3. Findings and analyses During the experiment, the bachelor students of major “Two Foreign Languages” were asked
for cooperation. They were given 1 activity for improving a critical thinking skill and 1 exercise for
learning Past Perfect Tense via context. The whole period for experiment took 1 week. The number
of students in group is 15. The level required for these tasks is B1. The level of the class is B1. So,
all the requirements were met.
Activity #1. Aim: To get aware of critical thinking There was the statement to read “The government has to tax the rich to help the poor people.”.
1. Everyone had to work individually. Then, they were given a list of possible answers from
A to G. Students were expected to provoke a reaction and give an opinion whether they agreed with
it or not and to leave arguments for their answers if possible.
2. After they all replied, the answer key was provided to show to what extent their critical
thinking was developed.
Possible answers:
A. I am not interested in this topic.
B. I agree with this statement. That’s
true.
C. I don’t agree with this it. I think
differently.
D. I am not sure whether I agree or
disagree.
E. I can say I agree more than disagree.
F. I agree because…
G. I disagree because…
Results: Answer key:
A. You are not curious enough. You
have to learn how to share your opinion. No
matter the topic is exciting or not, everyone
has his opinion. (50%)
B, C.
You have strong opinion but
not enough courage to state your word with
arguments and facts. (80% and 60%
respectively)
D, E.
This is an easy answer. But to
be critical thinker, you better be more stable.
(40%)
F, G. You are doing a good step towards
being a critical thinker!
(100%)
Most of students (8) chose variant C. No one went for variant F. It supposed to mean, that
many students don’t agree with the given statement. However, they didn’t try to give any
explanation. This is a clear proof for the lack of the tasks that aim the refining of critical thinking.
Compared to people who agree, someone who doesn’t agree with the topic of discussion always has
arguments for his thinking.
