Critical thinking and EAP writing in the context of Iran

Abstract

Some of the fundamental abilities that universities want their students to cultivate throughout their degree programs include critical thinking. By undertaking a meta-synthesis of prior empirical research, this study aims to comprehend how EAP students and teachers interpret critical thinking and which instructional approaches seem to be most successful in teaching both writing and critical thinking. The analysis of nine articles was done by using an operational method to teach critical thinking. The findings indicate that many students in the study continue to have misconceptions about what critical thinking is, and because of these misconceptions or cultural differences, they might be perceived as lacking the will to think critically. Evaluation and synthesis abilities are emphasized in writing teaching because they are seen to be directly related to critical thinking. The data also suggests that persistent cooperative learning could be advantageous to effectively educate critical thinking and writing.

Keywords: Argument; critical thinking; EFL Learners; English language teaching; writing.