Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Languages, Arak University, Arak, Iran
2
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
3
Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
4
Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Teachers’ questioning skill in improving students’ higher-order questioning is necessary for the development of the students’ critical thinking. The current study attempted to extend the critical thinking line of research into EFL teacher effectiveness and teacher education studies, to see whether the critical thinking ability of Iranian EFL teachers has any significant relationship with the types and frequencies of those teachers’ questions using Bloom Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956). In so doing, 20 male and female Iranian EFL teachers were selected purposively and observed during the teaching process of the same reading comprehension texts. Participants were divided into three groups of high, mid, and low critical thinkers based on their scores on The California Critical Thinking Skills Test-form B (CCTST-B-34). To quantify classroom interaction, a Bloom-based coding scheme was applied to tally and classify the cognitive depth of reading comprehension questions generated by students during observed sessions. The data collection procedure began with the administration of the CCTST-B, followed by systematic classroom observations over a designated instructional period to record student question frequencies. Finally, non-parametric correlation analyses, specifically Kendall's tau-b and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, were executed to determine the direction and strength of the relationship between teacher scores and student questioning patterns. The findings showed significant positive correlations between the number of the questions EFL teachers posed in the classroom based on Bloom's taxonomy. Moreover, the findings of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between critical thinking and the types of questions. This study indicated that teachers do benefit from higher level of questions, such as applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, which caused classroom interaction. Hence, asking the right questions is a good method in ESL/EFL reading classes because it develops team work and provides a socially rich situation where the students can learn effectively. Such questions encourage students to think independently, improves their critical thinking, and also helps them in better decision making and problem solving. The study concludes by highlighting the implications to use authentic texts, along with adopting Bloom’s Taxonomy as a practical guide for curriculum design to further amplify learners’ ability to reflect, question, and construct meaning.
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