Nghiên cứu về nhận thức và thực tế tư duy phê phán trong đọc hiểu tiếng anh của sinh viên trường đại học ngoại ngữ, đại học quốc gia hà nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OFPOSTGRADUATE STUDIES --- HUỲNH NGỌC TUYỀN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION AND PRACTICES

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES -

HUỲNH NGỌC TUYỀN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION AND PRACTICES OF CRITICAL THINKING IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC VÀ THỰC TẾ TƯ DUY PHÊ PHÁN TRONG ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI )

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES -

HUỲNH NGỌC TUYÊ ̀

N

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION AND PRACTICES OF CRITICAL THINKING IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHẬN THỨC VÀ THỰC TẾ TƯ DUY PHÊ PHÁN TRONG ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI)

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyêñ Xuân Thơm

I certify that this minor thesis entitled “A study on students’ perceptions and practices of critical thinking in English reading comprehension at the

University of Languages and International studies” is the study of my own

research and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree toany other university or institution

Ha Noi, March , 2017

Signature

Huỳnh Ngọc Tuyền

i

Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and staff of thedepartment of Post- Graduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps.Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormousobstacles when doing the study.

I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of lecturers and the third yearstudents at the University of Languages and International Studies in contributing tothe data collection presented in this study

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my dearfamily and friends for their encouragement and great support during my time offulfilling this thesis

The purpose of the present study was to explore the perceptions of the thirdyear students about critical thinking and their practices of critical thinking skills inEnglish reading comprehension The intent was to discover if undergraduatestudents realize the importance and significance of critical thinking This studyadvances our understanding of critical thinking through a thorough review ofliterature and from perspectives of learmers The study was conducted with andeductive approach with the participation of 40 students from the faculty FELT-VNU of the ULIS university They were both male and female students of BusinessAdministration and Economic classes Data was collected through interviewing andquestionnaire papers The findings of the study revealed that there were cognitiveskills, reflection and criteria that students perceived to relate to critical thinking.Most of the surveyed students realize and believe in the value of critical thinking as

an academic competency that is crucial for their future success and progress Moststudents practice these skills of critical thinking to their English readingcomprehension The results also shed light on students‘ perceptions on thedeveloping of critical thinking in the process of enhancing their own criticalreading This study also provides some suggestions for for teaching and learningabout the strategies, techniques and practices of effectively reading comprehension

to undergraduate students

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TABLES OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLES OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Statement of the problem 3

3 Aims of the research 4

4 Objectives of the study 5

5 Research questions 5

6 Scope of the research 5

7 Significance of the research 5

8 Structural organization of the thesis 7

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 9

CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 9

1.1 Review of models of Critical Thinking in academic research 9

1.2 Reading comprehension in a foreign language 26

1.2.1 Definition 26

1.2.2 Importance of Reading Comprehension 27

1.2.3 Types of reading 27

1.3 Review of relevant studies on the field 31

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 34

2.1 Context of the study 34

2.2 Methods of the study 37

2.3 Research approach 37

2.4 Participants 39

2.5 Recruitment of participants and ethical consideration 40

2.6 Data collection instrument and Analysis 41

2.6.1 The questionnaires 41

2.6.2 Interviews 42

2.6.3 Methods of Data analysis 44

CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 45

3.1 Students‘ perceptions of Critical Thinking 45

3.1.1 Critical thinking in relation to the ability to boost up a deeper understanding level 47

3.1.2 Perception of critical thinking with regard to provide an outcome 50

3.2 Students‘ practices of Critical Thinking skills in English Reading 51

3.2.1 The frequency of students‘practices focusing on sub skills of Analysis in English reading comprehension 51

3.2.2 The frequency of students‘ practices focusing on sub skills of Interpretation in English reading comprehension 52

3.2.3 The frequency of students‘ practices focusing on sub skills of Evaluation in English reading comprehension 53

3.2.4 The frequency of students‘ practices focusing on sub skills of Inference in English reading comprehension 54

3.2.5 The frequency of students‘ practices focusing on sub skills of Explanation in English reading comprehension 55

3.2.6 The frequency of students‘ practices focusing on sub skills of Self-regulation in English reading comprehension 56

Participant interviews 57

3.3 Perceptions regarding to developing critical thinking skills 62

3.4 Main findings and Discussions 63

CHAPTER4:SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHING OF READING COMPREHENSION 69

4.1 Balanced instruction comprehension 69

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4.2 Introducing students critical thinking skills applied for reading comprehension72

4.3 Enhancing students‘ application of critical reading at home 73

4.4 Making students want to read 73

4.5 Guiding students to choose and share good materials 73

4.6 Using reading reflection to enhance undergraduate students‘ critical reading ability 74

4.7 Building a Comprehension Curriculum to encourage critical thinking 75

PART C:CONCLUSION 79

REFERENCES 83 APPENDIX : I

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CT: Critical Thinking

FELTE: Faculty of Language Teaching Education

ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University

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PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The world operates at a swift pace No longer is one country isolated fromanother With the internet and information being attainable in a split second, theneed for thinkers who can think about their thinking and synthesize information isimperative for the world to grow into a cohesive community of thinkers In asmaller context of an academic world at universities where information is abundant,

it is important for students to be able to critically evaluate information andunderstand their own thoughts and biase Hence, one of the significant aims of everyeducation is to produce learners who are well informed, that is to say, learnersshould understand ideas that are important, useful, beautiful and powerful Another

is to create learners who have the appetite to think analytically and critically, to usewhat they know to enhance their own lives and also to contribute to their society,culture and civilization On the other hand, the study of assessing the use of theseskills is essential in a world where information and decisionmaking is key to thefuture success of people around the world Just as it is in other areas of educationthat are necessary for creating engaged learners, so is learning to think critically.The continued need for critical thinking to be taught, interpreted and studiedremains evident Critical thinking skills can solve world - wide problems, bondcultures, traditions, and generations by opening meaningful conversations Thisshows that critical thinking has an important role in education The notions ofcritical thinking are constantly refered in documentation incorporating desiredlearning outcomes, benchmark statements and quality indicator at almost alluniversity education Therefore, it is imperative that citizens of the 20th and 21stcenturies think critically and the need for critical thinking skills has been identified

as a national and international priority

Critical thinking has been mentioned From Socrates to contemporaryscholars There have been continuous requirement of educated citizens and qualified

workforce about the competence to think critically The world is consitently movingtoward a technology-based economy, facing worldwide competition As a result, theneed for workers with analytical thinking skills to select information from a widerange of sources and competently make fruitful decisions is also increasinglycrucial Within such a complex and swiftly altering world, critical thinking isobviously an essential tool in order to successfully perform in the competitive life.

