Implementation of critical and creative thinking skills in the teaching and learning of literature component in secondary schools

The study aims to observe the implementation of critical and creative thinking skills (CCTS) in the teaching and learning of literature component (literature component) in secondary schools in the Petaling District. The respondents involved in this survey were 40 teachers and 120 students from three secondary schools, one being a girl’s school, a boy’s school and a co-ed school. The survey forms were distributed to the respondents. The findings of the research revealed that the application of creative and critical thinking skills was implemented satisfactory. Nevertheless, the implementation was also not very successful because the respondent teachers were unable to evaluate the effectiveness of critical and creative thinking in the teaching and learning process (mean 3.44, SD3.34). In terms of the implementation of CCTS, Respondent teachers expressed their agreement (mean 3.95, SD .74) that the students are taking too long time to apply the thinking skills in the learning process of the literature component. The t-test was carried out to identify the relationship between the implementation of critical and creative thinking in the learning of literature component in schools according to gender, stream and interest in the literature component. The result of the analysis indicates that there is a significant differences between the implementation of creative and critical thinking according to gender t(120)=.91; p=.05) and streams t(120)=.3.41;p=.03). This means, gender and stream influence the implementation of critical and creative thinking in the learning of literature component. The One Way Anova test was carried out and it indicates that there is significant difference F(3,116)=2.60; p=.05 in the implementation of critical and creative thinking according to ethnic. This indicates that the gender, stream and ethnic factors influence the implementation of critical and creative thinking in the learning of the literature component. Therefore, the executor should consider these three aspects in the implementation of CCTS teaching and learning of literature component to achieve optimal learning outcomes.