چکیده:
During the last decades various researchers noticed that the traditional approaches to teaching had failed to teach learners to their utmost actual ability, therefore they put great efforts into developing post-modernist approaches and techniques such as critical thinking (CT) and cooperative learning (CL) for improving learning. The present study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effect of practicing CL and CT skills on EFL learners’ writing in a process-based approach to writing on EFL learners’ writing. Sixty Iranian female EFL learners at the intermediate level of English proficiency at Kish Language School were selected among a total number of 90 based on their performance on the Preliminary English Test (PET) and randomly assigned into two groups of CL and CT. Then the researchers administered an argumentative paragraph writing test to ensure the homogeneity of the two groups regarding argumentative writing before the treatment. Both groups were taught the same content through process-based approach throughout the 20-session treatment. Finally, the participants took a paragraph writing posttest including three writing prompts in argumentative genre. The mean scores of the two groups on the posttest were compared through an independent samples t-test. The results led to the rejection of the null hypothesis with the conclusion that CT instruction was significantly more effective than CL in improving EFL learners’ argumentative paragraph writing.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"The Comparative Effect of Practicing Cooperative Learning and Critical Thinking on EFL Learners’ Writing Mona Khabiri* Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch Mina Firooz** M.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Considering the importance of improving EFL learners’ writing ability in today’s world where writing in English is needed in many daily activities, even in a foreign language learning context, it seems that CL activities, CT skills, and process writing in the instruction of writing are among the factors that may contribute to the development of desirable writing outcomes.
In other words, this study attempted to answer the following research question: Is there any significant difference between the effect of practicing cooperative learning and critical thinking techniques in a process- based approach to writing on EFL learners’ argumentative writing?
Then the researcher non-randomly selected 90 students at the intermediate level of Kish Language School to take the piloted sample of PET which was administered to homogenize the participants regarding their general English proficiency before the study, as the result of which 60 participants whose scores fell between one standard deviation above and below the sample mean were selected as the participants and were randomly assigned to the CT group and the CL group.
By means of CT instruction and the procedure of this study language teachers can engage learners in the process of writing more effectively by letting them think more logically and analyze the topic more critically which in turn enables the learners to develop more reasoned arguments in a more coherent way."