In the twentieth first century, it is argued that learning to think is the fundamentalobjective of education The emphasis has been moved from confering informationand content to the learners, to enhancing their thinking skills Ashraah, AL-Nabrawi, Shdeifat, and Al-Ali (2012) affirmed that education systems in almost allover the world are shifting their focus to improving learners‘ higher mentalprocesses comprising critical thinking, and problem solving

Howie (2011) highlighted that the ability to think critically is one of thehighest levels of mental activity It empowers people to engage in the practices ofmaking decisions and organizing work (Alazzi & Khawaldeh, 2008) In order tomeet marketplace demands and solve societal and modern everyday life problems, it

is crucial to develop learners‘ cognitive skills to help them be successful in theirupcoming life plans in various fields Gaining the ability to think critically couldassist learners to form their thoughts and ideas instead of just repeating andfollowing those of others, by activating their intellectual abilities to evaluatedifferent perspectives and viewpoints A critical reason for developing learners‘mental abilities through the school context, as suggested by Alwadai (2014), is tofurther develop learner s‘ mental growth by offering them practical chances thatcould challenge their thinking processes Thus, it is the teacher‘s role to trainlearners to think critically and push them to activate their higher thinking abilities

Concerning to the situation in Viet Nam, although the Vietnamese Ministry

of Education has been try to reform both textbooks and teacher training, followingeffective and efficient learning and teaching approaches of other countries like TheUnited States of America (USA), The United Kingdom (UK), and some European

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countries, they still lag far behind achieving complete success in reforming theireducation system with regard to students‘ development of critical thinking Thereason can be realized as that partly most Vietnamese learners show poor abilitiesand kills of independence, creativeness and activeness in their thinking and beliefs.Most Vietnamese students tend to memorize and rewrite pre-thought information atclasses as opposed to thinking out their own ideas and assessing facts and not takingthose taught by their teachers for granted What is more, according to Helmke andTuyet (1999), repetitive teaching and learning ways were typical cultural features inthe Vietnamese classrroms When students are at high schools they are in typicalVietnamese classroom with activities that are dominated by lectures with limitedquestioning or discussion Therefore, they are still greatly suffering from difficulties

in their English language learning skills despite all efforts and costs once theymoved to higher education at colleges or universities Critical thinking skills inEnglish language learning and teaching have not received much attention Thereby,

it can be supposed that the concept of critical thinking still far beyond in mind ofmost Vietnamese students Without the exact knowledge and right perceptions ofcritical thinking, students may think they are doing the right job in enhancing theircritical thinking when unfortunately they are not To explore this issue in greaterdetail, this study was developed to explore the perceptions students have aboutcritical thinking, as well as their current practices of critical thinking skills inreading comprehension and their views towards developing critical thinking ability

2 Statement of the problem

The intent of this study was to explore the students‘perceptions and practicesregarding critical thinking skills The goal of this study was to investigate thecritical thinking knowledge and critical thinking application of students, and theirviews toward the developing critical thinking skills Learners‘ perceptions andactual application play a very critical role in the learning process and personal skills

of themselves in the way that can significantly reinforce their way to think, leading

to action Thus, their negative practices of critical thinking and their lack of

adequate awareness of thinking skills can also be a limitation to their ability toassist the learning process (Kowalczyk et al., 2012).

Students may intend to develop their thinking at a higher level, which wouldcontain critical thinking skills, when unfortunately, their perception and knowledgeabout this subject is inadequate There is an empirical gap of information regardingthe perception of students with regard to critical thinking skills, as well as the actualpractices they have regarding critical thinking concepts Gathering such informationwould be a valuable stage in igniting the process of establishing a model ofproviding the best quality critical thinking instruction in classrooms

According to Sng (2011), it is suggested that critical thinking skills may varydepending on the varieties of cultures, values and educational backgrounds Thismeans that critical thinking cannot be connected to intellectual skills alone The way

we think critically about the world around us is deeply affected by the construction

of morals, principles, and spiritual views

In that light, this study is carried out with the expectation of giving theVietnamese English teachers better understanding of the extent to whatundergraduate students perceive the issue of critical thinking as well as the extent towhat they practice critical thinking in a particular part of the process, Englishreading comprehension learning In brief, the current study was intended to examinethe knowledge and perceptions of critical thinking of students from a small context

of FLTE-VNU The aim of the current study was to explore the patterns of the thirdyear students understanding of basic critical thinking concepts and personalperceptions regarding critical thinking development, and critical thinking practices

in reading comprehension

3 Aims of the research

The purpose of this research is to have a closer look at perception ofcritical thinking among third year students It aims specifically at (1) investigatingstudents‘ perception of critical thinking; (2) identifying the relation between theirperception and application of critical thinking shown through their reading

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practices; (3) pointing out the expectation of students regarding studying andapplying critical thinking and suggesting feasible solutions to promote student‘sproficiency and improve the implementation of critical thinking skills in Englishreading comprehension to help them read better with consideration.

