The Effect of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills on Iranian Advanced EFL Learners Motivation

Critical thinking, being one of the many skills teachers should teach, might be of great advantage to learners in improving their motivation. The present study was an attempt to probe the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on the Iranian advanced EFL learners #039; motivation. The study was carried out at Simin language center in Tabriz. From among 60 initial participants, 42 were selected based on the results of TOEFL Proficiency test. Then, the selected participants were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, each consisting of 21 participants. A motivation questionnaire, adopted from Salimi (2000), including 36 items on a 5 point Likert Scale, was administered at the beginning of the study to the students in both experimental and control groups in order to evaluate their motivation. Subsequently, the Watson and Glaser (1980) critical thinking appraisal, comprising 80 items on five subtests, representing critical thinking sub skills, were instructed to the 21 students in the experimental group.. The sub skills of critical thinking included skills such as inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments. The instructional treatment took 10 sessions twice a week for advanced students. In each session, 20 minutes were devoted to the treatment. The traditional instruction was conducted in the control group. Analyzing the motivation scores, attained through independent samples ttest at the end of the treatment, and showed that teaching critical thinking skills had significant effect on enhancing the participantsʼ motivation. The obtained results have some implications for teachers. Through applying critical thinking skills in their classes, teachers can help their students enhance their motivation, and thus, improve their learning