lack critical thinking abilities.

Education, in general, necessities that learners are critical thinkers who do not take every issue for granted; rather, they question and inquire about everything to make decisions and solve problems based on their analysis. Therefore, imparting critical thinking ability in education has received good attention from researchers. Penkauskienė et al. [ 38 ] examined critical thinking reflection in Lithuanian higher education programs. The programs were analyzed against nine critical thinking skills. The results indicated that the most embedded critical skills were analysis, evaluation, and decision-making in the course goals and learning outcomes. Explanation, interpretation, and inference skills were not loud enough. Indrašienė et al. [ 39 ] sought to reveal the attitude toward the importance of critical thinking in the modern labor market and toward the responsibility for developing it from the perspective of different stakeholder groups in Lithuania. It was found that in both higher education and the labor market, critical thinking is treated as a developed and dynamic competence to encompass both cognitive skills and dispositions. All stakeholder groups consider inference and argumentation the most important critical thinking skills in the modern labor market. Critical thinking dispositions, such as self-confidence and fairness are the most valued. Afshar and Movassagh [ 7 ] investigated the relationship between critical thinking, strategy use, and university achievement. The results indicated that both critical thinking and strategy use had significant positive correlations with university achievement. Also, critical thinking was an asset to the high-achieving group. Lailiyah and Wediyantoro [ 40 ] described students’ critical thinking attitudes and beliefs in asynchronous learning contexts among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at one of Malang’s institutions. The findings revealed that, while the questionnaire analysis revealed students’ good views toward critical thinking skills, the interview revealed students’ lack of confidence. In addition, there existed a multidimensional conception of critical thinking. Van Der Zanden et al. [ 41 ] explored how secondary school instructors consider and nurture critical thinking abilities to prepare their pupils for university. It was demonstrated that instructors have a clear vision of critical thinking abilities and that their growth in pupils is entirely dependent on the teacher. According to [ 42 ], the case study technique can improve students’ critical thinking skills and assist them in examining and solving problems during discussions in groups among business management undergraduates. Tiruneh et al. [ 43 ] investigated the impact of incorporating critical thinking skills education in physics on critical thinking skill development and course performance in studying physics. Participants scored higher on critical thinking skills and course success, according to the findings. Alharbi et al. [ 44 ] investigated the influence of an E-collaborative learning environment on critical thinking skill development. The results demonstrated that E-collaborative learning via Blackboard had a substantial and favorable influence on the development of kindergarten-major students’ critical thinking. Hsu [ 45 ] showed that collaborative learning promoted learners’ critical thinking development in Engineering Ethics to work harder and think deeper.

After securitizing previous studies, it is evident that cultivating critical thinking among learners is mediated by various approaches, such as collaboration (online/offline), critical thinking instruction, and case study techniques to improve learners’ attainment of critical thinking skills. Also, it was shown that critical thinking ability is a high-demanded skill valued by stakeholders, including educators and employers. In addition, students’ acquisition of critical thinking skills depends considerably on their teachers’ readiness and preparedness. Furthermore, students have a good attitude toward critical thinking skills but lack the confidence to employ them. However, research on cultivating critical thinking skills in Saudi higher education institutions, in general, and the EFL context, in particular, seems very limited. Therefore, the current study attempts to fill this gap by researching the potential of strengthening EFL students’ critical thinking skills through a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram in light of Saudi Vision 2030 and labor market needs. Therefore, this research attempts to investigate learners’ attainment level of critical thinking skills pre-and post-utilization of a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram to enrich EFL learners’ critical thinking skills to answer the following research questions:

What is the impact of a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram on EFL students’ critical thinking skills?
What are students’ learning experience of critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram?

Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework of the present study is informed by Critical thinking approach by Facione [ 16 ], self-study approach, and video-mediation technology. The critical thinking approach proposes six skills, each of which is subdivided into subskills. It involves interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, explanation, and self-regulation. Facione’s [ 16 ] critical thinking approach was taught using self-study approach, focusing on enabling students to develop a foundation for continued education, allowing them to constantly enhance their abilities and be flexible socially and professionally given the need to identify and justify the practical use of techniques for critical thinking which contributes to the development of independent work of students [ 17 ]. In addition, Telegram was used to mediate students’ self-study of critical thinking learning materials in form of videos, discussions, and exercises on cultivating critical thinking skills. Moreover, EFL students’ attainment of critical thinking skills as specified by Insight Assessment [ 1 ] was measured post the instructional program.

Methodology

Research design.

The study employed the quasi-experimental approach by the time series design with a pre-and post-treatment group. The quasi-experimental design with only one treatment group has various names, such as time-series design and pre-post treatment, and pre-post study design. This design involves repeated observations (both pre-test and post-test) over a set period. Before the treatment, a set of observations is made to establish a baseline. Following the treatment, further observations are made to ascertain the effects of the treatment [ 46 ]. The current study employed a pre-and post-test and a semi-structured interview to collect the data from undergraduates at the College of Languages and Translation at Najran University in the Kingdom of the Saudi Arabia in the third semester of the academic year 2023.

Population and sample of the study

Undergraduates majoring in the English language at the College of Languages and Translation at Najran University are the intended participants of the study. One section totaling (no = 30) students was chosen in the treatment group who learned critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram. The intended students are in the ninth, tenth, and twelfth levels. They self-studied the learning material in form of videos sent via Telegram. Both male and female students who participated in the study are in the 22–23 age group. Over eleven years, they have been exposed to English studies, including school and university. Therefore, their English level should be considered upper-intermediate. This level suggests that they initiate conversations, make discussions, raise inquiries, and express their opinions about what they read and watch the instructional material. An approval letter for conducting the research from the Ethical Approval Committee at the Deanship of Scientific Research, Najran University was obtained with the code [009773-021280-DS] on 29/03/2023. Besides, all the necessary approval letters were obtained from the ethical committee at Najran University, the context of the study. Also, the participants’ written consent forms were collected after being signed by the students who agreed to participate in the study voluntarily. The recruitment period for the study started on April 1, 2023 and ended on June 13, 2023.

Study instruments

The researchers used a critical thinking test (the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and a semi-structured interview to collect data from the participants’ learning of critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program via Telegram before and after the experiment. While the test was used to measure the participants’ level of improvement pre- and after post-the experiment acquiring critical thinking skills, the semi-structured interview will collect data on their learning experience and attitude toward critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program via Telegram.

After reviewing the literature review, the researchers decided to implement a modified version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) (2000) because of its suitability for university students. CCTST is an educational assessment that measures all the core reasoning skills needed for reflective decision-making. It provides valid and reliable data on individuals’ and groups’ critical thinking skills. It is designed for use with undergraduate and graduate students. It is available in many languages, and its overall skills score can be benchmarked using one of many percentile comparisons. It is most commonly used for admissions, advising and retention, studies of curriculum effectiveness, accreditation, and the documentation of student learning outcomes. The test had some modifications to fit the Saudi Arabian context of the current study and the importance of these skills by university graduates and their alignment with the Saudi labor market proposed in the Saudi Vision 2030. The test measures the critical thinking scores of the study sample. The test items consist of (34) items divided into five sub-skills of critical thinking skills. The analysis skill refers to accurately identifying the problem and decision-critical elements and has six items. The evaluation skill assesses the credibility of claims and the strength of arguments and includes six items. The inferencing skill draws warranted and logical conclusions from reasons and evidence and contains four items. The deduction skill is a reasoned judgment in precisely defined, logically rigorous contexts and includes 12 items. The induction skill refers to reasoned judgments in ambiguous, risky, and uncertain contexts and has six items [ 1 ]. Concerning the CCTST time, the average period for completing the test is 45 minutes. The test-takers who complete the test in less than 15 minutes should be discarded due to the unrepresentativeness of the actual performance of the test skills. Table 1 shows an adapted scoring version from CCTST Test Manual to be used in the current study [ 1 ].

Validity and reliability

The CCTST test is a worldwide standardized test. It is an educational assessment that measures all the core reasoning skills needed for reflective decision-making. It provides valid and reliable data on the critical thinking skills of individuals and groups. The instrument development team includes experts in critical thinking, assessment, psychometrics and measurement, statistics, and decision science. Continuing research on the CCTST focuses on the valid and reliable measurement of testing critical thinking skills at all levels of educational and occupational expertise. Evidence for the construct validity of the CCTST is provided by the demonstration of improvement in students’ CCTST test scores after they have taken a course in critical thinking or an educational program training on the critical thinking portion of clinical reasoning. Past studies cited from many countries all over the world that used the CCTST documented gains in critical thinking skills. The data from ongoing validation studies produce internal consistency estimates (Kuder Richardson-20) ranging from .68-.80. The Kuder-Richardson-20 is used for dichotomously scored instruments and scales for instruments with multidimensional scales. Seventy percent indicates a high level of internal consistency [ 1 ]. In the current study, the researchers applied the test to an exploratory sample of (30) students from the College of Languages and Translation in the English Language and Translation Departments. Couder-Richardson reliability coefficient values-20 were calculated on the skills and the total score of the test. The analysis results showed that the coefficient of reliability according to Codder-Richardson-20 was (.88). This value is considered high and indicates the test reliability.