4 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the present study are:

(1) To identify the definition of the third year students regarding critical thinking.(2) To explore the perceptions of the students on developing some aspects of the critical thinking skills

(3) To make practical recommendations based on the findings of the studyregarding the implementation of the critical thinking in reading in Vietnameseeducational context

5 Research questions

This study addressed the following research questions:

R1: What are students’ perceptions of critical thinking in term of definition ? R2: How are students applying critical thinking skills in English reading comprehension?

R3: What are students views toward developing critical thinking skills?

6 Scope of the research

The current study will focus on investigating the perception of theundergraduate students of critical thinking Furthermore, the study will explore thelearners‘ realization of their perceptions in English reading comprehension Anumber of 114 students who are taking Business Administration and Economics astheir major will be chosen as the subjects of the study

7. Significance of the research Theoretical Significance

First, and most of all, this study is based on a research framework derived from

a critical evaluation of research models with regard to critical thinking Consequently,

its intellectual and practical implications address concerns raised in that research,and so extend the relevance of this study beyond in the Vietnam context.

Second, this study serves as the basis for establishing a realisticunderstanding of what undergraduates really think and believe about the meaningand value of critical thinking The study also provides insight into the actualdevelopment of these skills applied in English reading comprehension by thesestudents outside the classroom setting

Third, the study provides a critical review of current thought in theconceptualization of critical thinking Subsequently, it offers a background forfinding ways in assisting the critical thinking process at undergraduate students

Next, there is a large body of research on the skills students need to learn toread; however, the majority of current research focuses on techniques to improvereading ability of students, no much study focusing on critical thinking The amount

of research on reading comprehension, while becoming more prevalent, still fallsbehind that of teaching students to read effective in dealing with exames Foruniversity students, far less research is conducted, and research on critical thinkingskills in English reading comprehension is negligible Additionally, whilemotivation is one aspect to reading, fewer studies have focused on the relativeimportance of affective factors and disposition to reading comprehension Thisstudy fills those gaps

Lastly, very few studies in Vietnam have been conducted on the area ofcritical thinking skills With the large number of students who struggle to read,research into the relative importance of factors that explain reading comprehensionfor university students is important not only to teritary students and their teachersbut to society as a whole Therefore, this study has a significance of filling up thesegaps in the theoretical framework Also significant to the theoretical framework ofthis study is the fact that the development of critical thinking skills is not an easy ornatural process (Van Gelder, 2005) The role that perception plays in shaping one‘sreality is also significant

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The study provides the pedagogy of critical thinking with data evaluating thepractical aspects from the perspectives of the students participating in this study.

To be more specific, this study provides a framework for other teachers whohave an interest in developing students' critical thinking skills This study wasintended to help students and teachers realize the importance of developing criticalthinking skills as a way for students to function effectively in the society assuccessful, empowered, independent, and responsible decision makers

8 Structural organization of the thesis The study consists of three main parts:

Part A: “INTRODUCTION” includes the rationale, the aims and

objectives, the scope, the research questions, the methods, and the significance ofthe study This part in general provides the background discussion and an overview

of the study

Part B: “DEVELOPMENT” is organized in three main chapters:

Chapter 1 is Literature Review This chapter presents some of the basic

issues in relation to theoretical questions and related studies on perceptions ofcritical thing, critical reading and the significance of critical thinking in EFL Thechapter begins with a review of chosen models of critical thinking Severalcontroversial issues which are essential to the notion of critical thinking and criticalreading as well as reading comprehension are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 2 is Methodology which covers the context, the methodology used

in this study including the context, the subject, the data collection instruments, datacollection procedure and data analysis

Chapter 3 is Results and Discussion In this chapter, the data collected from

the questionnaires are analyzed and categorized The findings of this study will then

be discussed This is used as the cornerstone for the recommendation in the nextchapter

Chapter 4 is Suggestions to teaching reading comprehension In this

chapter, several feasible solutions are suggested to develop students‘ readingcomprehension with regard to the application of critical thinking

Part C: “ CONCLUSION” offers a summary of the findings, limitations

and future directions for further study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents key issues in theories and definitions of criticalthinking with intention to identify its underpinning foundations and application forthis study It is evident that the development of the concept critical thinking in term

of definitions, and models has been mentioned proliferatively in the literature Forthe purpose of streamlining the terms used to refer to the definition, conception andtheory of critical thinking, this study uses the term ― model‖ to represent them Amodel of critical thinking here is refered to as ― a schematic description of asystem, theory, or phenomenon that account for its known or inferred properties andmay be used for further study of its characteristics‖ (The free dictionary 2010)

1.1 Review of models of Critical Thinking in academic research

For a long time, critical thinking has been a disputed and confusing term.Educators and researchers working on critical thinking trying to understand it havebeen faced with a problem: there are numerous models of critical thinking offeringdifferent definitions in the literature Indeed, there is no concensus in definingcritical thinking regardless of ample of research studies have been undertaken Thework of two major researchers Paul and Lipman has also exemplified this issue

The history of the evolution of the critical thinking development wasthoroughly provided recently in the work of Paul (2011) He proposed three waves

of the critical thinking movements since the early 1970s As such, the first wave,represented by philosophers, focused on the theory of logic, argumentation andreasoning The second wave, dominated by cognitive psychologists, focused on

―critical pedagogy‖ The third wave involved work that overcomes the weaknesses

of the first two waves Paul proclaims that the first two waves were seen as twoways of thought about critical thinking According to him, one focused only on thetheoretical aspect of critical thinking and the other merely on the practical aspect

Therefore, Paul proposed the third wave as to fulfill the deficiency of the first twowaves He writes:

The field needs a comprehensive theory of thinking and critical thinking It needs a clear set of intellectual standards It needs an integrated set dispositions It needs a comprehensive concept of logic which accommodates the role of emotion, intuitition, imagination, and values in thinking It needs to make clear leading role

of thinking in the shaping of human feelings and behaviour It needs to provide a framework into which can be set integrated theories of teaching and learning in the widest variety of human contexts It must provide both for the universal elements in reasoning and those which are domain and context-specific (Paul, 2011)

