The effect of critical thinking strategies on oral production of EFL university students: An action research

Abstract

Although many strategies have been used in the development of oral production in EFL students, critical thinking strategies are less frequently employed. Therefore, this study focused on exploring the effects of three of these strategies on the oral production abilities of Ecuadorian EFL university students. This action research study was carried out at the Universidad Nacional de Educación (UNAE) in Ecuador, where qualitative and quantitative data was collected. A pre-test and post-test were used to collect the quantitative data. Furthermore, a focus group discussion was used to collect the qualitative data. The post-test results revealed that students increased their oral production considerably after finishing the treatment. Moreover, the focus group discussion suggested that students enjoyed the strategies used because they helped pupils to improve their vocabulary and reasoning before speaking. It is also important to mention that according to the quantitative results grammar and vocabulary had the lowest improvement in speech production; meanwhile, interactive communication had the highest improvement in oral production. This has to do with the focus of the strategies on fluency over accuracy. Implications for further research regarding vocabulary were stated