Instructional program

Instructional design is the methodological process of transforming learning and instruction specifications into strategies for instructional resources, behaviors, information materials, and assessment. It is a procedure that produces, develops, and disseminates learning materials and experiences. These resources include but are not limited to online courses, instructional materials, videos, and other learning simulations. This study intends to adopt a video-mediated self-study program via Telegram where the students watch videos and interact with their peers and experienced teachers on learning materials related to boosting critical thinking skills. The learning materials were covered outside the classroom. Telegram is a free, partially open-source, cross-platform instant messaging application focusing on security. Telegram users can exchange messages with high encryption capabilities, including photos, videos, and documents, as all files are supported. It was founded in 2013 by Pavel Valeryevich Durov. The application is available in 58 languages.

The instructional program for learning critical thinking skills is based on the concepts of online learning via Telegram (delivery of learning materials), self-study, and interaction with peers and researchers. Online learning of critical thinking skills was resorted to because these skills are not graded, and online learning of them would encourage students to learn them as it saves time, effort, and cost, and access to the learning materials at any place and time. Students used the self-study method to learn critical thinking skills through watching interactive videos on critical thinking. The videos included all the materials students needed to learn how to think critically. Finally, interactive learning was included in the student’s interaction with their peers and teachers via the Telegram group and the videos which included some interactive learning materials that gauge students’ thinking. The instructional program included three main phases: pre, during, and post. Before starting the program, the intended participants were briefed about the study objectives, data collection tools, and their roles in the study, and collected their signed consent forms. Also, all inquiries coming from the participants were answered by the researchers. In the same session, the researchers administered the pre-test of the CCTST on campus. During the treatment, the researchers held an online orientation session via Blackboard, in which the participants were briefed about the definition, skills, importance, and qualities of critical thinking. Also, they were oriented on the steps of implementing the program via Telegram, the self-study learning materials, and the teacher’s role in students’ engagement. After that, the researchers created a group on Telegram and added all the participants. In that group, they received videos on critical thinking from various sources on the Internet, such as YouTube and teachers’ self-development. They had to watch the videos and inquire about points that need clarification in the Telegram group. The students and researchers answer their inquiries. The videos were classified according to the five critical thinking skills: analysis, evaluation, inference, induction, and deduction. An average of one to two videos were on each skill. Students watched the videos and interacted with their peers and researchers. Post watching and interacting with each video, the participants practiced exercises related to each critical thinking skill. The treatment lasted for five weeks: Every week, the participants learned and practiced one critical thinking skill. Post the training program, the participants sat for the post-test of the CCTST followed by a semi-structured interview with those who agreed to the interview on campus.

Data analysis

To answer research question 1, the means of the pre-and post-test of the CCTST were calculated to compare the impact of the training program of critical thinking skills on students’ level of attainment of these skills. Also, the paired-sample t-test was used to compare the pre-and post-test results for the same group (treatment group). Couder-Richardson equation 20 was applied to detect the test reliability. The t-test for paired samples was computed for any statistically significant differences before and after the treatment. Effect size using Cohen’s [ 47 ] equation was used to calculate the effectiveness of the video-mediated self-study program via Telegram on EFL students’ development of Critical thinking skills: (effect size = (t)/square root of the sample). A semi-structured interview, using protocols developed by the researchers, was employed to answer research question 2, about the participants’ learning experience of critical thinking skills using the video-mediated self-study program via Telegram. In answering the second research question, the participants were required to express whether they liked videos and Telegram as communication tools and make suggestions concerning how their critical thinking skills could be improved in terms of learning materials, teaching methods, video content, communication tools, and activities. The qualitative data from the semi-structured interview were content-analyzed based on repeated occurrences. They were grouped by the researchers under main themes.

Study results

The impact of a video-mediated self-study program on efl students’ critical thinking skills.

Table 2 shows the results of the t-test for paired samples on the skills and total score of the critical thinking skills test before and after the intervention. There were significant differences at (0.05) in the participants’ scores in the pre-and post-test of critical thinking skills. The significance came in favor of the participants’ post-performance (t(29) = -2.605-, p>.05). This result means that the intervention was slightly effective (effect size = 0.47). That is to say, the students improved their development of critical thinking skills due to the training program compared to their performance before the treatment at a low level. Concerning critical thinking skills, the results showed significant differences in the participant’s scores in the skills of analysis, inferencing, and deduction; they medially or slightly developed these skills compared to their performance before the intervention. However, they failed to improve their scores in the post-test in the skills of induction (t(29) = -1.439-, p < .05) and evaluation (t(29) = .701, p < .05).

Students’ learning experience of critical thinking skills using a video-mediated self-study program through telegram

The interviewees’ answers to the questions in the semi-structured interview were recorded and analyzed. The analysis results revealed a number of themes that the participants’ answers revolved around. The themes are the way of thinking, feelings, benefits, motivation, challenges and problems, and suggestions. Concerning the participants’ way of thinking, all the interviewees noted that their way of thinking has changed after the intervention in terms of looking at things from different perspectives, patience in making decisions, judging things, understanding things, and using given information to reason well as shown in the following excerpts:

S1: “Yes, my mind has another horizon”
S2: “Kind of, by analyzing and not rushing and deliberating in answering”
S4: “Yes, I can now differentiate between the things that support my thinking”
S6: “Yes, a little, in understanding the question and the way to think about the answer”
S9: “My thinking changed in terms of checking and deducing the answer with all logical inferences”
S19: “Yes, it differed, but not much. The difference was in the method of analysis, thinking and issuance of judgments, but the difference was partial and not entirely”

As for the participants’ feelings about learning critical thinking skills using Telegram-mediated learning materials, the absolute majority of the participants remarked that they felt positive because of the easy access to information, interaction, the importance of the topic, time and effort, learning new things, and change in the thinking ways. The following support these feelings:

S2: “Emotions are very positive and are evident in the interaction with critical thinking tests. Negative ones are not in my dictionary”
S5: “It was short and saved effort, time, and money”
S9: “Positive in terms of learning a new skill and negative in terms of intellectual effort”
S18: “Positive feelings in trying to think of more than one solution and choosing the most comprehensive answer”
S19: “The positive feelings were in acquiring new things and knowing some things, and the negative ones were my ignorance about some things that I did not know”
S21: “I had negative feelings coz I did not know how critical thinking is, and after I learned critical thinking, I became positive even in my thinking”

Upon asking the interviewees about the benefits they gained from the critical thinking program mediated by Telegram, they confirmed that their thinking improved in terms of thinking differently, learning to assess well before making the final decision, acquiring highly-demanded skills for the labor market, reaching conclusions, using mind instead of heart when thinking, and thinking deeply. The following are some examples of the participants’ answers:

S2: “Analysis, thinking, searching for the answer, and choosing the answer after analyzing all the answers, specifically which ones are closest to the truth”
S4: “Refine your thinking and change your perception of information that was wrong”
S9: “I benefited from not rushing to answer, I also benefited from thinking out of the ordinary, and I benefited from innovation in information”
S19: “I benefited from how to analyze and think, and in the end how to deduce the outputs”
S21: “It improves your ability to use your mind instead of your emotions, and you can identify your feelings and link them logically with your thoughts, and this helps you develop better levels of thinking”
S24: “Deep thinking behind the questions”

Based on the interview, the participant explained their motivation for learning critical thinking skills. Almost all of them mentioned that the program motivated them to learn critical thinking due to easy access to learning materials, widening horizons in thinking, learning to solving problems in everyday life, being wise to make the right decision, and simple thinking and understanding things. Following are some excerpts from the participants’ answers:

S1: “Yes, because it is easy and I can learn it at any time”
S2: “Yes, as seeing the clips via telegram and benefiting from them was a great motivation and a catalyst for expanding perceptions towards criticism and thinking seriously”
S5: “Yes, it was motivating and helping to behave properly in dangerous situations and you should think carefully”
S6: “Yes, it helped me in the way of understanding and simplification”
S9: “Yes, it was stimulating and of high quality in terms of interest in my answer”

Regarding challenges and problems of learning critical thinking skills, the participants referred to the shortage of time, the difficulty of the topic, understanding critical thinking, and changing one’s thinking habits. The following are some excerpts from the interviewees’ answers:

S2: “The lack of time for me due to my late arrival, but there is difficulty, as the questions did not cancel the pleasure despite the difficulty”
S10: “Changing ways of critical thinking and clarifying it”
S17: “Challenge of intelligence and relying on intuition”
S19: “I faced some problems, including how to count the data and extract the result from it, but I feel that I have improved a little”
S21: “Stereotypical or emotional thinking that favors the familiar over the unfamiliar, the familiar over the strange and the known over the unknown. This may put the individual in a circle of misperceptions that negatively affect his personal and professional life.”

Finally, the participants proposed some solutions for overcoming the challenges and problems they face in learning critical thinking skills, such as intensifying the program, using more interactive videos, increasing the learning materials on critical thinking, repeating the experiment, and using group-based games in improving critical thinking. The following are some excerpts from the interviewees’ answers:

S2: “Intensifying such experiments and assessing the level of students”
S3: “Asking clips containing interactive questions”
S5: “Continue in this way and I think it will contribute to the development.”
S19: “I suggest increasing in educational topics regarding critical thinking”
S21: “There are ways to develop critical thinking skills and have easy and simple activities, such as group games”.

