The Effect of Community Dialogue in Building Critical Thinking Skills in Essay Writing
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of community dialogue in building students’ critical thinking skills in essay writing and their perceptions after learning through community dialogue. The experiment with pre-test and post-test design was employed, and 42 students participated. Two YouTube videos were used to provoke students’ critical thinking and the students acted as presenters and reviewers in the community dialogue activity. When the intervention completed, the students had to develop a five-paragraph essay consisting of introduction, body, and conclusion. A non-parametric testing with Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test revealed that the statistical evidence comparing the students’ essays in the pre-test and post-test shows a significant statistical difference (p=.001). A questionnaire was distributed to the students to get the data of their perceptions towards the implementation the community dialogue. The result of the questionnaire reveals that the majority of the students felt confident when they presented their outlines, though there is quite a high percentage of students who experienced anxiety at the same time. As for the reviewers, the students learned to think critically in order to find both the problems and the solutions in their peers’ outlines and by doing so learned from their friends’ work and revised theirs as necessary. Finally, the students concluded that the community dialogue was helpful in a writing class.
Article Details
References
Ahmed, K. (2018). Teaching critical thinking and writing in higher education: An action research project. Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, 10(1), 74–84. https://ojs.cumbria.ac.uk/index.php/TEAN/article/view/444
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Harvard University Press.
Barbaro, G. (2006). Defining realities: Why community consultation needs to start with the problem, not the solution. Journal of Communication Management, 10(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1108/13632540610646364
Bean, J. C., & Melzer, D. (2021). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Bitir, T., & Duran, E. (2021). Fourth grade primary school students’ critical writing skill levels. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 9(4), 189–198. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.9n.4p.189
Brookfield, S. D. (1987). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. Jossey-Bass.
Burbules, N. C., & Berk, R. (1999). Critical thinking and critical pedagogy: Relations differences, and limits. In T. S. Popkewitz & L. Fendler (Eds.), Critical theories in education: Changing terrains of knowledge and politics. Routledge.
Cohen, M. (2015). Critical thinking skills for dummies. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Condon, W., & Kelly-Riley, D. (2004). Assessing and teaching what we value: The relationship between college-level writing and critical thinking abilities. Assessing Writing, 9(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2004.01.003
Dahlgren, L. O., Fejes, A., Abrandt-Dahlgren, M., & Trowald, N. (2009). Grading systems, features of assessment and students’ approaches to learning. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(2), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510902757260
Damanik, J. Y. (2022). Peer feedback to improve Indonesian adult learners’ writing skills: A literature review. JET: Journal of English Teaching, 8(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.33541/jet.v8i1.3253
Demirel, M. (2009). Lifelong learning and schools in the twenty-first century. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 1709–1716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.303
Dewey, J. (1909). How we think. D. C. Heath & Co.
Dewey, J. (2001). Democracy and education. The Pennsylvania State University.
Dörnyei, Z., & Taguchi, T. (2010). Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing. (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., Harney, O. M., & Kavanagh, C. (2017). Facilitating a student-educator conceptual model of dispositions towards critical thinking through interactive management. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65(1), 47–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-016-9460-7
Ebadi, S., & Rahimi, M. (2018). An exploration into the impact of WebQuest-based classroom on EFL learners’ critical thinking and academic writing skills: A mixed-methods study. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 31(5–6), 617–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1449757
Elboshi, A. (2021). Web-enhanced peer feedback in ESL writing classrooms: A literature review. English Language Teaching, 14(4), 66–76. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v14n4p66
ELT Expert Panel. (2021). Global skills: Creating empowered 21St century citizens. Oxford University Press. www.oup.com/elt/expert
Epçaçan, C. (2019). A review on the relationship between critical thinking skills and learning domains of Turkish language. Educational Research and Reviews, 14(3), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.5897/err2018.3658
Facione, P., & Gittens, C. A. (2016). Think critically. Pearson Education, Inc.
Fisher, A., & Scriven, M. (1997). Critical thinking: Its definition and assessment. Centre for Research in Critical Thinking.
Hu, G., & Lam, S. T. E. (2009). Issues of cultural appropriateness and pedagogical efficacy: Exploring peer review in a second language writing class. Instructional Science, 38(4), 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-008-9086-1
Karanja, L. (2021). Teaching critical thinking in a college-level writing course: A critical reflection. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 8(1), 229–249. https://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/1060
Kayaalp, F., Meral, E., Şimşek, U., & Şahin, I. F. (2020). A search for a method to improve critical thinking skills in social studies teaching: Writing-to-learn. Review of International Geographical Education, 10(3), 400–430. https://doi.org/10.33403/rigeo.719222
Kuyyogsuy, S. (2019). Promoting peer feedback in developing students’ English writing ability in L2 writing class. International Education Studies, 12(9), 76–90. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v12n9p76
Lillis, T., & Scott, M. (2007). Defining academic literacies research: Issues of epistemology, ideology and strategy. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v4i1.5
Lu, D., & Xie, Y. (2019). The effects of a critical thinking oriented instructional pattern in a tertiary EFL argumentative writing course. Higher Education Research and Development, 38(5), 969–984. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1607830
Meyers, A. (2014). Longman academic writing series 5: Essays to research papers. Pearson Education, Inc.
Meyers, C. (1986). Teaching students to think critically: A guide for faculty in all disciplines. Jossey-Bass.
Moonma, J., & Kaweera, C. (2021). Collaborative writing in EFL classroom: Comparison on group, pair, and individual writing activities in argumentative tasks. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 7(3), 179–188. https://doi.org/10.20448/journal.522.2021.73.179.188
Norris, S., & Ennis, R. (1989). Evaluating critical thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Qoura, A. A., & Zahran, F. A. (2018). The effect of the 6+1 trait writing model on ESP university students critical thinking and writing achievement. English Language Teaching, 11(9), 68–79. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v11n9p68
Ramlal, A., & Augustin, D. S. (2020). Engaging students in reflective writing: an action research project. Educational Action Research, 28(3), 518–533. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2019.1595079
Sharadgah, T. A., Sa’di, R. A., & Ahmad, H. H. (2019). Promoting and assessing EFL college students’ critical thinking skills through argumentative essay writing. Arab World English Journal, 10(4), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol10no4.11
Sim, S. S. C. (2021). Enhancing critical thinking skills and dispositions through community dialogue in an academic writing programme. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2021.150214
Storch, N. (2002). Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language Learning, 52(1), 119–158. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00179
Tan, C. (2017). Teaching critical thinking: Cultural challenges and strategies in Singapore. British Educational Research Journal, 43(5), 988–1002. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3295
TED. (2009). Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLWRclarri0
TED. (2013). A guerilla gardener in South Central LA | Ron Finley. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w
Vygostsky, L. S. (1979). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.), The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard University Press.
Woodhouse, J., & Wood, P. (2022). Creating dialogic spaces: developing doctoral students’ critical writing skills through peer assessment and review. Studies in Higher Education, 47(3), 643–655. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1779686
Zaccaron, R., & Xhafaj, D. C. P. (2020). Knowing me, knowing you: A comparative study on the effects of anonymous and conference peer feedback on the writing of learners of English as an additional language. System, 95, 102367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102367
Zhang, X. (2018). Developing college EFL writers’ critical thinking skills through online resources: A case study. SAGE Open, 8(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018820386