The Role of Critical Sociological Thinking on Young Iranian Advanced EFL Learners' Ingenuity of English Conversation
Subject Areas : Sociological Studies of YouthMaryam Kaviani 1 , Sahar Mahdavi 2
1 - Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, Department of English, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
2 - MA in Psychology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
Keywords: critical thinking, EFL learners, English conversation, Young Iranian, Advanced,
Abstract :
This study considered the critical sociological thinking impact on teaching conversation among young Iranian advanced EFL learners. For this purpose, 40 advanced learners, 17-35 years old, were chosen after administering a nonprobability sampling design from classes at Foreign Language Institute in Babolsar, Iran. These 40 participants were randomly allocated to two groups (one experimental and one control group) each comprising of 20 persons. The participants received a pre-test connected to English conversation separately to ensure that they failed to have previous knowledge. The experimental group received the treatment associated with critical sociological thinking to learn conversation. Then the participants were asked to answer related IELTS Speaking Test. But the control group just received the usual instructions as before. After the treatments, the same pre-test was given to the participants as post-test to evaluate the effect of treatment. After collecting and analyzing the data, the results indicated that critical sociological thinking had a positive effect on teaching conversation in English. The findings of this research can be used in methodological issues.
Akatsuka, Y. (2019). Awareness of critical thinking attitudes and English speaking skills: The effects of questions involving higher-order thinking. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 23(2), 59-84. doi.org/10.25256/PAAL.23.2.4
Atagi, R. (2002). The Thailand educational reform project: School reform policy. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
Baker, P.l J. (1981). Learning sociology and assessing critical thinking. Teaching Sociology, 8, 325-363.
Browne, M. Neil and James L. Litwin. (1987). Critical thinking in the sociology classroom: Facilitating movement from vague objective to explicit achievement." Teaching Sociology, 15, 384-391.
Buranapatana, M. (2006). Enhancing critical thinking of undergraduate Thai students through dialogic inquiry. Canberra: University of Canberra.
Chalak, A. Kassaian, Z. (2010). Motivation and attitudes of Iranian undergraduate EFL students towards learning English. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 10(2), 37-56.
Choy, S., & Cheah, P. (2009). Teacher perceptions of critical thinking among students and its influence on higher education. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2, 198-206.
Curtis, E., Martin, R. & Broadley, T. (2019). Reviewing the purpose of professional experience: A case study in initial teacher education reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 83, 77-86. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2019.03.017
David, S. & Hachen, J.R. (2000). Sociology in action: Cases for critical and sociological thinking. US: Sage Publication.
Fakeye, D. (2010).Students' personal variables as correlates of academic achievement in English as a second language in Niegeria. Journal of Social Sciences, 22(3), 205-211.
Geertsen, R. (2003a). Rethinking thinking about higher-level thinking. Teaching Sociology 31, 1-19.
Genc, B. & Bada, E. (2005). Culture in language learning and teaching. The Reading Matrix. 5(1), 73-84.
Goldsmid, C. A. & Everett, K. W. (1980) . Passing on Sociology: The Teaching of a Discipline. Washington, DC: ASA Teaching Resource Center.
Gomleksiz, M. N. (2010). An evaluation of students' attitudes toward English language learning in terms of several variables. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 913-918.
Grauerholz, L. , & Bouma-Holtrop, Sh. (2003). Exploring crtical sociological thinking. Teaching Sociology, 31, 485-496.
Green, Charles S. III and Hadley G. Klug. 1990. Teaching Critical Thinking and Writing through Debates: An Experimental Evaluation. Teaching Sociology, 18, 462-71.
Halpern, D. F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Dispositions, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist, 53 (4), 449- 455.
Hashemi, M. R., & Zabihi, R. (2010). Does critical thinking enhance EFL learners' receptive skills? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(1), 172-179.
Helegson, M. & Steven, B. (2007). Practical English language teaching. US: McGraw-Hill.
Kaviani, M. & Mashhadi Heidar, D. (2020). The effectiveness of critical thinking on enhancing productive skills among Iranian EFL pre-intermediate learners. Applied Research on English Language, 9(3), 303-324.
Kumagai, Y. (1994). The effects of culture on language learning and ways of communication: The Japanese case. Massachusetts: Center for International Education.
Macaro, E. (2007). Language learner strategies: Adhering to a theoretical framework. Language Learning Journal, 35(2), 239-243.
Mills, S. (2015). Language, culture, and politeness. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and culture (pp. 129–140). London: Routledge.
Nemat Tabrizi, A.R., & Mohammadi, M. (2015). The relationship between Iranian EFL teachers' critical thinking and their teaching styles. Journal of Education and Literature, 3(3), 121-130.
Okuyama, N. (2018). Jiki gakushuu shidoyoryo ga chuto kyoiku to daigaku niataeru eikyo: Kokusai baccalaureate to England no curriculum tono kanren-sei 2017 nendo zenkoku taikai kyoiku renkeibukai hokoku. [The impacts of the revised Japanese national curriculum: Relationships between the IB and UK English curriculum]. The Journal of JEGCE, 5(2). 68–69.
Osman, N. (2015). Exploring strategic thinking skills in process-oriented task in ESL classroom. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 171, 937-944.
Ruminski, Henry J. and William E. Hanks. (1995). Critical thinking lacks definition and uniform evaluation criteria. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 50, 4-11.
Semerci, C. (2011). The relationships between achievements focused motivation and critical thinking. African Journal of Business Management, 5 (15), 6180- 6185.
Shams, M. (2008). Students' attitudes, motivation and anxiety towards English language learning. Journal of Research, 2(2), 121-144.
Swarbrick, A. (2002). Aspects of teaching secondary modern foreign languages: Perspectives on practice. London: New York: The Open University Press.
Taghva, F., Rezaei, N., Ghaderi, J., & Taghva, R. (2014). Studying the relationship between critical thinking skills and students' educational achievement (Eghlid Universities as case study). International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 25, 18-25.
Zohrabi, M. & Shokrzadeh, A. (2017). Process-oriented listening instruction: A study of Iranian EFL teachers’ stated and actual practices. Journal of Teaching Language Skills (JTLS), 36(3), 145-174.