The results of the quantitative data showed that the participants improved their learning of critical thinking skills based on the intervention; however, the effect size was low. That is to say, the students improved their critical thinking skills due to the training program compared to their performance before the treatment at a low level. The participants self-studied the learning materials sent to them via Telegram to improve their critical thinking skills. Therefore, the video-mediated self-study strategy was found beneficial in assisting students’ enhancement of learning critical thinking skills. Students self-studied critical thinking learning materials in form of videos, discussion, exercises, and feedback. This result indicates that learning critical thinking must be developed, practiced, and continuously integrated into the curriculum to engage students in active learning. Video is a rich and powerful media used in learning critical thinking skills. It can present information in an interesting way. Interactive video improves learning interactivity, thus potentially improving students’ effectiveness and student motivation consistently. Also, video allows students to learn by themselves by evaluating and reflecting on their critical thinking learning and motivates them to learn better by providing direct feedback and reinforcement in a fun and exciting atmosphere [ 48 , 49 ]. In this regard, Ambarwati and Suyatna [ 21 ] assert that the use of videos in education has a positive effect to increase students ’attention and curiosity and help provide in conceptual learning, so as to enhance students’ critical thinking skills. Also, Ambarwati and Suyatna [ 21 ] opined that interactive e-books in scientific education can be utilized for self-study to improve students’ critical thinking abilities.

The weak result of learning critical thinking skills from the quantitative data in the current research can be attributed to the difficulty of critical thinking skills as they require more time, effort, and practice from learners. Also, maybe the program implemented in the current study was not efficient since it lasted only for ten weeks. Likewise, the qualitative data showed that the participants referred to the shortage of time, the difficulty of the topic, the understanding of critical thinking, and changing one’s thinking habits. In addition, the program was delivered remotely via Telegram as a result the participants might not have taken it seriously and thus had not self-studied the learning materials thoroughly. Moreover, learning these skills was not part of any summative assessment; and was not graded, so the participants did not pay much attention to them; nevertheless, they expressed their motivation and enthusiasm in taking this experiment learning critical thinking as expressed in the interview. Furthermore, university curricula and tests are not designed in a way that encourages critical thinking; students did not have any background about the topic before as teachers rarely use critical thinking in teaching English subjects. Smith and Szymanski [ 50 ] argue standardized testing methods have made students to rely on rote learning and recall to improve test scores, which leaves little time to focus on teaching higher-level thinking skills. Finally, the participants learned critical thinking skills in English, and this added more burden on their thinking process. Floyd [ 36 ] claims that critical thinking achievement is more challenging in English as a second language. He argues students’ critical thinking had better scores when taking the critical thinking test in their mother tongue (Chinse) than English.

In addition, the result supports that of Morozova et al.’s [ 20 ] study, which showed evidence of the connection between critical thinking ability and independent learning; students who learned to think critically boosted their independent learning. Besides, the current result echoes that of Zuluaga et al. [ 37 ], who showed that reading and writing techniques increase students’ argumentation capacity; nonetheless, they lack critical thinking abilities. Moreover, Al-Fneikh [ 51 ] unveiled that the critical thinking level is low among Qassim University students. Similarly, Bataineh and Zghoul [ 52 ] identified that TEFL graduates performed quite poorly on the critical thinking skills test. However, the result is somewhat inconsistent with that of Alharbi et al. [ 44 ], who demonstrated that E-collaborative learning via Blackboard had a substantial and favorable influence on developing kindergarten-major students’ critical thinking. The difference in the results can be attributed to the nature of the experiments and students’ majors.

Concerning critical thinking skills, the results showed significant differences in the participant’s scores in the skills of analysis, inferencing, and deduction; they medially or slightly developed these skills compared to their performance before the intervention. These results can be attributed to the nature of the three skills; the participants, maybe, did better in these skills as they are relatively easier than the induction and evaluation skills. Also, these skills are addressed in the daily life of individuals and the curricula in schools and universities indirectly to some extent. They need them to know causes and effects by generating arguments and assumptions and looking for evidence. However, they failed to improve their scores in the post-test in the skills of induction and evaluation. The result is due to the fact that these two skills are not easy to comprehend and need more and more learning and practice. Especially, the evaluation skill comes as the last learning skill and thus requires a lot of thinking and information so that students can justly evaluate things. In addition, the induction skill includes the indications and judgments that a person makes after referring to a situation or event. Also, the skill of evaluation involves evaluating claims and arguments. In addition, the difficulty comes from the weakness of the individual’s practice of these operations in life and the weakness of teachers’ possession of these processes and their use in classroom situations.

The findings of the qualitative data showed that all the interviewees noted that their way of thinking has changed after the intervention in terms of looking at things from different perspectives, patience in making decisions, judging and understanding things, and using information to reason well. In this regard, Dwyer et al. [ 53 ] argues that instruction in critical thinking is prior to learning as it can improve students’ understanding of information and cultivate better judgment in their everyday life. Also, the participants felt positive because of the easy access to information, interaction, the importance of the topic, time and effort, learning new things, and change in their thinking ways. In line with this finding, Lailiyah and Wediyantoro [ 40 ] showed that Indonesian EFL students have positive attitudes toward confidence in their critical thinking. In addition, the interviewees admitted that the program motivated them to learn critical thinking due to easy access to learning materials, widening horizons in thinking, learning to solving problems in everyday life, being wise to make the right decision, and simple thinking and understanding things. Finally, the participants proposed some solutions for overcoming the challenges and problems they face in learning critical thinking skills, such as intensifying the program, using more interactive videos, increasing the learning materials on critical thinking, repeating the experiment, and using group-based games to improve critical thinking.

Based on the findings of the current study, it is suggested that the video-mediated self-study strategy assists in boosting EFL students’ critical thinking skills. Their thinking improved in terms of thinking differently, learning to assess well before making the final decision, acquiring highly-demanded skills for the labor market, reaching conclusions, using the mind instead of heart when thinking, and thinking deeply. Accordingly, the video-mediated self-study strategy can help students learn critical thinking due to easy access to learning materials, widening horizons in thinking, learning to solving problems in everyday life, being wise to make the right decision, and simple thinking and understanding things.

This research experimented with a video-mediated self-study program through Telegram on learning critical thinking skills for EFL students majoring in English or Translation. The findings showed that students slightly improved their critical thinking skills in analysis, inferencing, and deduction; however, they failed to improve their induction and evaluation skills based on the quantitative data. Also, the qualitative data revealed that the participants had positive attitudes toward learning critical thinking skills, and the implemented program motivated them to think critically via a video-mediated self-study program. The study implicates that university students can make of self-studied learning materials and collaborative learning methods mediated by technology to think critically with inventive thinking since critical thinking, self-study, and learner autonomy are of high priority in today’s education and the labor market needs. The study was limited to EFL graduates at a Saudi university; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to other contexts. Also, the program lasted for ten weeks which may not be enough to promote critical thinking skills at the required level. The interventional program was delivered online through Telegram, so it was difficult to trace students’ learning of critical thinking materials. In light of the current findings, teachers should foster critical thinking in their EFL courses by incorporating chances for their students to read, write, and discuss. Also, the Ministry of Education should conduct critical thinking workshops for students and instructors, which will benefit students, especially if the workshops are designed for the learning context and students’ needs and learning styles. In addition, universities should impose a compulsory subject on critical thinking for all universities since critical thinking is a highly-demanded skill in the labor market. Furthermore, study plans should be revised concerning the inclusion of critical thinking skills in their subjects as well as teaching methods. Future studies may focus on utilizing games that motivate students to think creatively in improving learners’ critical thinking skills among EFL learners. Also, interactive learning materials that gauge EFL students’ thinking can be examined.

Supporting information

Funding statement.

Yes, this work was financed by the Deputy for Research and Innovation- Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through a grant (NU/IFC/02/002). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.

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Original article
Open access
Published: 30 June 2020

Effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills

Bantalem Derseh Wale 1 &
Kassie Shifere Bishaw 2

Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education volume 5 , Article number: 9 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The aim of this study was to examine the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students’ critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental design which employed time series design with single group participants was used. A total of 20 EFL undergraduate students who took advanced writing skills course were selected using comprehensive sampling method. Tests, focus group discussion, and student-reflective journal were used to gather data on the students’ critical thinking skills. The participants were given a series of three argumentative essay writing pretests both before and after the intervention, inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction. While the quantitative data were analyzed using One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA, the qualitative data were analyzed through narration. The findings of the study revealed that using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction enhances students’ critical thinking skills. Therefore, inquiry-based instruction is suggested as a means to improve students’ critical thinking skills because the method enhances students' interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation skills which are the core critical thinking skills.

Introduction

Critical thinking is the ability to ask and/or answer insightful questions in a most productive way in order to reach on a comprehensive understanding (Hilsdon, 2010 ). It consists interpretation, analysis, evaluation, synthesize explanation, inference, and self-regulation. Empowering critical thinking skills among students in higher education especially in academic writing through the integration of critical thinking into the teaching learning process is essential in order to develop students’ problem solving, decision making and communication skills (Abdullah, 2014 ; Adege, 2016 ; McLean, 2005 ). Inquiry-based learning develops students’ critical thinking skills because it helps students to develop interpreting, analyzing, evaluating, inferring, explaining, and self-regulation skills which are the core critical thinking skills (Facione, 2011 ; Facione & Facione, 1994 ; Hilsdon, 2010 ).

