The Effect of Applying Critical Thinking Techniques on Students’ Attitudes towards Literature

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of implicit teaching of critical thinking and its practice on the attitude the participants hold towards the subject matter being taught. For the observation of the practicality of critical thinking in altering students’ attitudes, 25 Iranian EFL college students -16 girls and 9 boys- were selected as the participants of this study, and the application of critical thinking techniques was operationalized during their English Literature course. A 20-item questionnaire was devised in order to measure the participants’ attitudes towards literature prior to the beginning of the intervention and the same questionnaire was used after the completion of the experiment in order to examine probable differences in their attitudes towards the taught subject. Throughout the course, some promoted techniques by critical thinking advocates including identifying arguments, detecting evidence in its support, reasoning for held stands, and forming analyses were applied for 12 sessions. Statistical calculation of a paired samples t-test after the treatment indicted a significance increase in the participants’ positive attitudes towards literature. The findings of this study are believed to be useful in encouraging the inclusion of critical pedagogies in academic systems for the goal of creating interest in students towards the subject matter.