Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment

Argumentative writing has been recognized as an essential skill expected of tertiary level students. However, many students do not display critical thinking in their language skills such as argumentative writing, and most instructors have yet to fully consider the major role of critical thinking in...

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Main Author:	Shahsavar, Zahra
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Critical thinking - Study and teaching (Higher) Report writing Persuasion (Rhetoric)
Online Access:	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/27844/1/FBMK%202012%2021R.pdf
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id	my-upm-ir.27844
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-upm-ir.278442015-02-05T03:31:58Z Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment 2012-07 Shahsavar, Zahra Argumentative writing has been recognized as an essential skill expected of tertiary level students. However, many students do not display critical thinking in their language skills such as argumentative writing, and most instructors have yet to fully consider the major role of critical thinking in students’ writing. This study aimed to develop critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment. The study employs a mixed-method research design to integrate quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysi . Participants were an intact class of tertiary level students enrolled in an obligatory course. In the quantitative data collection and analysis, a quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of critical thinking skill training and field-dependency on the students’ extent of critical thinking shown in argumentative writing on the blog and their perception of the course blog before and after the training. The Group Embedded Figure Test was used to identify and categorize the students into field-dependent or field-independent. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X and the Course Blog Perception Questionnaire were used to assess students’ critical thinking ability and perception of the course blog respectively. Results showed that field dependency did not have a significant effect on students’ criticalness on their blogging; however, field independent students seemed to take more thought in asking critical questions. Moreover, the critical thinking skill training had a significant positive effect on students’ perception of the course blog. Besides, both field dependent and field independent students perceived that using the course blog was effective in improving their writing skill. In the qualitative data collection and analysis, a text analysis approach was employed. Students’ blog posts and comments were collected and analyzed by applying two critical thinking assessment models: Newman, Webb, and Cochrane’s (1996) critical thinking model, and Paul and Elder’s (2007) Universal Intellectual Standard model. The results revealed that the critical thinking skill training did cause the significant increase in students’ critical thinking ability in their blogging that might have led to their improved argumentative writing skill. The triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative analyses further supported the conclusion that critical thinking skills can be trained and the training can make a significant improvement on students’ critical thinking ability. The study suggests a new method of training critical thinking skills in a blended learning environment to improve students’ argumentative writing. Critical thinking training applied in this study can be considered effective and educators may adopt it to promote critical thinking among students. If students learn the skill and language of critical thinking, they can apply it not only in their argumentative writing, but also into every subject they take and every discussion they engage in. Critical thinking - Study and teaching (Higher) Report writing Persuasion (Rhetoric) 2012-07 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/27844/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/27844/1/FBMK%202012%2021R.pdf application/pdf en public phd doctoral Universiti Putra Malaysia Critical thinking - Study and teaching (Higher) Report writing Persuasion (Rhetoric) Faculty of Modern Language and Communication
institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection	PSAS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	Critical thinking - Study and teaching (Higher) Report writing Persuasion (Rhetoric)
spellingShingle	Critical thinking - Study and teaching (Higher) Report writing Persuasion (Rhetoric) Shahsavar, Zahra Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
description	Argumentative writing has been recognized as an essential skill expected of tertiary level students. However, many students do not display critical thinking in their language skills such as argumentative writing, and most instructors have yet to fully consider the major role of critical thinking in students’ writing. This study aimed to develop critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment. The study employs a mixed-method research design to integrate quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysi . Participants were an intact class of tertiary level students enrolled in an obligatory course. In the quantitative data collection and analysis, a quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of critical thinking skill training and field-dependency on the students’ extent of critical thinking shown in argumentative writing on the blog and their perception of the course blog before and after the training. The Group Embedded Figure Test was used to identify and categorize the students into field-dependent or field-independent. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X and the Course Blog Perception Questionnaire were used to assess students’ critical thinking ability and perception of the course blog respectively. Results showed that field dependency did not have a significant effect on students’ criticalness on their blogging; however, field independent students seemed to take more thought in asking critical questions. Moreover, the critical thinking skill training had a significant positive effect on students’ perception of the course blog. Besides, both field dependent and field independent students perceived that using the course blog was effective in improving their writing skill. In the qualitative data collection and analysis, a text analysis approach was employed. Students’ blog posts and comments were collected and analyzed by applying two critical thinking assessment models: Newman, Webb, and Cochrane’s (1996) critical thinking model, and Paul and Elder’s (2007) Universal Intellectual Standard model. The results revealed that the critical thinking skill training did cause the significant increase in students’ critical thinking ability in their blogging that might have led to their improved argumentative writing skill. The triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative analyses further supported the conclusion that critical thinking skills can be trained and the training can make a significant improvement on students’ critical thinking ability. The study suggests a new method of training critical thinking skills in a blended learning environment to improve students’ argumentative writing. Critical thinking training applied in this study can be considered effective and educators may adopt it to promote critical thinking among students. If students learn the skill and language of critical thinking, they can apply it not only in their argumentative writing, but also into every subject they take and every discussion they engage in.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Shahsavar, Zahra
author_facet	Shahsavar, Zahra
author_sort	Shahsavar, Zahra
title	Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
title_short	Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
title_full	Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
title_fullStr	Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
title_full_unstemmed	Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
title_sort	developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment
granting_institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
granting_department	Faculty of Modern Language and Communication
publishDate	2012
url	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/27844/1/FBMK%202012%2021R.pdf
_version_	1747811601729191936

Developing critical thinking skills in the argumentative writing of tertiary level students in a blended learning environment

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