The level of thinking depends on the level of questioning as long as the questioning leads to new perspectives (Buranapatana, 2006 ). When students learn to ask their own thought-provoking questions in and outside the classroom, and provide explanatory answers, they are well on the way to self-regulation of their learning. In inquiry-based writing instruction, students engaged in writing lessons and tasks that enhance their ability to apply these critical thinking skills because the method emphasize to produce texts through inquisition and investigation. In writing, when students’ written papers realize these skills, the students considered that their critical thinking skills are developed.

Inquiry-based learning is the act of gaining knowledge and skills through asking for information (Lee, 2014 ). It is a discovery method of learning that involves students in making observations; posing questions; examining sources; gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing data; proposing answers, explanations and predictions; communicating findings through discussion and reflection; applying findings to the real situation, and following up new questions that may arise in the process. Inquiry-based learning emphasizes students’ abilities to critically view, question, and explore various perspectives and concepts of the real world. It takes place when the teacher facilitates and scaffolds learning than gives facts and knowledge so that students engage in investigating, questioning, and explaining their world in a student-centered learning environment.

Although inquiry-based learning is intended for science as it is classified as scientific approach, it can be implemented in language field. Rejeki ( 2017 ) mentioned that inquiry-based language learning is useful in promoting lifelong education that enables EFL learners to continue the quest for knowledge throughout life. Similarly, Lee ( 2014 ) stated that inquiry-based learning is an analogy for communicative approach. The principles of inquiry-based learning are compatible with Communicative Language Teaching because communicative approach focuses on communicative proficiency rather than mere mastery of structure to develop learners’ communicative competence as to inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning is, therefore, a form of Communicative Language Teaching which serves to bring down the general principles of communicative approach, and implement in language classrooms in an inquisitive and discovery manner (Lee, 2014 ; Qing & Jin, 2007 ; Richards & Rodgers, 2001 ). While communicative approach is an umbrella of various active language learning methods, inquiry-based learning is one of the active learning methods that drive learning through inquisition and investigation. It mainly focuses on discovery and learner cognitive development to be achieved using thoughtful questions.

In inquiry-based writing instruction, students engaged in pre-writing tasks through generating ideas, narrowing and clarifying topics; exploring information on their writing topics from various sources; explaining their discoveries gained from the exploration, and elaborating their thinking through transforming their understanding into the real world situation. When students come up through this distinct process in manipulating such tasks, their critical thinking skills can be enhanced because this process develops students’ ability to analyze, synthesis, and evaluate concepts.

This study also revealed that students’ critical thinking skills has been enhanced through inquiry-based writing instruction because the method focuses on the process of knowledge discovery that involves students in seeking, collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information; creating ideas, and solving problems through communication, collaboration, deep thinking, and learner autonomy. The study can contribute to the field of foreign language learning by possibly leading English language teachers and learners into a more effective language learning method. The study has applicable significances to EFL teachers to understand the nature and application of inquiry-based learning.

Literature review

Developing students’ critical thinking skills through inquiry-based writing instruction.

Inquiry-based learning develops students’ critical thinking skills because the method improves the students’ mental activities such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, explanation, inference, and self-regulation. Previous studies have shown that students’ critical thinking abilities are significantly higher when students are taught through inquiry-based learning comparing with traditional teaching methods. Having a free medium of student learning class where students will share good experiences through an inquiry process that is based on curiosity is a preferred learning method to the act of teaching that characterized with teaching by forced (Ahmad, Sitti, Abdul, Mohammad, & Sanitah, 2014 ; Iakovos, 2011 ).

By using inquiry-based learning in writing lessons, students can develop critical thinking skills, and learn how to generate and organize ideas through investigation or/and discussion to find out alternative ideas, and produce sound written papers. Accordingly, students who used inquiry-based learning techniques in their language learning are better achievers because they have an active role in choosing the writing topics, and on developing the outcomes of their own investigations. Inquiry-based learning has impacts in EFL classes to help students improve the target language, and develop other abilities needed to understand this constantly changing world. When students participate in real life situations, they can develop effective research skills, adapt and respond better to change, and they are also prepared to the development of critical thinking skills (Escalante, 2013 ; Ismail, 2006 ; Lessner & Craig, 2010 ).

Similar studies conducted by Ash and Kluger-Bell ( 2012 ); Byker, Harden, Heafner, and Holzberg ( 2017 ); Ahmad et al. ( 2014 ) discovered that learners preferred and performed much better with confirmation level of inquiry compared to guided, structured and open inquiry because teachers provide every needed conditions and allow the student the freedom to learn independently in the confirmation level. In the same vein, Ghaemi and Mirsaeed ( 2017 ) investigated the impacts of inquiry-based learning approach on critical thinking skill of EFL students, and revealed that doing inquiry-based activities in EFL classroom increased the critical thinking ability of the students.

Finally, Naryanti ( 2017 ) who conducted an action research to explore the extent to which inquiry-based learning method can improve grade eight students’ ability in writing a descriptive text find out that inquiry-based learning method is able to improve the students’ descriptive writing skills. The students concerned actively in the learning process, especially in conveying their opinions, asking and responding questions, and enthusiasm in producing written texts.

In sum, the aforementioned studies indicated that using inquiry-based learning in ESL/EFL writing classroom improves students’ critical thinking skills, and help them to become lifelong mind seekers. However, most of the aforementioned studies were conducted on pretest-posttest two groups design unlike the present study which followed single group pretest-posttest design employing time serious design. On the other hand, the finding of these study show the effects of using inquiry-based learning excluding the local context, where the present study was conducted. However, in the study area, inquiry-based learning seems to have been a missing feature of English as a foreign language leaning in general and writing skills in particular. Thus, examining the effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills in the local context was relevant to fill the research gap.

Why inquiry-based learning for EFL students’ critical thinking skills?

Critical thinking plays a significant role for higher education ESL/EFL learners’ in order to produce sound written texts including argumentative essays (Klimova, 2013 ; Ghaemi & Mirsaeed, 2017 ). However, various studies conducted on students’ critical thinking skills and writing performance revealed that students are commonly challenged to support their arguments through referring to and synthesizing academic sources due to poor reasoning and unsupported claims. Especially, synthesizing sources is a complex task to second and foreign language learners to comprehend, paraphrase, and summarize written texts (Alagozlu, 2007 ; Goodwin, 2014 ). Evaluating and synthesizing sources into their own writing are the elements of critical thinking that students find challenging to express their own academic thoughts (Ahmad et al., 2014 ; Melles, 2009 ; Wette, 2010 ).

Fostering critical thinking skills is a challenging task nowadays since learners are exposed to an enormous information influx, such as the Internet (Klimova, 2013 ). They are offered pre-chewed chunks of ideas and opinions and often, they are not made to think about them. However, a critical thinker should be alerted and in his/ her inquisitive nature inquire, judge and evaluate all such sources critically. Hence, using inquiry-based learning in writing classes is helpful to foster students’ critical thinking skills.

Paul and Elder ( 2007 ) states that the conventional way of teaching, the product approach, is criticized in its inadequacy to prepare university graduates to deal with existing complex situations, because students are assumed to develop critical thinking skills depending on books, lecture notes, and handouts. It also led students learn with lack of interest on topics, receive rather than to think critically and search for knowledge. The students were not mostly motivated to observe their environment critically, inquire things, investigate problems, and create new knowledge (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2013 ; Graham, MacArthur, & Fitzgerald, 2013 ; Yen, 2014 ). However, in learning situations like inquiry-based learning where critical thinking is emphasized; students aim to understand ideas with range of explorations and follow new leads; learn with curiosity or interest of topics, and reach on implications.

Local researchers like Daniel ( 2004 ); Dawit and Yalew ( 2008 ) find out that conventional teaching methods are still in use though teachers are expected to use active learning methods. The lecture method, which is considered as the conventional method of teaching, is used in colleges that teachers usually focus on giving lectures, and students depend primarily on lecture where discovery is not that much encouraged. The researcher’s language teaching experience also shows that students were not that much learning to improve their critical thinking skills in writing classes. In other terms, the students’ papers were not adequately developed due to lack of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. However, there are no local studies conducted to investigate the effects of using inquiry-based writing instruction in EFL context. Therefore, the present study examines the effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills since the method involves students in seeking, collecting, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information based on student interest.

Research question

This study was designed to answer the following research question:

What are the effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills?

Research methodology

Design of the study.

The research design of the study was quasi-experimental that employs a time series design with single group participants. For the purpose of this study, the participants were given a series of three argumentative essay writing pretests before the intervention, inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction, and other three similar series of argumentative essay writing posttests.

Participants

In this study, a total of 20 EFL second year undergraduate university students who were enrolled for advanced writing skills course were selected using comprehensive sampling method. In the students’ university stay, Advanced Writing Skills Course is the final writing course given to them. Before this course, the students have taken both Communicative English Skills and Basic Writing Skills, and Intermediate Writing Skills Courses in their university stay. Earlier to these university courses, they have learned English language subject beginning from grade one to university.

Data gathering instruments

The data on the students’ critical thinking skills were gathered through tests, focus group discussion, and student-reflective journal.