Lipman ( 2013) also contributes a significant discussion on the growth of thecritical thinking movement His contribution to the critical thinking research workwas the examining of reasons behind each movement from the perspectives ofphilosophy, education and pedagogy from the 1980s onwards Both of these tworesearchers also share the common view that there is no consensus of definition forcritical thinking The sections below presents different models in an attempt toprovide a general picture of the notion critical thinking

Due to the complicated nature of critical thinking, it is necessary tounderstand critical thinking as much as possible With regard to the work of Paul(2011) on three waves of critical thinking study, conclusion are made that thesewaves focus on different research agendas and emphasise on different aspects intheir application This is aligned to the relevant important theorists for the study toconsider These waves and theorists are summarized in the table 2.1 as below:

Table 1: Summary of Critical Thinking waves and important wave theorists

(Paul, 2011)

1st wave (1970-1982) Aristotle, Dewey, Glaser, McPerkFormal & informal logic

Reasoning

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2nd wave (1980-1993) Brookfield, Cottrel, Ennis, DelphiCritical thinking across the curriculum report, Lipman

3rd wave (1990- present) Barnett, Ennis, Paul & Elder

Depth and comprehensiveness in Theory

and Practice

Source: Critical Thinking waves and important wave theorists (Paul, 2011)

Paul‘s work was comprehensive and thus evaluated as a good reference forcritical thinking models It is evident from the table mentioned above that manycritical thinking theorists with different emphases have emerged from differentperiods of time However it is not possible to examine all of the models of criticalthinking that fit into three movements in one chapter In addition, it is challenging totry to relate critical thinking theorists according to Paul‘s perspective To be morespecific, the critical thinking model of Ennis is characterized with elements of bothwave two and wave three This shows that some models are actually involving overtime and are not necessarily static

Therefore, in this paper, I only attempt to study selected critical thinkingtheorist, whom I believe has influenced the majority of today‘s educators andstudents These critical thinking theorists are also frequently referred to and cited inthe academic literature and textbooks This means that they are the key criticalthinking theorists, being commonly used in university and higher education

As a result, this study specifically focuses on four models for indepth reviewincluding work of Dewey (2004), Ennis (2011), the Delphi report (1990), Lipman( 2003), and Paul and Elder (2008) It must be noted that the selection of these newmodels inform the study about the variation of ways in which critical thinking isunderstood and perceived in the literature The aim is to draw out the definingnatures of these selected models of critical thinking and identify the commonemphases observed in the models

John Dewey (2004) employs the phrase ― reflective thinking‖ while givingdefinition for the term critical thinking According to him, critical thinking ischaracterized as an active process, an activity that requires careful thought based onthe reasons on which one stands:

Active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds which support it and the further conclusion to which it tends (Dewey, 2004)

Dewey (2004) further explains the term ―reflective thinking‖ as the ability

to put aside judgement, maintain a healthy scepticism and exercise an open mind In

a more detail, critical thinking from perspective of Dewey involves many aspects.First, Dewey asserts that critical thinking refers to an active process in whichstudents are required to think things through, raise questions and search for furtherinformation while facing with a given message or information rather than learningpassively from someone else Second, he considers ―persistent and careful‖thinking in contrast with unreflective thinking in order to highlight what he called

―persist a bit‖, which is considered as an important indicator of critical thinking.Therefore, critical thinking is related with putting aside judgement, maintaing ahealthy scepticism and practicing an open mind These indicators of critical thinkingare referring to dispositions of a critical thinker in the current literature (forexample, the Delphi report) In the paper of Dewey, the two the terms ― attitude‖and ― disposition‖ were used interchangeably

Most significantly, Dewey involves the connection between belief andknowledge with experience It is marked by ―acceptance or rejection of something

as reasonably probable or improbable‖ (Dewey, 2007, p.4) Therefore, it can bewithdrawn from this sense that critical thinking covers both intellectual andreflective ability Students must be able to examine, question and reflect on whatthey have learned As a result, critical thinking from perspective of Dewey is notjust about finding a solution to the problem; it is also a reflection on the process ofderiving the solution based on the knowledge the student has

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Besides Dewey, one of the most widely used definitions of critical thinking

is from Robert Ennis:

Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis, 1987)

Like Dewey, Ennis also employs the term ― reflective thinking‖ involvingwith reflection and reasonableness while giving definition for critical thinking.Besides, he adds ―deciding what to …do‖, implying that there is a decision -making element in the critical thinking process Furthermore, Ennis (1991) suggeststhat in deciding what to believe or do, one employs a set of critical thinkingdispositions and abilities In his most recent revised work in the year 2011, Ennisproposes three basic dispositions for his critical thinking model:

Care that one‘s belief be true, and that one‘s decisions be justified; that is,care to ―get it right‖ to the extent possible;

Care to present a position honestly and clearly, one‘s own as well as others‘;Care about the dignity and worth of every person ( a correlative disposition)

In fact, Ennis‘s dispositions elaborate on those of Dewey above To furtherexamine his description, Ennis is intention to focus ― caring‖ critical thinkers whotake responsibility for their own opinions, beliefs and actions

In addition to dispositions, Ennis also introduces fifteen abilities to describecritical thinkers Among of these abilities are clarification; decision-making;inference; supposition and integration Conclusion can be made that it was not untilEnnis proposed the concept of dispositions that his prior conception of criticalthinking revealed a model of ―skills set‖ Exposed to ciritcal thinking model ofDewey, Ennis‘s model includes additional aspects of critical thinking involvingabilities or skills

