Jordanian TEFL Graduate Students' Use of Critical Thinking Skills (as Measured by the Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z)

Abstract

This study investigates the critical thinking skills of 50 students currently enrolled in the Master's TEFL Programme at Yarmouk University, Jordan. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, Level Z is utilised to test the students' use, or lack thereof, of the critical thinking skills of deduction, semantics, credibility, induction, definition and assumption identification, and assumption identification. The effect of the variables of gender, age and grade point average on the students' critical thinking abilities is also investigated. The findings reveal that the respondents performed quite poorly on the test. Gender, age and grade point average were all found to have an effect. Male students outperformed female students. However, while older male students outperformed younger ones, younger female students outperformed their older counterparts. Respondents with higher grade point averages scored better on the test. The findings have implications for TEFL education in Jordan and other similar contexts. As teachers can be highly influential in creating a classroom environment that promotes critical thinking, they need to be informed about the importance of developing their students' critical thinking skills. To make this possible, EFL teachers should be allowed pre-service and in-service training opportunities to encourage the development of critical thinking.

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