The Relationship between Critical Thinking and EFL Learners’ Speaking Ability

Abstract

The current study sought to investigate the relationship between critical thinking and speaking ability among EFL students at Payame Noor University (PNU) of Rasht. This research concerned determining the fact that whether language students who are as critical thinker, perform better in their speaking ability or not. In order to answer the research question and test the hypothesis, 100 PNU English students were selected by applying IELTS speaking test as the samples of this study. Then in order to figure out critical and uncritical learners, Lauren Starkey Critical Thinking Test including 30-multiple choice item was administered to the participants. After that, based on the obtained data and due to lack of normal distribution, Spearman non-parametric correlation was employed. The findings of the current study revealed a significant correlation coefficient among these two major variables. In fact, those English learners who were recognized as critical thinkers performed better in their speaking.

The Influence of Students' Creativity to Construct Sentences toward Their Speaking Skill

“…Thestudy conducted by Baghaei and Riasati (2013) suggests that the the creativity of the teachers may affect the achievement of students. Additionally, Ramezani, Larsari, and Kiasi (2016) find that English learners having higher critical thinking had better speaking skill.…”

“…Therefore, this research focuses on the neglected influence of students' creativity to construct sentences toward their speaking skill. Trivedi and Bhargava (2010), Baghaei and Riasati (2013), and Ramezani, Larsari, and Kiasi (2016) have found the significant relation between the creativity and the students' achievement. Trivedi and Bhargava (2010) in their study found that adolesences who have high achievement have higher level of creativity than those who have low achievement.…”

“…This quasi experimental research discusses whether or not the students who have high creativity have high speaking skill.Some researchers have conducted the research about the relationship between the creativity and the students' achievement (e.g. Trivedi and Bhargava (2010), Baghaei and Riasati (2013), and Ramezani, Larsari, and Kiasi (2016)). However, a few researchers focused on the students' creativity toward their speaking skill.…”

“…Therefore, It is very important to teach English as Foreign Language (EFL) to Indonesian students. Ramezani, Larsari, and Kiasi (2016) Reading, then, takes place when they read the materials of the speaking topics. Meanwhile, students learn writing skill happens when they write their ideas and thoughts or scripts to prepare their talk.…”

Untitled

“…Students who apply critical thinking skills tend to have thoughtful approach to their course, produce more challenging questions, and engage the pedagogical process profoundly (Murawski, 2014). Therefore, students who can make decision logically and confidently show better speaking performance (Sanavi & Tarighat, 2014;Ramezani, Larsari, & Kiasi, 2016;Bagheri, 2018). In other words, engineering students' critical thinking can be developed by applying problembased learning to encourage the improvement of speaking ability.…”