University EFL Teachers’ Perceptions Of Critical Thinking Barriers In Higher Education

Abstract

This study aims to uncover university EFL teachers’ perceptions regarding the barriers to implementing critical thinking in higher education. Due to the scarcity of previous studies in the Moroccan context, understanding the challenges that prevent critical thinking from being implemented effectively requires recognizing the difficulties that EFL teachers encounter in the process of its integration. This study was conducted with a qualitative design. Specifically, data were collected using semi-structured interviews with university EFL professors affiliated with different faculties and higher education institutions in Morocco. Interview data was analyzed by deploying thematic analysis. Results indicate that university EFL teachers consider four factors to be the main challenges of implementing critical thinking in higher education. These factors include students, cultural, educational, and class size-related constraints. Furthermore, the interviews’ results provide feasible suggestions to overcome critical thinking barriers in Moroccan higher education.