The two typical critical thinking models discussed above have somehowdemonstrated its complex nature Each model argues what is core to critical thinkingfrom perspectives of its founders In a detailed examination, however, some of theelements mentioned above have considerable overlaps To illustrate, the

emphasis on relective thinking is observable both in Dewey‘s and Ennis‘ models Inview of this overlapping concern, there was an attempt to synthesise thecontributions from those models Hence, the Delphi report (1990) attempts to reach

an agreement for critical thinking among the theorists Additionally, it also presents

a consensus model for critical thinking, which drawing much attention in latercritical thinking literature

The Delphi report include an interactive pannel of experts, working together

to share their expertise, aiming at a consensus resolution for critical thinking It isimportant to include this report in this chapter because several of the forty-sixexperts involved in this project have been considered and discussed in this chapter.One of the purpose of this project was to achieve a rich and worthy goal: guidingcritical thinking assessment and curriculum and curriculum development at alleducational levels As a result, this report brings in another critical thinking model,presenting on the experts‘ consensus Although the consensus was formulated toestablish a particular foundation for critical thinking models before 1990, this reportcontinues to be well acknowledged

The final consensus statement was as follow:

We understand critical thinking (CT) to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgement which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgement is based CT is essential as a tool of inquiry As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one’s personal and civic life Why not synonymous with good thinking,

CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon The ideal critical thinker

is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgements, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results, which are as precise as the

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subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit Thus, educating good critical thinkers means working toward the this ideal It combines developing CT skills with nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society (Facione, 1990, p.2).

This consensus reveals several key aspects of critical thinking To beginwith, the experts reach an agreement that critical thinking involves both a skillaspect and a dispositional aspect In term of skill, this includes cognitive skills,which can be summarised as: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference,explanation, and self-regulation These are the core skills of critical thinking Eachskill comprises of its own sub-skills (see Table 3 below) and the report attempts toexplain each of them clearly with examples It is important to note that the expertsagreed that it is hard for anyone to apply them all However, the report also suggeststhat one should not consider this as an excuse for eliminating them out of theeducational institution (Delphi, 1990, p.3)

Table 2: Consensus list of CT cognitive skills and sub-skills (Delphi Report

1990, Facione 2013)

Decoding significanceClarifying meaning

Identifying argumentsAnalysing arguments

Assessing arguments

Conjecturing AlternativesDrawing conclusions

Justifying ProceduresPresenting ArgumentationSelf-regulation Self-examination

However, there was a divison in opinion as to whether the affectivedispositions are parts of the meaning of critical thinking Some of them believe thatthe meaning of critical thinking should include affective dimension This group heldthe view that a person who has critical thinking skills but can not use them shouldnot be called a critical thinker On the other hand, some of the experts argue that aperson who uses critical thinking unethically should still be called a critical thinker,but not a ―good‖ critical thinker Despite the separation of opinion on this issue,almost all the experts concur on the importance of the dispositions and suggestedways to cultivate them in students In brief, the Delphi report (1990) attempted toreach a consensus of critical thinking from the theorists with regard to its two keycomponents, namely dispositions and skills

Lipman (2003) argues that critical thinking is ―thinking that facilitates judgementbecause it relies on criteria, is self-correcting, and is sensitive to context‖ (p.212) Thisdefinition seems to be short and succinct, but we need to unpack what Lipman means by

―judgement‖, ―criteria‖, ―self-correcting‖, and ―sensitive to context‖

First, Lipman argues that the outcomes of critical thinking are judgements Heexplains that critical thinking is an applied thinking and its core product is judgement

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According to Lipman, judgement includes problem-solving, decision- making andlearning new things Therefore, critical thinking procudes good judgement.

Lipman (2003) argues that critical thinking relies on criteria A criterion isthis case is defined as ― a rule or principle utilized in the making of judgements‖(p.213), they are bases of comparision (p.215), and as standards, are instrument formaking a judgement, because standards are ― the degree to which a given criterionmust be satisfied‖ (p.217)

Lipman agrees with Dewey (2004) that one should constantly evaluate one‘sown thinking, seeking weaknesses and rectifying what was at fault: i.e criticalthinking is self-correcting Like Dewey (2004), he also suggests that it can beeffective in a community of inquiry when the memebers start to look for and correctone another‘s weaknesses With this claim, Lipman (2003) also advocates thecommunities of inquiry in the classroom, particularly the relationship betweenconversation, dialogue and thinking

Lastly, critical thinking should be sensitive to context, i.e it should recognizeits particularities and uniqueness In other words, it cannot be generalised from onecontext or domain to another

Lipman (2003) also argues that critical thinking is crucial in professionaleducation such as law and medicine He explains that these two professions bothinvolve the application of principles (criteria) to practice (judgement) and requiresensitity to the case (context) and commitment to continual improvement (self-correction) While he does not specifically mention the accounting profession in histext, what he describes is highly appropriate within this profession

Ultimately, Lipman concludes that critical thinking is skillful thinking(p.217) In this view, he also suggests, for education pedagogy, critical thinkingshould not work in isolation; instead it should be ―orchestrated‖ with othercognitive skills such as reasoning skills to draw meaning from judgement He usesthe orchestra as a metaphor: just as there are families of instruments that are needed

to produce a splendid performance, so there are families of thinking skills such as

reasoning skills, deductive skills, and other skills such as reading andcommunication skills which made up good critical thinking.

