The Impact of Implementing Critical Appraisal on EFL Teachers’ Data Analysis Knowledge

Subject Areas :

Alireza Zaker ¹ , Mania Nosratinia ² , Parviz Birjandi ³ , Massood Yazdani Moghaddam ⁴

1 - English Department, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - English Department, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of English Language, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran

Received: 2019-04-10 Accepted : 2019-09-19 Published : 2020-09-01

Keywords: quantitative research, teacher training, Critical appraisal, research literacy, data analysis knowledge,

Abstract :

Condemning a laissez faire approach to English Language Teaching (ELT), English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher trainers unanimously agree that the building blocks of teachers’ teaching framework are profoundly influenced by conducting research. Focusing on quantitative research, this study endeavored to scrutinize the impact of the Critical Appraisal of Published Research (CAPR) in undergraduate teacher training programs on EFL teachers’ Data Analysis Knowledge (DAK). To this objective, 30 male and female EFL teachers were non-randomly selected and randomly assigned to two groups. In two Research classes, the experimental group received the CAPR whereas the control group received traditional teacher-centered instruction with summative assessment. The DAK section of the Quantitative Research Literacy (QRL) questionnaire was employed as the pretest and posttest. Subsequent to corroborating participants’ pre-treatment homogeneity in terms of DAK, analyzing the post-treatment data through running an independent-samples t-test, eta squared = .338 (representing a large effect size), indicated the existence of a significant difference in the post-treatment DAK scores between the two groups. The obtained results confirmed that the CAPR has a significantly better impact on EFL teachers’ DAK which is a key area of QRL. Therefore, it seems accurate to argue that ELT teacher training programs should endeavor to involve the students in a mentally engaging process, e.g. CAPR, where the content of the course is put into practice by the students, something which is required for balancing the concrete and the abstract.