The test that comprises both pretests and posttests was used to gather data on students’ critical thinking skills. Three consecutive argumentative essay writing pre-tests were given to understand the students’ existing critical thinking skills. Likewise, other three consecutive argumentative essay writing posttests were also given to determine the effects of the intervention, whether students’ critical thinking skills were improved. The tests were developed by the researchers considering the students’ local context and their background knowledge.

The critical thinking skills rubric was adapted from Facione ( 2015 ), “Critical Thinking: What It is and Why It Counts” (from APA Report: Expert Consensus Statement on Critical Thinking) incorporating common critical thinking skills including interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, and explanation. The rubric is a four point scale from one to four that refers to poor, good, very good, and excellent respectively. Two experienced EFL university teachers marked students’ argumentative essays independently based on the given criteria. Training on the use of the rubric was given to the raters. Inter-rater reliability was calculated with Pearson’s correlations (Pearson’s, r), and it was 0.75 which shows the reliability of the test.

Focus group discussion

The focus group discussion was needed to gather qualitative data on students’ critical thinking skills empowerment. The students were asked to forward their views on the relevance of inquiry-based learning to enhance their skills to interpret, analyze, evaluate, infer, explain, and self-regulate in writing argumentative essays.

Student-reflective journal

The Student-Reflective Journal was employed to collect data on the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning on students’ critical thinking skills. Accordingly, the participants were reported their feelings on the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning method and their critical thinking skills empowerment.

Procedure and data collection

In the data collection, first, a teaching material used to teach argumentative essay writing was prepared using the literature in accordance with inquiry-based learning method and critical thinking skills. In other terms, the teaching was developed in the way that enable the students to make observations; pose questions; examine sources; gather, analyze, interpret, and synthesize data; propose answers, explain and predict; communicate findings through discussion and reflection; apply their findings to the real situation, and follow up new questions that arise in the process because these are the focuses of inquiry-based learning. On the other hand, it also developed in the way that enable students to interpret, analyze, infer, evaluate, explain, and self-regulate which are the core critical thinking skills. In sum, the teaching material was prepared considering the components of inquiry-based learning, and critical thinking skills.

Then, three consecutive argumentative essay writing pre-tests were administered to the students to identify their critical thinking performance before the intervention. Following the pre-tests, the intervention was given.

The intervention was an inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction delivered for 4 weeks using the aforementioned teaching material. In the teaching-learning process students discover their own writing topics, generate ideas, evaluate what they have and what they need, gather and evaluate information from different sources, write up drafts with evidences, discuss with colleague and subject area experts for feedback, and write up essays related to their real life situation. When the intervention was given, the Student-Reflection Journal was collected from the students.

Next to the completion of the teaching-learning practice, the participants were given three consecutive argumentative essay writing post-tests which were identical with the pre-tests. The post-tests were needed to determine whether the inquiry-based essay writing instruction make improvements on students’ critical thinking skills. By the completion of the post-tests, the focus group discussion was conducted.

Data analysis methods

The quantitative data which were gathered through pre-tests and post-tests were analyzed using One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA , using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23 software program. One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA was used to examine whether there were differences on students’ critical thinking skills in writing argumentative essays before and after the intervention. On the other hand, the qualitative data which were collected through focus group discussion and student-reflective journal were analyzed through narration.

Result and discussion

Essay writing tests.

The students were given three essay writing pretests and other three essay writing posttests in order to measure their critical thinking skills before and after the intervention. Accordingly, this section presents the students’ test results gained from the pretests and posttests which were analyzed using One Way Repeated Measures ANOVA .

Table 1 indicates that the students’ Mean scores in Pretest-1, Pretest-2, and Pretest-3, were 38.15, 38.00, and 38.35, respectively. The table also depicts that the students’ Mean scores in Posttest-1, Posttest − 2, and Posttest − 3, were 65.90, 65.70, and 66.25, respectively. From these results, we can understand that the students’ Mean scores in the pretests were similar. Likewise, their Mean scores in the Posttests were also similar. However, when the Mean scores in the Pretests and Posttests were compared, they have differences. In other words, the students’ Mean scores in the posttests were greater than those of the pretests. It indicates that the intervention made the differences on the students’ pretest and posttest Mean scores. In sum, it can be understood that the inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction has positive effects on the students’ critical thinking skills.

The findings of this study imply that inquiry-based learning has improved EFL students’ critical thinking skills which includes interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. In line with this research finding, previous studies also show that inquiry-based learning has positive impacts on students’ critical thinking skills. Ash and Kluger-Bell ( 2012 ) find out that by using inquiry-based learning in writing lessons, students develop critical thinking skills, and learn how to generate and organize ideas through investigation or/and discussion to find out alternative ideas, and produce sound written papers. Inquiry-based learning is appropriate when deep discipline knowledge; higher-order thinking skills or strategies including reasoning skills; adequate motivational beliefs or attitude and value are intended as learning outcomes, rather than lower-order thinking skills like, to recall facts.

Table 2 shows the Within-Subjects Effects of the tests. In the table, the Sphericity Assumed indicated that 5 with-in subjects df, and 95 errors df . The Mean Square is 4632.348 with 8.468 F, and Significance value is .000. F (5, 95) = 547.065, p < 0.005. It means that the students test scores have differences based on time, but the differences in all times are not the same.

Thus, in order to identify the difference among each of the test scores, Post Hoc analysis was run. The Post Hoc analysis for a repeated measures variable is a paired sample t-test.

Table 3 depicts that there were no difference between pretest-1 and pretest-2 (.603); pretest-1 and pretest-3 (.163); pretest-2 and pretest-3 (.273). In the same manner, there were no differences between posttest-1 and posttest-2 (.464); posttest-1 and posttest-3 (.376); posttest-2 and posttest-3 (.280). In contrast, there were differences in all of the remaining combinations (.000). It indicates that the differences were made due to the intervention given to the students. Thus, it can be concluded that the inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction improves the students’ critical thinking skills.

This finding shows that using inquiry-based learning in EFL classroom fosters students’ abilities to interpret, analyze, infer, evaluate, explain, and self-regulate which are the core critical thinking skills. In line with this research finding, Ghaemi and Mirsaeed ( 2017 ) revealed that doing inquiry-based activities in EFL classroom increased the critical thinking ability of the students which enable them to analyze, evaluate, and explain information. Thus, it shows that using inquiry-based writing instruction enhances students’ critical thinking skills.

The students’ focus group discussion result revealed that the use of inquiry-based learning in argumentative essay writing classes can enhance students’ critical thinking skills. Most of the focus group discussion participants reported that they had not wrote effective argumentative essays before they use inquiry-based learning method. However, after using this method of learning, they have developed their critical thinking skills including interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. For instance, one of the participants reported that his critical thinking skills have been enhanced after learning argumentative essay writing through inquiry-based learning method because he has developed the way to interpret, analyze, and evaluate information. He can generate logical ideas which are better to persuade his audiences, and write essays without emotional feelings.

The other focus group discussion participant voiced that the learning method empowers her critical thinking skills because before using inquiry-based learning her writings were not appropriate for audience. However, after taking the lessons in the intervention, she knows what to write considering her purpose and audience, how to analyze information, and how to produce reasonable argumentative essays.

The other student also mentioned his performance as follows:

My critical thinking skills such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation are very good now. Especially, when I pick two points from these points, analysis and evaluation, I can analyze and evaluate written arguments because of the inquiry-based essay writing instruction. So now, I can easily interpret, analyze, and evaluate data, and even regulate myself to write my argumentative essay to persuade my audience.

In a similar manner, another participant also reported that in inquiry-based learning, she discovered her writing topic, searched for information, and evaluated, criticized and analyzed the collected data, and wrote drafts, incorporated necessary feedbacks, and produced effective essays in contrast to the previous methods. She further explained that during this process, her critical thinking skills were enhanced due to the instruction given through inquiry-based learning. Similarly, another respondent also said that after learning through inquiry-based learning, his critical thinking skills were enhanced. As he further elaborated, he could become to analyze and evaluate information in writing argumentative essays while using this method.

In addition, the students reported that the critical thinking skills that they enhanced in the teaching learning process were relevant to their real life situations. One of them stated that “every English language graduate person and critical thinking towards writing dependently go together. I am going to do two things in the future as an English graduate man. These are critically writing texts and critically evaluating what another person has written. So, I think, the critical thinking skills that I developed through inquiry-based writing instruction are helpful to the rest of my life”.

The students mentioned that critical thinking helps in their work life as university graduate students because it has a lot of things for them. According to their speech, they should be competitive enough to become successful in their work life. So, being a good critical thinker helps to think differently, and to be successful. They further voiced that skills can also help them to make good decisions in their real life situations apart from their working environment. In sum, the students’ focus group discussion results indicated that the students’ critical thinking skills including interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation were enhanced due to the inquiry-based writing instruction. In the same manner, Ghaemi and Mirsaeed ( 2017 ) revealed that most of the participants who used inquiry-based learning believed that their critical thinking abilities changed positively. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that there should be opportunities for students to have enough exposure to inquiry-based learning.

The data gained from the students’ reflective journal indicated that when the students used inquiry-based essay writing instruction, they have developed their critical thinking skills including interpretation, analysis, and evaluation, synthesize, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. They note that the strategies used in the teaching learning process and incorporated in the teaching material were effective to improve their critical thinking skills. The students reported that the way they learned argumentative writing has enhanced their critical thinking skills like interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation.

