Exploring Critical Thinking Role in Promoting University Teachers’ Professionalism

Radhia MEBARKIA,

Doctorante à l’université Sétif 2

Abstract

The current research paper explores the role of critical thinking in promoting university teachers’ professionalism, case of English as a Foreign Language teachers. This quantitative research aims at investigating critical thinking possible role in solving teaching profession problems. The gathered data were carried through a likert scale questionnaire for a convenience representative sample of ten out of fifty teachers at the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif2 University, ALGERIA. After analyzing the data, it was deduced that critical thinking could promote teachers’ professionalism. Although this research has some limitations, but its findings remain interesting as well as significant. In order to test the applicability of the findings to a larger population, future researches should be done experimentally.

Key terms: Critical thinking, teachers’ professionalism, English as a Foreign Language teaching at university

Résumé

Le présent travail de recherche est mené pour examiner le rôle de la pensée critique dans la promotion du professionnalisme des enseignants de l’université, le cas des enseignants de l’Anglais comme Langue Etrangère. La problématique de cette recherche quantitative est que les enseignants ont des difficultés avec leur profession de l’enseignement. Les données ont été recueillies par un questionnaire de l’échelle likert distribué à un échantillon représentatif de dix enseignants sélectionnés à convenance parmi cinquante au Département de Langue et Littérature Anglaises à l’Université de Sétif 2, ALGERIE. Les résultats recueillis ont révélé que la pensée critique parait être utile dans le professionnalisme de l’enseignement. Ce travail a ses limites, mais ses conclusions demeurent intéressantes aussi que significatives. A fin de tester l’applicabilité et l’importance de ces résultats à une population plus large de sujets, les futures recherches devraient se faire expérimentalement.

Mots clés: Professionnalisme des enseignants, l’enseignement de l’Anglais comme Langue Etrangère à l’université, pensée critique

Introduction

Educators always raise the question of what do learners need? What knowledge and skills can contribute to learners’ development? But what about teachers? What instructional competencies will 21^st teachers need for their professional development? In recent years, the orientation of education has changed. For instance, universities are interested in enabling teachers to come up with new ideas; become resourceful, aware of the classrooms’ needs, become objective-oriented, selective, collaborative, continuous assessors, and constant improvers. Furthermore, universities come to understand that to meet these requirements, they need to justify the quality of teaching via high-order thinking skills; skills that can help teachers to approach their profession in a decisive and open-mind manner. Unfortunately, not all the of academic institutions share this prospective including the Algerian university. Therefore, the current research paper is interested in critical thinking role; aiming to highlight critical thinking significance in the Algerian university, with a special reference to the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ professionalism.

Statement of the Problem

It is known that teaching is not the transference of knowledge but training. That is, anyone having a good knowledge may not become a language teacher. For training in foreign language teaching, one should be professional for the sake to nurture learners’ minds and expose them to skills that may help them to meet the new millennia requirements. However, it is not always the case, for instance:

It has been noticed at the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif 2 University that EFL teachers were not satisfied with their teaching performance. As a matter of fact, a piloted reliable self-design likert scale pre-questionnaire of nine consistent items with Alpha Cronbach reliability scale coefficient of .885 was administered to a convenience representative sample of ten (the fifth) EFL teachers. The numerical analysis of the participants’ responses lent to understand the reasons behind EFL teachers’ problems in their profession, as illustrated below:

Table 1 One Sample T-Test t1

=3
N. Items		M.	Std .D.	Sig.	R.I./Mt.	A.L.P
1	English language teachers are aware of professionalism criteria/traits.	2.30	.675	.010	2	Low
2	English language Teachers are satisfied with their teaching performance.	2.10	.568	.001	4	Low
3	English language Teachers are knowledgeable.	2.10	.738	.004	6	Low
4	English language teachers are aware of their classrooms’ needs.	2.20	. 632	.003	3	Low
5	English language teachers are objective-oriented.	2.20	. 632	.003	3	Low
6	English language teachers are selective (content, methodology, instruction, materials, evaluation, etc.)	2.20	. 632	.003	3	Low
7	English language teachers are collaborative (with colleagues, learners, etc.)	2.10	. 738	.004	6	Low
8	English language teachers are continuous assessors (of their performance and their learners’ one as well).	2.00	. 471	.000	5	Low
9	English language teachers are constant improvers (seek new resources, attend workshops, study days, conferences, symposiums, etc.).	2.10	. 568	.001	4	Low
T1 M. and the general St. D.		2.4000	. 45677	.000	.1	Low

The table above showed that the general scored Mean (M.) as well as Standard Deviation (Std.D.) are respectively estimated 2.4 and .45677.Regarding the M. and St.D. of the likert scale pre-questionnaire items(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9),they are respectively estimated M.=2.30 taking the second position with St.D.= .675, M.= 2.10 filling the fourth position where St.D.= .568, M.=2.10 occupying the sixth position with St.D.= .738, M.=2.20 in the third position with St.D.= .632, M.= 2.20 which takes the third position with St.D.= .632, M.=2.20 in the third position with St.D. = .632, M.= 2.10 filling the sixth position where St.D.=. 738, M.=2.00 in the fifth position with St.D.= .471, M.=2.10 in the fourth position with St.D.= .568 .The elucidated scores of the St.D.s indicate a low Accepted Level Probability (A.L.P.).