In summary, Lipman‘s framework highlights two aspects that the other twomodels discussed above do not emphasise The first is the emphasis on thecontextual sensitivity, which means that critical thinking is uniquely applied indifferent contexts The other aspect is that critical thinking is better faciliteted in his

― community of inquiry‖ These two aspects are valid considerations at any level of education Especially when it relates

to a constructivist‘s model of learning

In contrast to Lipman, Philosopher Richard Paul worked with psychologist LindaElder (2008) to develop a critical thinking model that is built on three fundamentalconcepts: elements of reasoning, intellectual standards and intellectual traits

According to his model of critical thinking, all thing can be devided intoelements: purpose, point of view, assumptions, implications, information,inferences, concepts and question at issue Paul and Elder (2012) explain:

Whenever we think, we think for a purpose within a point of view based onassumptions leading to implications and consequences We use concepts, ideas andtheorist to interpret data, facts, and experiences to answer questions, solve problemand resolve issues (p.62)

Elements of intellectual standards such as clarity, accuracy, precision,relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, completeness and faireness can bemeasured in term of thinking Paul and Elder (2012) argue that they are necessary

to evaluate the high quality of thinking

Paul and Elder (2012) also propose that all thinkers should foster intellectualtraits, such as intellectual humility, confidence in reason, intellectual empathy andintellectual integrity Relating them to earlier frameworks, these traits are similar todispositions in essence with different emphasis

This model is distinct in that it defines critical thinking with a strong senseand a weak sense of critical thinking To explain these strong and weak senses ofcritical thinking, it is necessary to consider fair-mindness (Paul and Elder, 2002)

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Paul and Elder (2002, p.17) explain the term ― fair-mindness‖ as:

Fair-mindness entails a consciousness of the need to treat all viewpoints alike, without reference to one’s own feeling or selfish interest of one’s friends, company, community, or nation It implies adherence to intellectual standards (such

as accuracy and sound logic), unifluenced by one’s own advantage or the advantage of one’s group (p.21)

It appears that Paul and Elder‘s framework is concerned with the moralmotive of critical thinking, which may not be so evident in the other modelsdiscussed above Ennis‘s caring dispositions, mentioned above, may echo the sameconcern but not as explicitly as Paul‘s approach

As mentionned earlier, alongside the emphasis on moral consciousness in themodel, Paul and Elder (2008) also point out the skills dimension of critical thinkingwhen they suggest that there are three levels of thought Each level is associatedwith a particular level of skill, reflectivity and the weak or strong sense Forexample, lover order thinking (level 1) is often unreflective; it requires low andmixed skill levels and is largely self-serving On the other hand, the highest orderthinking (level 3) is explicitly reflective; it requires the highest skill level and fair-mindness Paul and Elder futher contend that we need both intellectual skills andintellectual traits in order to think at the highest level

Another aspect of this model is the development stages of critical thinking.This is evident in Paul and Elder‘s earlier explanation of the levels of thoughts,which indicates that critical thinking can be develop from one stage to another.However it is not clear how development takes place

As in previous framework of critical thinking, Paul and Elder (2008) arguethat critical thinking requires an integration of cognitive and affective dimensions,related to the skill and dispositional dimensions

By examing only four key frameworks of key theorist in the area of criticalthinking, it is evident that there are many ways of defining critical thinking, but theyhave some overlapping emphasis With this in mind, the next section show how this

study attempts to summarise what the theorists stress in their respective approaches

of critical thinking

Drawing from the discussion above, this studies identifies and proposes fourcommon key themes or emphases embedded in the models previously considered.These are skills, dispositions, reflection, and social context Table 3 gives summary

of common emphases of each model of critical thinking, which are discussed below

of sub-abilities within these fifteen abilities Indeed, his model of critical thinkinghas put emphasis on skills

The Delphi report (1990) also produced a consensus statement that definedcritical thinking in terms of cognitive skills in interpretation analysis, evaluation,inference, explanation and self-regulation (Facione, 2013) This shows that manycritical thinking theorists agree that skill is one of the core components for criticalthinking Both Ennis (2011) and the Delphi report (1990) listed the variations ofskills and their purposes, which can be evident in their learning outcomes or moduledescriptor from University Education

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Table 4 The cognitive skills and sub-skills of critical thinking defined in Delphi study

Interpretation To comprehend and express the meaning or Categorization

significance of a wide variety of experiences, Decodingsituations, data, events, judgements, conventions, significancebeliefs, rules, procedures or criteria Clarifying meaningAnalysis To identify the intended and actual inferential Examining ideas

relationships among statements, questions, Identifyingconcepts, descriptions or other forms of argumentsrepresentation intended to express beliefs, Analyzingjudgements, experiences, reason, information arguments

or opinions

Evaluation To assess the credibility of statements of Assessing claims

other representations which are accounts or Assessingdescriptions of a person‘s perception, argumentsexperience, situation, judgement, belief, or

opinion; and to access the logical strength ofthe actual or intended inferientalrelationships among statements, descriptions,questions, or other forms of representation

Inference To identify and secure elements needed to Querrying evidence

draw reasonable conclusions; to form Conjecturingconjectures and hypotheses; to consider alternativesrelevant information which might supply that Drawing

Explanation To state the results of one‘s reasoning; to Stating results

justify that reasoning in terms of evidential, Justifyingconceptual, methodological, criteriological Proceduresand contextual considerations upon which Presenting

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one‘s result were based, and to present one‘s Argumentsreasoning in the form of cogent arguments

Self- Self-consciously to monitor one‘s cognitive Self-examinationregulation activities, the elements used in those Self-correction

activities, and the results educed, particularly

by applying skills in analysis an evaluation toone‘s own inferiential judgements with aview towards questioning, confirming,validating, or correcting either one‘sreasoning or one‘s results

Source: Critical thinking cognitive skills and sub-skills (Delphi Report 1990)

Arguably, it is self-evident that the term ―critical thinking‖ involves thinking andreflection Therefore, it is not surprising that some models of critical thinkingemphasise reflection As mentioned earlier, Dewey (2004) calls critical thinking

―reflective thinking‖, which involves suspending judgement, healthy scepticismand an open mind Such reflectivity for Dewey is not a procedural step when oneengages in thinking; it involves ―careful thinking‖, as discussed earlier In otherwords, his emphasis on reflection involves the element of disposition, though hedoes not explicitly mention in this model

