Implementation of the components of critical thinking in an English 101 course in the First Year English Program at Bilkent University

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buir.advisorSnyder, William E.
dc.contributor.authorİrfaner, Semih
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-01T11:12:30Z
dc.date.available2016-07-01T11:12:30Z
dc.date.issued2002
dc.departmentM.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Languageen_US
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of article.en_US
dc.description.abstractCritical thinking has been a controversial topic in the field of education over several decades. The idea behind it is that in order to become more valuable members of society, students have to be encouraged to think and be taught how to use the information gained in classes. Courses should include not only content to be learned but also the opportunity for students to question what they learn. Students should be able to implement the learning, not only within the academic atmosphere but also in the larger society. The objective of this study was to investigate one teacher’s implementation of the components of critical thinking through written assignments in one Eng 101 class offered in the First Year English Program (F.Y.E.P). at Bilkent University. The study investigated to what extent the instructor was able to understand and implement the components of critical thinking included in the F.Y.E.P. curriculum and to analyze the students’ implementation of those components in their essays. Interviews were conducted with the course instructor, two students, and the director during the spring semester of the 2001-2002 academic year at Bilkent University. The course instructor and the students were interviewed eight times, and the director was interviewed once. The focus of seven of the instructor and student interviews were essays written by the students in the course. The purpose of the instructor interviews was to elicit her definition of the components of critical thinking, and her subsequent evaluation of these in the student essays. The purpose of the student interviews was to elicit their understanding of the expectations for each writing assignment in regard to the components of critical thinking, how well they felt they had met the critical thinking goals in each assignment, and the process they went through while completing their assignments. The purpose of the director interview was to collect the F.Y.E.P. departmental goals for critical thinking. In addition to the interviews, the course instructor was given a form whose aim was, first, to record the instructor’s plans for implementing the departmental critical thinking goals within the lessons and then the accomplishment of these planned activities during the lessons. The data collected through interviews and instructor forms were analyzed through categorization based on the course instructor’s understanding of the components of the critical thinking and her expectations of student use of these components of critical thinking. The data results indicate that the instructor does not have a fully developed definition that she can express but rather operationalizes her internal understanding through expressing expectations for student performance. The instructor’s final list of components of critical thinking compiled for discussion during the interviews was more extensive than the one given in the initial interview but contained the same components as those listed by the Director and in curriculum guidelines. The results also indicated that the students appeared to understand what some of the critical thinking components were and the main instructor expectations for each assignment, showing convergence through a series of drafts in terms of implementing them in the writing assignments. Students were able to use some of these critical thinking components in their assignments while performing the task assigned. At the end of the semester, the instructor reported satisfaction with the level of student use of critical thinking components in completing their assignments.en_US
dc.description.degreeM.A.en_US
dc.description.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2016-07-01T11:12:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 0002119.pdf: 2227017 bytes, checksum: 52c946e7bd1e1b60afff023580d89500 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002en
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityİrfaner, Semihen_US
dc.format.extentxiv, 118 leavesen_US
dc.identifier.itemidBILKUTUPB067023
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/30111
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.publisherBilkent Universityen_US
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessen_US
dc.subject.lccPE1068.T8 I74 2002en_US
dc.subject.lcshEnglish language Study and teaching (Higher) Turkish speakers.en_US
dc.titleImplementation of the components of critical thinking in an English 101 course in the First Year English Program at Bilkent Universityen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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