In line with this finding, a study conducted in Whittier College, USA to assess students’ feedback on the effectiveness of inquiry-based teaching in second language pedagogy shows that the method reinforced students’ understanding of the course material (Lee, 2014 ). In addition, McLean ( 2005 ); Abdullah ( 2014 ); Adege ( 2016 ) also revealed that empowering critical thinking skills among students in higher education especially in academic writing through the integration of critical thinking into the teaching learning process is essential in order to develop students’ problem solving, decision making and communication skills which are needed for their future carrier.

Therefore, based on the findings of the study, all together, it can be understood that using inquiry-based learning in argumentative essay writing class empowers students’ critical thinking skills including interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. In other terms, when the students have used inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction, they comprehend and expressed the meaning of their writing issues and judgments in their argumentative essays. They recognized the then argumentative issues and described them in their essays. The students have collected data on their topics and constructed categories of protagonist and antagonist ideas for their argumentative essay development. They also paraphrased ideas taken from other sources in their own words. These indicate that the students have developed their interpretation skills which is one of the core critical thinking skills.

In the same vein, the students have enhanced their analysis skills through inquiry-based learning. In inquiry-based writing instruction, the students identified the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements to express beliefs in their argumentative writing. The students examined ideas, detected, and analyzed arguments in their writing. They identified the similarities and differences between opposing ideas in developing their persuasive essays. The students drafted the relationship of sentences or/and paragraphs to each other and the main purpose of their argumentative essays. They also constructed convincing reasons to support or criticize a given argumentative idea, and reach on a strong conclusion. Thus, it shows that the students have enhanced their analysis skills which is one of the core critical thinking skills.

The results revealed that the students have developed their evaluation skills using inquiry-based instruction. In other words, in the teaching-learning process, the students have determined the credibility of their source of information while they gathered data for their writing topics. They assessed and compared the logical strengths and weaknesses of opposing arguments. They also judged whether the evidence at their hands did not contradict each other, and support their conclusion. Finally, they judged if their arguments in their argumentative essays were relevant and applicable in an existing real-life situation. It implies that the students have developed their evaluation skills, one of the core critical thinking skills through inquiry-based learning.

The students have also enhanced their inference skills in writing their argumentative essays through inquiry. This means that the students have identified pertinent thoughts needed to draw reasonable conclusions in their essays. In doing so, they formed conjectures and hypotheses; considered the relevant information, and educed consequences flowing their data. They questioned their evidence, conjectured alternatives, and drawn conclusions when they developed argumentative essays through inquiry-based learning. They constructed meaning from their readings and formulated synthesis of related ideas into a coherent perspective to produce sound argumentative essays.

Beyond interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, the students explained what they think, and how they arrived at their judgments in developing their essays. In other terms, the students have developed their explanation skills due to the inquiry-based writing instruction. They have presented their argumentative essays in a cogent and coherent way. They stated and justified reasons in terms of their evidential and contextual considerations upon which their results were based. They presented their reasons in the form of persuasive arguments in their essays. They also reflected on the methods, procedures, and techniques (in the classroom) they used in writing their argumentative essays.

Finally, the data gained from the student-reflective journal and focus group discussion revealed that the students have developed their self-regulation skills, which is one of the core critical thinking skills, through using inquiry-based learning. Accordingly, the students confirmed that they self-consciously monitored or corrected their judgments in analyzing and evaluating contradictory ideas in producing their argumentative essays. They questioned themselves to examine, correct, and confirm their reasons for producing essays. They double-checked their reasons by recalculating their evidence. The students reconsidered their interpretations and judgments in the view of further analysis. They revised their answers in view of the errors they discovered in their argumentative essay writing. Even, they have changed some of their concluding ideas in view of the realization that they had misjudged the importance of certain factors when coming to their earlier decisions. Altogether, using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction enhanced EFL students’ interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation skills which are the core critical thinking skills.

In sum, though the findings of this study are in line with previous studies, most of them have examined the enhancement of critical thinking skills through using inquiry-based learning in writing classes in general rather than showing the effects of the method in argumentative essay writing classes in particular. Thus, the present study exclusively revealed the effects of using inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction on EFL students’ critical thinking skills. In other terms, it contributed to the existing literature in disclosing the effects of using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction on EFL students’ critical thinking skills. Besides, the present study can contribute to the field of English as a foreign language education by showing the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students’ critical thinking skills in the local context where this study has been conducted. This is because, in the study area, inquiry-based learning seems to have been a missing feature of English as a foreign language learning.

Conclusion and implication

The findings of the study revealed that the use of inquiry-based learning in foreign language learning classroom empowers students’ critical thinking skills. Inquiry-based learning has positive impacts on students’ critical thinking skills which include interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. In other terms, when the students have used inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction in their academic writing classes, they have comprehended and expressed their essay writing queries (interpretation); identified and examined arguments, reasons and claims (analysis); identified elements of claims, estimated alternatives, and drawn reasonable conclusions in writing their argumentative essays (inference). In the same manner, they also assessed the credibility of claims and quality of arguments made in their conclusions (evaluation); stated results, justified procedures, and presented arguments (explanation), and consciously monitored and corrected their writing activity (self-regulation) in producing argumentative essays. Thus, the students have developed their critical thinking skills by using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction.

In inquiry-based writing instruction, the students discover writing topics; explore information on their topics; explain their discoveries, and elaborate their thinking through transforming their understanding into their real life situations. Thus, when the students came up through this distinct process in manipulating such tasks, their critical thinking skills enhance because this process develops the students’ abilities to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate various thoughts. Using inquiry-based learning in argumentative writing class enhance the students’ argumentative essay writing performance since the method enables them to discover their own writing topics, generate ideas, gather and evaluate information, write up drafts with evidences, discuss with colleagues and subject area experts, and produce sound argumentative essays.

When the students use inquiry-based learning in argumentative essay writing lessons, they generate and organize ideas through investigation and discussion, and later produce sound written texts. The students develop reasoning skills, collaborative working, and make connections to real life experiences when they learn through inquiry-based learning. The critical thinking skills that the EFL students develop through the inquiry-based writing instruction are relevant to their future working environment to write convincing texts and critically evaluate what other individuals have written. The abilities to interpret, analyze, evaluate, infer, explain, and self-regulate help the university students to be lifelong learners, and to be competitive enough in their future working life.

Therefore, inquiry-based writing instruction is suggested as a means to improve EFL students’ critical thinking skills because the method incorporates activity oriented learning, logical arguments, and collaboration. This is to imply the need to promote inquiry-based learning which is based on a discovery approach that mostly involve students in seeking, collecting, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information based on students’ interest. It is because using inquiry-based learning in writing classes promotes students’ academic performance and makes students active, problem solver, autonomous, and lifelong learners. Accordingly, EFL teachers should use inquiry-based learning in their language classrooms in order to develop students’ critical thinking skills. Similarly, teaching material developers need to consider the inquiry-based learning principles in developing language teaching materials so that students’ improve their critical thinking skills. Students should also use the inquiry-based learning techniques to produce effective argumentative texts, to be critical thinkers, and become lifelong learners.

Finally, the number of participants and the time given to the intervention were relatively small. However, it does not mean that the findings of the study are not representative since the selected participants have similarities with other students. In addition, it does not mean that the intervention is completely inadequate since the students practiced the whole inquiry process repeatedly. It is to mean that the findings of the study would have been more representatives and convincing if a greater number of participants had been included, and more time to the intervention had been used in the study. As a result, such future exploration would have contributed to the current study and is certainly an area ripe for future research. Furthermore, future studies should be also conducted on the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students’ speaking, reading, and listening skills to widen the use of inquiry-based learning in EFL instruction.

Availability of data and materials

Please contact corresponding author for data requests.

Abbreviations

English as a Foreign Language

Analysis of Variance

Statistical Package for Social Sciences

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Wale, B.D., Bishaw, K.S. Effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills. Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ. 5 , 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-020-00090-2

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Inquiry-based learning
Critical thinking skills
Argumentative essay
Writing instruction
Time series design
English as a foreign language

enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners

MINI REVIEW article

English as a foreign language teachers’ critical thinking ability and l2 students’ classroom engagement.

$\r\nZiguang Yan*$

School of Foreign Studies, Hebei University, Baoding, China

Critical thinking has been the focus of many studies considering the educational and social contexts. However, English as a foreign language (EFL) context is the one in which studies about critical thinking and its link to classroom engagement have not been carried out as much as expected. Hence, this study investigated to understand the association between EFL teachers’ critical thinking ability and students’ classroom engagement to get a broader understanding of the impact critical thinking has on students’ success. To do this, firstly, both variables of this study are defined and explicated. Then, the relationship between critical thinking and students’ classroom engagement is discussed. Finally, the implications of this research and also its limitations along with suggestions for further studies are put forward.

