Students’ perceptions on their using critical thinking skills in learning reading comprehension

Abstract

Improving critical thinking skills in learning English for students has become one of the prominent concerns, particularly in learning reading comprehension, and it has attracted much attention from researchers and teachers. This work aimed to examine students' perceptions on their use of critical thinking skills in learning comprehension reading and to assess critical thinking skills that are used most and least frequently. This research was conducted with 62 students (N=62), aged between twenty-two and twenty-seven, including 16 males and 46 females in School of Foreign Languages, the University of Can Tho. For this study, the questionnaire was chosen as the principal instrument which asked students to report the frequency of their using CT skills in the procedure of learning reading. The results indicated that the participants used a wide range of CT skills in the process of learning reading comprehension, and that among the five groups of CT skills, analysis skills and evaluation skills were used the most frequently and interpretation skills, the least. The findings from this study could provide a solid foundation for approaching the academic teaching standards and finding out better ways to improve and develop critical thinking in reading comprehension skills for students.