Developing Iraqi pre- service teachers' critical thinking skills and understanding of hamlet through reader response strategy
Critical thinking is the ability to think correctly and systematically about what we believe and what we do. There is an emphasis on critical thinking in modern education around the world. Scholars worldwide have accepted that the primary objective of education is to help learners think more c...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3928/1/24p%20QAYSSAR%20ABBAS%20ABDULRIDHA.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3928/2/QAYSSAR%20ABBAS%20ABDULRIDHA%20COPYRIGHT%20DECLARATION.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3928/3/QAYSSAR%20ABBAS%20ABDULRIDHA%20WATERMARK.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Critical thinking is the ability to think correctly and systematically about what we
believe and what we do. There is an emphasis on critical thinking in modern education
around the world. Scholars worldwide have accepted that the primary objective of
education is to help learners think more critically and accurately. Despite the
importance of critical thinking, little effort has been made to develop critical thinking
skills among Iraqi pre-service teachers. Therefore, this study investigates whether
using a reader response strategy in teaching William Shakespeare's Hamlet can
develop Iraqi pre-services teachers' critical thinking skills and enhance their
understanding of the literary text. The study also attempts to investigate whether there
is any significant correlation between the development of critical thinking and
enhancement in understanding the literary text. Furthermore, it also investigates the
types of literary responses produced by Iraqi pre-service teachers when they were
taught Hamlet using the reader response strategy. The research was conducted at the
Faculty of Education, Thiqar University in Iraq. The researcher used pre-post-tests one
group quasi-experimental design. The findings of this study have revealed that the
reader response strategy helps develop Iraqi pre-service teachers' critical thinking
skills. There was a statistically significant increase at the p ≤ 0.05 level where the mean
of pre-test total scores was 33.48 while the mean of post-test total scores was 45.90.
Also, a reader response enhances their understanding of the literary text where mean
of pre-test total scores was 27.69 while the mean of post-test total scores was 34.95.
The findings also indicate a significant correlation between learner's development of
critical thinking skills and enhancement of their understanding of the literary text
(r = 0.40, p = 0.009). Reader response strategy also helps Iraqi pre-service teachers to
produce numerous literary responses when learners were reading Hamlet. The
outcomes of this study have various significant implications for EFL classrooms,
particularly in Iraq. EFL literature teachers need to be trained on implementing the
strategy of the reader response in EFL classrooms. Curriculum designers should guide
teachers into utilizing reader response activities in the classroom. Moreover, the reader response strategy makes reading literature increasingly exciting and genuine for
learners. Thus, it can be concluded that the reader response strategy is a positive and
helpful method for developing of Iraqi pre-service teachers' critical thinking skills and
enhancing their understanding of the literary text. Also, it fosters a meaning- seeking
process during the reading of the literary text |
|---|