Introduction

“Critical thinking enables individuals to use standards of argumentation, rules of logic, standards of practical deliberation, standards governing inquiry and justification in specialized areas of study, standards for judging intellectual products, etc.” ( Bailin et al., 1999 , p. 291). Paul and Elder (2007) conceptualized critical thinking as the art of analysis and evaluation, considering the point that it can be improved since a quality life needs the quality of thinking. Facione (2011) noted that happiness cannot be guaranteed even if good judgment is practiced and critical thinking is enhanced; however, it undoubtedly offers more opportunities for this goal to be achieved. It has been stressed that autonomy can be shaped through critical thinking ability and one’s learning process can critically be evaluated ( Delmastro and Balada, 2012 ). According to a study conducted by Marin and Pava (2017) , English as a foreign language (EFL) critical thinker has the following characteristics: they are active, continuously asking questions, and seeking information which helps them build associations between L2 learning and other features of everyday life. They describe as people, having the capability to analyze and organize thoughts that can be expressed through speaking and writing. They almost always tries to put what has learned before into practice. Beyond doubt, in order to enhance critical thinking skill in EFL learners, teachers should consider the point that teaching is not just about grammar and vocabulary; instead, it concentrates on enhancing teaching, encouraging to be creative, encourage to learn independently, strategies for making decisions and evaluating himself. Similarly, opportunities must be provided by the educators to provide a learning environment in which autonomous learning, active engagement, reflection on learners’ learning process, and L2 advancement are emphasized, for instance, task-based activities. Thus, this study is different from other studies since the focus is placed on teachers’ critical thinking ability to help students thrive rather than students’ critical thinking ability. The reason is that differentiates it from the previous studies is that providing students with opportunities, in which thinking differently is appreciated, would be absolutely rewarding and it is the skill that should be much more highlighted in the studies. Therefore, critical thinking is a skill through which students’ confidence can be raised, leading to their active engagement in the classroom and their being successful since they can see the issues from a different point of view and novel solutions to those problems can be proposed. In the current study, first of all, both teachers’ critical thinking ability and students’ classroom engagement have been discussed. Given that, the association between these two variables has been dealt with. Then, the implications and restrictions of the study as well as some recommendations for further studies have been proposed.

Teachers’ Critical Thinking Ability

Critical thinking has attracted much attention since teachers’ way of thinking and beliefs has a pivotal impact on what students achieve in terms of academic success and attainments. Dewey (1933 , p. 9), who can be regarded as the father of modern critical thinking, conceptualized it as “active, persistent, and careful of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it and the further conclusions to which it tends.” As defined by Chance (1986) , critical thinking is conceptualized as the capability that one puts into practice to do the followings through this ability: facts which are analyzed, ideas that are generated and organized, opinions that are defended, comparisons that are made, inferences that are drawn, arguments which are evaluated, ideas that are organized, and problems that are solved. As stated by Vdovina and Gaibisso (2013) , critical thinking is relevant to quality thinking that enables learners to communicate with others, gain knowledge, and deal with ideas, attitudes, and beliefs in a more skillful way. Based on what has been proposed by Shirkhani and Fahim (2011) , critical thinking is an integral factor in many ways. The first reason that can be taken into consideration is that when language learners take responsibility for the way they think; they can evaluate the way they learn in a more successful way. Secondly, critical thinking causes learners to experience a meaningful process of learning in which learning a language is meaningful to them. Thirdly, critical thinking and learners’ achievement are positively correlated. If the learners are shown how to think critically, they get proficient in learning a language. Likewise, Liaw (2007) study indicated that when the content-based approach is implemented in the class, it promotes EFL students’ critical thinking skills. It should be noted that in a content-based approach, attention is focused on the content and what can be perceived through it.

Besides, as Davidson (1998) noted, “the English teachers are expected to provide learners with the ability to communicate with native speakers, valuing overt comments, clever criticism, and intellectual claims.” In a similar manner, Meyers (1986) proposed that teachers can facilitate critical thinking through the activities that are assigned, the tasks that are set, and the feedback that is provided. A study done in a Chinese context by Li and Liu (2021) put forward the taxonomy of critical thinking ability in the EFL learning context and in this study, five skills through which critical thinking can be practiced, were proposed: analyzing, inferring, evaluating, synthesizing, and self-reflection/self-correction ( Wang and Derakhshan, 2021 ). Li (2021) also indicated that the development of critical thinking in international students can be facilitated by learning Chinese. According to a study done by Birjandi and Bagherkazemi (2010) , a critical thinker has the following characteristics:

• problems are identified by them and relevant solutions are dealt with,

• valid and invalid inferences are recognized by them,

• decisions and judgments are suspended by them when there is not enough evidence to prove it

• the difference between logical reasoning and justifying is perceived by them

• relevant questions are asked by them to see if their students have understood

• statements and arguments are evaluated

• lack of understanding can be accepted by them

• they have developed a sense of curiosity

• clear criteria for analyzing ideas are defined

• he is a good listener and gives others feedback

• he believes that critical thinking is a never-ending process that needs to be evaluated

• judgment is suspended by them until all facts have been collected

• they seek evidence for the assumptions to be advocated

• opinions are adjusted by them when there are some new facts

• incorrect information is easily rejected by them.

Consequently, according to the characteristics mentioned above, teachers with the ability to think critically is good problem solvers and when facing a problem during the class, they can have greater reasoning skills so as to find a solution to the problem. They are curious and they also ask their students questions to create a sense of curiosity in them. Additionally, they do not accept the new ideas easily, instead, they analyze them and sometimes make them better.

Classroom Engagement

Engagement is an inseparable part of the learning process and a multifold phenomenon. Classroom engagement refers to the amount of participation that students take in the class to be actively involved in the activities and whether the mental and physical activities have a goal. Engagement itself is a context-oriented phrase which relies on cultures, families, school activities, and peers ( Finn and Zimmer, 2012 ). It has been categorized into different groups: Behavioral engagement such as the amount to which students participate actively in the class; emotional engagement pertains to high levels of enthusiasm which is linked to high levels of boredom and anxiety; cognitive engagement such as the usage of learning strategy and self-regulation; agentic engagement such as the amount of conscious effort so that the learning experience would be enriched ( Wang and Guan, 2020 ; Hiver et al., 2021 ). Amongst the aforementioned categories, the one which is strongly important in the learning process is behavioral engagement in that it is relevant to the actual recognition of an individual’s learning talents ( Dörnyei, 2019 ). Another possibility that can be viewed is to consider engagement from two other aspects, internal and external. The former implies how much time and effort is allocated to the process of the learning. The latter entails the measures that are taken at the institutional level so that the resources would be dealt with along with other options of learning and services for support, encouraging the involvement in activities leading to the possible outcomes such as consistency and satisfaction ( Harper and Quaye, 2009 ).

Much attention is deserved to be paid to engagement since it is perceived as a behavioral means with which students’ motivation can be realized and as a result, development through the learning process can occur ( Jang et al., 2010 ). Active involvement should be strengthened in L2 classes to prevent disruptive behaviors and diminish the valence of emotions that are negative such as feeling anxious, frustrated, and bored.

Regarding “classroom engagement,” its opposie word “disengagement” can play a significant role in not engaging the students in the class, leading to them feeling bored and demotivated in the class, so from this aspect, it would be worth considering this phrase as well. It has been claimed by some authors ( Skinner, 2016 ) that disengagement itself does not happen frequently in educational settings due largely to the fact that it is related to extreme behaviors, and it is when another phrase disaffection can be considered significant. Disaffection is characterized by disinterest, aversion, resignation, and reduced effort. Therefore, our perception of boredom as a complex emotion can be enhanced, and it can be dealt with more systematically if boredom is viewed through the following factors, disengagement, and disaffection ( Wang and Guan, 2020 ; Derakhshan et al., 2021 ). As Elder and Paul (2004) mentioned, students should be taught to actively make questions- that is a good emblem of engagement- which is a radical part of critical thinking. The more the students can question, the more they can learn. Some students get accustomed to memorizing the facts and have never been faced with the outcomes of the poor decisions they made since there is always someone to back them and they had better be challenged, being questioned by their teachers ( Rezaei et al., 2011 ).

The Relationship Between Teachers’ Critical Thinking Ability and Classroom Engagement

Critical thinking has been said to widen one’s horizon because it may shape students’ mindsets and help them take a look at items from a different viewpoint. When one has learned to think critically, they will never accept the status quo easily, he will welcome the opposing ideas and will evaluate the arguments. In the EFL context, when a learner has the capability to think critically, or he has been taught to think critically, he always looks for reasons learning new materials and in this respect, his curiosity allows him to learn everything in depth and challenge his schemata to make a link between the newly learned ideas and the ones he has already known. Critical thinking is not a term that can be utilized just for the specific type of people; it can be taught and practiced to be enhanced. The way ideas can be generated and the way comparisons can be made is highly relevant to what has been called critical thinking. Different items can be conceptualized in different ways when we look at them through the lens of critical thinking; therefore, it can have a positive effect on students’ mindsets and the way they live. From an educational point of view, the decisions that have been made by the students, the solutions that have been put forward to tackle a problem when it comes to a learning context, and the way through which their process of learning is ameliorated are all impacted by teachers’ critical thinking. When teachers think critically and they strive to see different skills from a different point of view, it is where students’ sense of curiosity is tickled and their imagination is stretched so as to think of things in a various way.

