From Descriptive to Critical Writing: A Study on the Effectiveness of Advanced Reading and Writing Instruction

Abstract

Studies conducted in the area of critical thinking and critical writing arenotably rare within the Turkish EFL context. For this reason, there is a need to investigate these considerable concepts and to integrate them into the field of foreign language learning and teaching. This study may take steps in the direction of bringing a broader perspective to the field since it integrates and combines the concepts of critical thinking and critical writing in foreign language reading and writing classes. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the critical thinking skills and critical writing discourse of the 1st year students registered at the ELT Department in Nevşehir H. B.V. University. There are forty nine participants who are nearly at the same age and nearly half of them studied in one year English preparatory program. The qualitative data was collected during the Advanced Reading and Writing I course. Throughout the study, students’ written work which are essays written every other week, have been analyzed to examine the extent of their critical writing skills. In addition, the researcher observed the classes during course sessions and took notes about the interactions taking place between both the students and the instructor, and the students with one another. Finally, the participants weregiven open-ended questions to write their opinions and perceptions about critical thinking, critical writing and the advanced reading and writing course. The results of the analysis of the data indicate that the students usually have a positive opinion about the relationship between critical thinking skills, critical writing and advanced reading and writing instruction. In the conclusion part of the study, the use of advanced reading and writing instruction to encourage critical thinking, have been discussed.