Developing critical thinking through the use of questions : an empirical research

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on the use of high cognitive questions, as a learner strategy in developing critical thinking skills, as well as facilitating comprehension and production of the second language among non-native second language students. The use of high cognitive questions in non-native student discussions was examined. The focus of the study was to determine whether there is a statistically significant mean difference in students' comprehension and production of the second language and critical thinking skills when they were exposed to questioning treatments. Two groups of 10 non-native Malaysian students participated. One group was trained in incorporating high cognitive questions in group discussions while the other was not. Following this, both groups read a text, discussed and then summarized it. The discussion was recorded for transcription. The summaries were rated by two English teachers using the Communicative Profile Scale evaluation instrument to assess the students' performance in the second language. The transcribed discussions were assessed using the UNCG (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) evaluation instrument to investigate the students' critical thinking abilities, which were the ability to 'analyze and interpret', 'draw logical inferences', 'evaluate and justify inferences', 'make deductive and inductive reasoning'. Paired T-tests were used to interpret the results. The study showed that, the experimental group demonstrated a higher performance in their comprehension and production of the second language compared to the control group. The experimental group also demonstrated better results in their critical thinking abilities than the control group. It is, therefore, suggested that teachers should use high cognitive questions to help increase second language students' understanding and production of the language as well as develop their critical thinking skills.