Lipman (2003) defines critical thinking as ―thinking that facilitatesjudgement‖ Therefore, critical thinking to him involves thinking and reflection thathelps in solving problems, making decions and learning new things Mostimportantly, Lipman (2003) advocates the self-reflexivity element in his model: thatone should constantly evaluate one‘s own thinking to improve Both Lipman andDewey seem to place significant weight on this reflective aspect of critical thinking

Ennis (2011) also includes reflective thinking in his model together with hissets of skills for one to employ critical thinking This shows that the element ofreflection is another core element in critical thinking besides skills

It is clear that critical thinking involves reflection Some educator wouldargue that critical thinking is a higher order of thinking, and some make explicitreference to Bloom‘s (1956) taxonomy This is understandable, as they consider thatthe mental processes (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) undoubtedly require

―more/deeper/better‖ thinking compared to recalling and understandinginformation Certainly, whether critical thinking should be equal to a higher level ofcritical thinking is another debatable issue However, it is argued that reflection isanother common emphasis that is evident in many models of critical thinking.Further, it is argued that reflection is not merely a thinking process, but calls forcertain dispositions when one engages in critical thinking Therefore, disposition isanother emphasis in many models and is considered next

Drawing from the models above, dispositions seems to suggest behaviours,characters or personalities for critical thinkers Notably, this is a shift in focus from

―critical thinking‖ itself to the ―critical thinker‖ Facione (2000) definesdisposition as ―consistent internal motivations to act toward or respond to persons,events, or circumstances in habitual, yet potentially malleable ways‖ (p.64).Facione‘s (2000) definition is interesting as he suggests that the motivation is anecessary condition for critical thinking skills and abilities In other words, this term

―disposition‖ carries the notion of motivation rather than behaviours, characters orpersonalities in some models

This emphasis on disposition is evident in Ennis‘s, Paul and Elder‘s, andDelphi‘s model All these models emphasise the traits (Paul and Elder‘s model),attitudes (Ennis‘s model Delphi‘s report) In additional, they agree that skills anddispositions are two separate things in critical thinking For example, the Delphi report(1990) differentiates good critical thinking from purely critical thinking skills

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Table 5: Affective dispositions of Critical Thinking Affective dispositions of Critical Thinking Approaches to

life and living in general

Inquisitiveness with regard to a wide range of issues

Concern to become and remain generally well-informed

Alertness to opportunities to use critical thinking

Trust in the processes of reason inquiry

Self-confidence in one‘s own ability to reason

Open-mindedness regarding divergent world views

Flexibility in considering alternatives and opinions

Understanding of the opinions of other people

Fair-mindedness in appraising reasoning

Honesty in facing one‘s own biases, prejudices, stereo-types, egocentric or

sociocentric tendencies

Prudence in suspending, making or altering judgements

Willingness to reconsider and revise reviews where honest reflection suggests that chang is warranted

Approaches to specific issues, questions, or problems

Clarity in stating the question or concern

Orderliness in working with complexity

Deligence in seeking relevant information

Reasonableness in selecting and applying criteria

Care in focusing attention on the concern at hand

Persistence though difficulties are encountered

Precision to the degree permitted by the subject and the circumstance

Source: Facione, P (1990) Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction Research Findings and

Recommendations.

It must be noted that the literature on critical thinking is mainly rooted in twoprimary disiplines, i.e philosophy and psychology Philosophers such as Dewey,Lipman, and Paul focus on the hypothetical ideal critical thinker: on the qualitiesand characteristics of this individual On the other hand, the psychologicalapproach, particular that taken by cognitive psychologists such as Ennis, tend tofocus on how people actualy think: therefore, they define critical thinking as a list ofskills or procedures These key emphases contribute interpretations and insights thatothers do not necessarily share or agree; however, when examined closely, commonthemes are present In view of this, this study would like to suggest that the criticalthinking that has been considered above, especially for educational purposes, could

be summarized in three abroad categories:

Critical thinking as skills

Critical thinking as reflection

Critical thinking as dispositions

An understanding of these areas of agreement provides a better idea of theperceptions of critical thinking in this study With this in mind, the next sectionreview relevant studies relating to students‘ perception of critical thinking

Hatcher (2000) states that a clear conception of critical thinking is integral toeducation This is especially because the conception might differ according to thecontext in which it is used Without a clear understanding of the concept of criticalthinking, educators who endeavor to teach and measure will face difficulties Inreading, for example, Yousefi and Mohammedi (2016) argues that there was asignificant relationship between critical thinking and reading comprehension Also aclear understanding of how critical thinking applies and relates to reading isimportant before both critical and reading skills can be developed and assessed

How critical thinking is conceptualised determines the content of a courseand the course assessment What to include and exclude from a course in criticalthinking tends to vary if there is no agreement among teachers over what constitutescritical thinking

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1.2 Reading comprehension in a foreign language

Reading itself is associated with numerous issues Therefore, I have no intention

to fully cover such a vast topic In this section, I would like to focus mainly on differentdefinitions of reading, the role of reading and classification of reading

―reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information encoded inlanguage form via print‖(cited in Carrell & Grabe, 2002, p 234) Carrell and Grabe(2002) declare that, this definition does not reveal all the components which arerequired during the cognitive process of reading They state that a definition ofreading requires phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and discourselevel The reader should also be engaged in goal setting, text summary building,interpretive elaborating from knowledge resources, monitoring and assessment ofgoal achievement, making various adjustments to enhance comprehension, andmaking repairs to comprehension processing as needed

