Effects of using inquiry-based learning on EFL students’ critical thinking skills

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students’ critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental design which employed time series design with single group participants was used. A total of 20 EFL undergraduate students who took advanced writing skills course were selected using comprehensive sampling method. Tests, focus group discussion, and student-reflective journal were used to gather data on the students’ critical thinking skills. The participants were given a series of three argumentative essay writing pretests both before and after the intervention, inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction. While the quantitative data were analyzed using One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA, the qualitative data were analyzed through narration. The findings of the study revealed that using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction enhances students’ critical thinking skills. Therefore, inquiry-based instruction is suggested as a means to improve students’ critical thinking skills because the method enhances students' interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation skills which are the core critical thinking skills.

Boosting EFL Learners Critical Thinking through Guided Discovery: a Classroom- Oriented Research on First-Year Master Students

“…They further claim that the method of discovery allows learners to recognize essential structures or concepts for a discipline through active cognitive involvement. Besides, Wale and Bishaw (2020) maintained that ELT material developers need to consider the discovery approach to design inquiry-based learning activities so that students develop critical thinking skills.…”

Boosting EFL Learners Critical Thinking through Guided Discovery: A Classroom-Oriented Research on First-Year Master Students

“…Researchers conducted few studies on the utility of guided discovery model to enhance EFL learners' critical thinking. Wale and Bishaw (2020) maintained that inquiry-based instruction improved EFL students' critical thinking skills. They justified that the inquiry process incorporated activity-oriented method and collaboration.…”

Impact of Inquiry Learning Method on the Grammatical Accuracy of Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing

“…The results of collecting data showed that inquiry-based teaching had a positive impact on increasing those EFL and ESL learners' motivation. Wale and Bishaw (2020) considered the impact of utilizing the IBL on learners' critical skills. The design of the study was quasi-experimental and participants were 20 EFL learners who took advanced writing skills courses.…”

“…The results revealed that the inquiry learning method increased the critical thinking of the subjects. Although several works (Abdi, 2014;Al-Wadi, 2018;Nurtalina, 2013;Wale & Bishaw, 2020) have been done about inquiry-based language teaching, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, very few studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of the inquiry learning method on the grammatical accuracy of Iranian EFL learners' writing. Therefore, this research aims to consider the impact of the inquiry learning method on the grammatical accuracy of Iranian EFL learners' writing.…”