Pre-service English language teachers' critical thinking tendencies and their teaching-learning conceptions

Abstract

As critical thinking is considered a conscious and mental process and also introduced in educational contexts, critical thinking skills and practices can be related to teachers’ conceptions of teaching-learning. Thus, this study firstly aimed to reveal pre-service teachers’ level of critical thinking and their teaching-learning conceptions, and then analyze the correlation between these two variables. The study was conducted at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University with Department of English Language Teaching 3rd and 4th grade pre-service teachers. On the strength of the study’s aim, it was designed as a non-experimental, mixed method with single and correlational scanning models. Therefore, the data were collected through the “California critical thinking tendency scale,” and the “Teaching-learning conceptions scale”, and finally open-ended questions prepared by the researcher related to transformational conception. For the data analysis, descriptive and correlational statistics were used via SPSS Package Program v.21.0. According to the results of the study, while pre-service teachers’ level of critical thinking is moderate, they are more inclined to the constructivist conception and there is a correlation between these two variables. The obtained data from open-ended questions reveal that most of the pre-service teachers relate transformational concepts with social development, conscious individuals and democratic values and they want to use this kind of conception during their teaching profession.