1.2.2 Importance of Reading Comprehension

Renandya & Jacobs (2002) asserted that in many parts of the world readingknowledge of a foreign language is often important in academic studies,professional success, and personal development This is specifically true of Englishbecause much professional, technical, and scientific literature is published inEnglish today Emphasizing the importance of reading, Farhady (1998) argues thatsince the language of science and technology is often English, reading in Englishhas received priority among other objectives of English language teaching Hereasons that the main goal of teaching English in many countries of the world,especially within the educational program, is set to improve the reading ability ofthe students in order to enable them to extract incoming information from theEnglish sources in their field of study In the same line, Richards and Renandya(2002) assume that there are a numbers of reasons for the fact that reading receives

a special focus in many second or foreign language situation First, many foreignlanguage students often have reading as one of their most important goal They want

to be able to read for information and pleasure, for their career, and for their studypurposes In fact, in most EFL/ESL situations, the ability to read in a foreignlanguage is the most important goal of language learners Second, written textsserve various pedagogical purposes Extensive exposure to linguisticallycomprehensible written texts can improve the process of language acquisition Goodreading texts also provide good models for writing, and provide opportunities tostudy language (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, and idioms) Reading, then, is a skillwhich is highly valued by students and teachers alike

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comprehension According to Carrell, and Carson, (1997) in terms of differentpurposes, skills and strategies used by learners while reading we have two maintypes of reading which are intensive reading and extensive reading.

Intensive reading denotes careful reading aiming at discovering exactly whatthe author seeks to convey Often reading for information readers need tounderstand linguistic and semantic details and pay close attention to the text

‗Intensive reading involves approaching the text under the close guidance of theteacher or under the guidance of task which forces the students to pay greatattention to the text‘ (Nuttall, 1996)

Richards (1992) described extensive reading as reading in quantity and inorder to get the overall understanding of what is read Extensive reading is oftenreading for pleasure With respect to the importance of extensive reading, Grable(1995) has drawn up on the work of, among other, Elley (1991); Krashen (2004);Stanovich and Cunningham (1993) that extensive reading can or may contribute toeffective reading According to Grable (1995), extensive reading helps developability in word recognition both in quantity and quality The more extensivelystudents read, the larger and more automatic recognition vocabulary students willgain Additionally, extensive reading is considered a key resource for buildingstudents‘ motivation once students are ‗hooked‘ (Grable, 1995) Once students aremotivated to read they read more and more new materials in other domains andlearning new information Consequently, their general background knowledgewould be positively influenced This is a two-way process described as the Mattheweffects: ―the rich gets richer‖ Grable (1995) believed that reading extensivelypromotes students‘ reading comprehension proficiency as well as other languageskills especially writing Reading in a great deal, moreover, may be the onlygenuine way for students to develop and maintain reading strategies and becomemore strategic readers To conclude, in broad terms extensive reading is essentialfor developing the ability ‗to read to learn‘, a major goal for academically-oriented

instruction and a key means for students to continue learning a second language ontheir own when their teachers finish instruction.

Intensive reading and extensive reading, however, are not exclusive Nuttall(1996) reminded us that ―intensive reading and extensive reading arecomplementary and both are necessary‖(Nuttall, 1996, p.23) According to Carrelland Carson (1997) Intensive reading with a focus on skills/ strategies instruction hasbeen shown to yield positive effects on second language reading At the same time,students need the practice of extensive reading in order to orchestrate, coordinateand apply intensive acquired skills/ strategies over the larger texts and multiplereading sources that are required in all academic course work

In a few years recently, the field of research on reading comprehension andcritical thinking has received much attention and became a popular area in cognitivepsychology Modern cognitivists have promoted new trends and theories thatprovide theoretical models for explaining and conceptualizing readingcomprehension by utilizing a set of related concepts, such as critical thinking, priorknowledge, inference-making, and metacognitive skills (Limbach and Waugh, 2010and Zabit, 2010) Among these trends is schema theory, which is considered to be atheory about knowledge: how knowledge is represented and organized, and howthat representation and organization facilitates the use of a reader‘s prior knowledge

to improve reading comprehension A schema is the organized knowledge that onehas about people, objects, places, events, processes, concepts, and virtuallyeverything that provides a basis for learning (Rumelhart, 1984) Bos and Anders(1990) stated that, ―Schema theory explains how knowledge is structured inmemory and how these structures affect incoming information‖ (p.49) Andersonand Wilson (1986) indicated that schema theory explains how people‘s existingknowledge affects comprehension

Critical thinking can be considered as means to activate or construct schema.Norris and Phillips (2008) indicate that critical thinking provides an explanation foractivating existing schemata and for constructing new ones by contrasting ideas and

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engaging in reflective thinking McNeil (1992) asserts that schema theory hasspecial relevance for teachers of reading comprehension in that it questions thetraditional view that students should learn to reproduce the statements being read inthe text In contrast to this older view of reading comprehension, schema theorystresses an interactive approach that views teaching reading comprehension as aprocess, meaning that students are taught techniques for processing text, such asmaking inference, activating prior knowledge, and using critical thinking (Aloqaili,2005a and Orbea and Villabeitia, 2010).

Tierney and Pearson (1986) explain that schema theory has the majorinfluence on new views of reading and reading comprehension They stated that:

New views have forced us to rethink the act of reading For a long time we thought reading was the reproduction of the ideas on the page; our goal was to have students produce a “photocopy” of the page Schema theory has moved us away from a reproductive view to a constructive view In that view, the reader, rather than the text moves to the center of the construction process (p 3).

According to schema theory, there are no definitive or final conclusions thatcan be reached for the text (Yu-hui et al., 2010) That is, schema theory deals withthe reading comprehension as an interactive process between readers‘ priorknowledge and the text being read Sometimes a reader may end up with a differentunderstanding, based on his or her total previous experiences: their richness orpaucity Therefore a reader with a rich background will comprehend better than onewho has a poorer background In short, schema theory believes in open text orcontext For the purpose of the study, reading comprehension can be defined as themeaning constructed as a result of the complex and interactive processes relating areader‘s critical thinking, prior knowledge, and inference-making

With regard to relationship between critical thinking and reading, as it wasmentioned in Brookfield (1997, p 18), ―critical thinking is ―irrevocably contextbound… and learning to think critically is an irreducibly social process‖ Thisstatement supports what was mentioned in the previous section regarding how the