Abstract:
Teachers wish their learners not to take all provided information for granted; rather,
they expect to enable their learners to develop higher order thinking skills and to be
reflective. When applied to academic contexts, critical discourse analysis seems to
play an undeniable role in the development of reflective thoughts by students. The
current study investigated the effect of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on English
as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner‟s critical thinking (CT) ability in economic
translation texts classes. To this end, 60 undergraduate English translation students at
the intermediate level of proficiency were selected and assigned into two groups of
experimental and control. The experimental group received instruction in order to
make critical analysis both on articles handed out by teacher as well as follow-up
CDA based presentations. The control group learners, on the other hand, received
neither instruction nor any practice with respect to critical discourse analysis of texts.
The data obtained from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal were subject to
independent samples t-test. The findings revealed that CDA had a positive and
significant impact on EFL learners‟ critical thinking ability with the „Interpretation‟
and „Recognizing Unstated Assumption‟ sub-tests of critical thinking being most
influenced. The significance of this finding in light of critical discourse analysis and
implications for educationalists are discussed in detail
Machine summary:
<H1>The Contribution of Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Thinking in an EFL Context: A Case Study of Economic Texts</H1> Shabnam Kurosh Khanshan* PhD candidate, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran <H1>Davud Kuhi</H1> Assistant Professor, Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran Abstract Teachers wish their learners not to take all provided information for granted; rather, they expect to enable their learners to develop higher order thinking skills and to be reflective.
The current study investigated the effect of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner‟s critical thinking (CT) ability in economic translation texts classes.
Keywords: critical thinking, critical discourse analysis, translation, economic text, EFL learners *Associate Professor, Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran Received: 23/10/2017 Accepted: 29/12/2017 Email: shabnamkorosh@gmail.
The present study attempts to look into the possible role of the use of critical discourse analysis in fostering learners‟ critical thinking skills.
2. Discussion The present study was conducted in an attempt to look into the role of critical discourse analysis practice in the EFL classroom on learners‟ development of critical thinking skills.
This type of critical discourse analysis might be able to provide insight into the relationship between text analysis and educational policy and also provide a clearer understanding of the constructive role language plays in the development of knowledge and power relationships between developers of knowledge and its users (Sleeter &amp; Grant, 1991; Apple, 2004).