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Presenter
Mansoor Fahim, PhD.
Author's affiliation: Khatam University
Second author: Maryam Saiepour, M.A.
Author's affiliation: Khatam University
Iran

Title
Title of the paper: The Impact of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills on Reading Comprehension to Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract
In line with the studies in EFL/ESL contexts confirming the positive relationship between critical thinking ability and language proficiency, this study investigated the impact of teaching critical thinking skills, that is, the influence of debate on reading comprehension ability, as well as the effect of debate on critical thinking of EFL learners. For this purpose, 60 intermediate students were selected and assigned to two experimental and control groups after being homogenized through Nelson test. Afterwards, a validated reading comprehension test and Peter Honey's (2004) critical thinking appraisal test were administered to the two groups to measure their reading comprehension and critical thinking ability before the treatment. During the term the experimental group received 8 sessions of treatment debating highly controversial issues as a classroom activity. In order to compare the two groups, they were given the same tests as a posttest. The result of the analysis of collected data through t-test showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group significantly on reading comprehension. The mean scores of experimental and control groups in reading comprehension on the pretest were 19.13 and 18.90 respectively, while on the posttest this amount raised to 21.67 and 19.23. That is, the difference between pretest and posttest of experimental group was 2.54 which is considered significant. The analysis in relation to the effect of debate on critical thinking, however, did not indicate a significant difference between the two groups. The mean scores of the experimental and control groups on pretest were 96.10 and 97.83 respectively, while on posttest it was 98.50 and 96.37. The difference between pre/posttest of experimental group on critical thinking was 2.40 which is considered non significant. Despite the fact that the experimental group did not outscore the control group significantly, considering all the limitations and restrictions imposed on the study, the significant gain on their reading comprehension test, as well as the difference in their mean scores with the control group on critical thinking appraisal test indicate the positive effect of applying critical thinking skills on language learning. The findings have implications for syllabus and material designers, test developers, teacher trainers, teachers and students' practice in EFL/ESL classrooms.