Implications and Further Suggestions for Research

Critical thinking is believed to have an enormous effect on students’ classroom engagement. As mentioned above, according to Dewey (1933) , the more the students practice thinking critically, the more successful they are in terms of academic achievements because they can decide more rationally, and their problems can be addressed more sensibly. Attention should be paid that this study is of great significance for those people who are engaged in the learning process including those devising curriculums, develop materials, teachers, and learners. Critical thinking is a skill that should be developed in learners so that they would compare and contrast ideas, and as a result, decide wisely and accomplish what they have planned for. Accordingly, opportunities must be provided by the educators to provide a learning environment in which autonomous learning, active engagement, reflection on learners’ learning process, and L2 advancement are emphasized, for example, task-based activities ( Han and Wang, 2021 ).

Additionally, further studies can be done to find more about the variables in this study.

With regard to various age groups, the understanding of critical thinking might be different. Teenagers are said to start thinking critically and hypothetically; however, undoubtedly there is a big difference between what can be perceived about critical thinking by teenagers and adolescents in the educational contexts. Consequently, how different levels of critical thinking can be conceptualized in the learning context is one of the studies that can be conducted in the future. Secondly, teachers’ success and well-being are also tremendously affected by the way they think. Therefore, from this point of view, a study can be conducted in the future so as to find the correlation between teachers’ critical thinking and other aspects of their lives. The reason why this study should be carried out is that considering the L2 environment, students’ way of thinking is impacted by how they are treated by their teachers. Teachers are supposed to equip students with techniques through which the learning process will be facilitated and students’ creativity will be boosted, therefore, it is what helps them to be critical thinkers both in the classroom context and out of it. Another line of research that is worth being done is that diverse activities that can enhance learners’ ability of critical thinking should be categorized based on learners’ characters. In a modern educational world where individual differences are emphasized, classroom activities should be classified, regarding the learning differences of the learners. Therefore, according to Birjandi and Bagherkazemi (2010) ; Vdovina and Gaibisso (2013) , and Li and Liu (2021) , teachers’ critical thinking ability play a vital role in how students are engaged in the class.

Author Contributions

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

This review was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China “Testing and Research on Critical Thinking Ability of Undergraduates in Hebei Province under the Background of ‘Belt and Road’ Education Action” (Project Number: HB20YY017).

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords : critical thinking, classroom engagement, foreign language learning, EFL classroom, EFT teacher

Citation: Yan Z (2021) English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Critical Thinking Ability and L2 Students’ Classroom Engagement. Front. Psychol. 12:773138. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.773138

Received: 09 September 2021; Accepted: 19 October 2021; Published: 12 November 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Ziguang Yan, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Enhancing critical thinking through active learning

Yoko Kusumoto is an assistant professor in the College of Global Communication at J. F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include EMI and CLIL, language program development and evaluation, and teacher education. She is currently working on a project involving the understanding of notetaking in EAP for students in Sweden and Japan.

Today the Framework for 21st Century Learning developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) is widely recognized and has been used in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. P21 defines and illustrates the skills and knowledge students need and states that critical thinking is fundamental for twenty-first century success and essential for success in an academic context. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also values the importance of cultivating critical thinking. However, critical thinking is not a part of the EFL curriculum in Japan, and lessons are not focused on the development of meta-cognitive strategies. How do we help students learn foreign languages and twenty-first Century Skills at the same time? Active learning and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) offer such a learning environment where learners enhance their cognitive skills and gain knowledge while they are learning content and language. This paper reports on a study that explores how active learning with CLIL instruction helps Japanese EFL learners to develop critical thinking skills. In the author’s student-centered instruction based class, critical thinking was stimulated with questions based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to develop lower and higher order thinking skills while various scaffolding activities were provided. Pretest-posttest results from the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS) and the Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) Level Z were compared to determine to what extent, if any, EFL learners developed critical thinking disposition and skills through active learning in CLIL classes. The results of the CTDS and CCTT suggest that active learning has value for increasing critical thinking.

About the author

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Enhancing Critical Thinking In Foreign Language Learners
Critical thinking refers to the individuals' ability to think and make correct decisions independently. Nowadays enhancing critical thinking in learners is considered one of the foreign language teachers' tasks due to its high position in foreign language classrooms. There are various factors affecting language learners' critical thinking ...
Enhancing Critical Thinking In Foreign Language Learners
Enhancing critical thinking in forei gn language learners. Servat Shirkhani a, Mansour Fahim, PhD b. a Khorram Abad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khoram Abad, PC: 149561741, Iran. b Science and ...
PDF Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners
can enhance critical thinking in foreign language learners through using materials and activities which require critical thinking on the part of learners. The teacher can prepare, choose, and/or adapt already existing materials so that they enhance learners‱ critical thinking ability. Also the teacher can choose activities which
Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners
2011. TLDR. The research suggests replacing the old cycle of transmission pedagogy with critical thinking pedagogical in language education - a vehicle through which the students gradually discover themselves in the process of language leaning, and develop the cognizance of appropriate language to reason. Expand.
English as a Foreign Language Teachers' Critical Thinking Ability and
Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. 29 111-115. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.214 [Google Scholar] Skinner E. (2016). " Engagement and disaffection as central to processes of motivational resilience and development," in Handbook of Motivation at School, eds Wentzel K. R., Miele D. B.
Investigating EFL Learners' Perceptions of Critical Thinking Learning
Firstly, to create more opportunities for critical thinking development of foreign language learners, the preferable pedagogical principles may include incorporating content-rich materials, valuing teachers' role in scaffolding high-order thinking in task designs and classroom interactions, addressing cultural influences on learning, such as ...
To Assign a Topic or Not: Examining Critical Thinking in English as a
Research has indicated that self-selected (versus teacher-assigned) topics enhance the linguistic aspects of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' performance in learning activities. However, the impact of self-selected topics on non-linguistic meaning-making skills, such as critical thinking (CT), which are essential for content ...
Translanguaging as a way to fostering EFL learners' criticality in a
The integration of technology in language learning and teaching has altered the chances for fostering criticality, with the prospects to broaden chances for enhancing critical thinking skills and sense of agency by enabling students to rethink their original understanding of the world (Freire, 2005), demolishing culture of silence in which ...
(PDF) Critical Thinking for Language Learning and ...
The problem of development of student's critical and creative thinking skills in the process of teaching and learning a foreign language is reflected in numerous studies on enhancing the cognitive ...
Critical Thinking in the Foreign Language and Culture Curriculum
competence in a foreign language and culture, (4) illustrate some of the bene - fits of a critical-thinking-oriented curriculum to learners of foreign language and culture, and (5) suggest future avenues of research on integrating critical thinking into the foreign language curriculum within general education. Defining Critical Thinking
Engaging Students in Critical Thinking in and through a Foreign
Gwendolyn Barnes-Karol is professor of Spanish at St. Olaf College, where she teaches language, culture, and Spanish literature courses. Her publications on content-based instruction, critical thinking, and the role of literature in the undergraduate foreign language curriculum have appeared in the ADFL Bulletin, Foreign Language Annals, and Hispania.
Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners through
Developing communicative competence requires students to develop learning strategies and focus on language function and context. In every course assignments, learners understand and realize better that communication is not an easy thing. Developing accuracy and fluency in foreign language classes enhance students critical thinking too.
Frontiers
The Mediating Role of Critical Thinking Abilities in the Relationship Between English as a Foreign Language Learners' Writing Performance and Their Language Learning Strategies ... The present study's findings have shown that more concentration should be placed on critical thinking abilities to enhance students' academic writing ...
Enhancing Critical Thinking in Foreign Language Learners
Critical thinking refers to the individuals' ability to think and make correct decisions independently. Nowadays enhancing critical thinking in learners i...
PDF Enhancing Critical Thinking In Foreign Language Learners
Critical thinking refers to the individuals' ability to think and make correct decisions independently. Nowadays enhancing critical thinking in learners is considered one of the foreign language teachers' tasks due to its high position in foreign language classrooms. There are various factors affecting language learners' critical thinking ...
Enhancing EFL students' critical thinking skills using a technology
Also, Afshar and Movassagh claim that by learning critical thinking skills, students do not take things for granted and respect for intelligent criticism and direct statement. In addition, a plenty of studies cited a bilateral connection between critical thinking and foreign language learning [8-15].
Critical Thinking in the Foreign Language and Culture Curriculum
The ability to think critically is considered an important component of a college education, and postsecondary institutions typically include critical thinking in student learning outcomes, particularly in the general education curriculum. Foreign language has traditionally been a staple discipline in general education. However, college foreign language instruction has not consistently ...
Effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students' critical
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students' critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental design which employed time series design with single group participants was used. A total of 20 EFL undergraduate students who took advanced writing skills course were selected using comprehensive sampling method. Tests, focus group discussion, and ...
Frontiers
Another line of research that is worth being done is that diverse activities that can enhance learners' ability of critical thinking should be categorized based on learners' characters. ... Shirkhani, S., and Fahim, M. (2011). Enhancing critical thinking in foreign language learners. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. 29, 111-115. doi: 10.1016/j ...
Enhancing critical thinking through active learning
Today the Framework for 21st Century Learning developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) is widely recognized and has been used in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. P21 defines and illustrates the skills and knowledge students need and states that critical thinking is fundamental for twenty-first century success and essential for success in an academic context. The ...

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Introduction

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Critical thinking and learning a foreign language

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Effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills

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