As displayed above, the findings revealed EFL teachers’ dissatisfaction of their performance due to a number of problems related to teachers’ unawareness of:

Professionalism traits,
Need of resourcing and up-dating knowledge,
Classrooms’ needs.
Objective-orientation.
Selection of content, methodology, instruction, materials, evaluation, etc.
Collaboration with colleagues, learners, etc.
Continuous assessment of teachers-learners performance.
Constant improvement in terms of seeking new resources; attending workshops, study days, conferences, symposiums, etc.

This list of problems is, of course, incomplete, but it serves to indicate the urgent need of raising EFL teachers’ awareness of their sense of professionalism; because 21^st century EFL teachers don’t need only a mediated English instruction but a support in a stimulating environment, where they can think, reason, and communicate in a decisive open-mind manner for their professional development.

Research Questions

To reveal more insights regarding critical thinking role in university teachers’ professionalism, the present research poses the following question:

What is the role of critical thinking in promoting university EFL teachers’ professionalism?

Critical Thinking and Teachers’ Professionalism

Professionalism is a challenging term that’s why scholars tend to use it interchangeably with professional development. However, researchers across disciplines could define professionalism in various contexts including English language teaching (Ashenafi, 2013).

The professional development of English language teaching is argued from different perspectives. According to Eshiwani (1999), it is important:

To know teachers’ profession status in terms of knowledge and skills.
To take note of teachers’ contribution in the provision of quality education.
To assist in the improvement of teachers’ quality of life and working conditions.

As a matter of fact, research on University teachers’ professionalism has shifted towards focusing more on teachers’ learning authenticity (Webster-Wright, 2009). It shows that teachers’ practice and learners’ achievement in different skills may improve when professional learning communities demonstrate four criteria: successful collaboration, focus on the learning of learners, continuous teacher learning, and teacher leadership to decide about the teaching-learning process (Vescio et al., 2008).Like Vanessa, Alfaki (2014, p.36) reviews the previous criteria with a set of best practices claimed by scholars to ensure professional development and success:

Job-embeded professional development and professional learning communities.
High expectations-based vision for an academic achievement for all learners.
A safe and cooperative environment for learning.
Support and training to develop a continual professional learning.
Data to track and promote collaborative inquiry and practices that improve learning.
Cultivating leadership in staff, parents, and community partners.

In the light of the related studies, scholars scrutinized professionalism definitions more than its role in English language teaching which remains crucial for the practitioners.

Unfortunately, critical thinking role in EFL teachers’ professionalism, especially in Algeria, has not been investigated utterly. Accordingly, the present inquiry explored this role to indicate critical thinking significance. In this regard, investigating critical thinking role might enlighten EFL teachers which ultimately could result in improving their teaching performance.

Aim of the Study

In the light of the above, the current inquiry attempts to explore critical thinking role in promoting EFL teachers’ professionalism in the Algerian higher education institutions with a special reference to the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif2 University.

Methodology Synopsis

The design of this inquiry is cross-sectional; as it attempts to explore critical thinking role in EFL teachers’ professionalism. Accordingly, a quantitative tool was employed for data collection. It is a piloted self-designed likert scale questionnaire of five likert options (strongly disagree=1, disagree=2, undecided=3, agree=4, strongly agree=5), and 12 items with a reliability scale Alpha Cronbach coefficient estimated .872, suggesting that the findings have relatively high internal consistency. Note that a reliability coefficient of .70 or higher is considered “acceptable” in most social sciences’ research situations. The questionnaire was administrated to a convenience representative sample of ten teachers which is the fifth (1/5) of the whole population of EFL teachers at the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif2University, Algeria. The collected data were analyzed using the 23^rd version of a software named Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). For instance, the software run the analysis of the one sample t-test(t2); which is a test that allows to compare the scored means(M.) in reference to the mean ( =3), and the standard deviations (Std.D.) in reference to the significance(Sig.) value.

Delimitations

The current research was delimited in terms of focus on critical thinking role only in language teachers’ reliability for the data, only quantitative data collection tools were deployed instead of qualitative ones. In addition, the research participants were restricted only to the EFL teachers of the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif 2 University, Algeria.

Limitations

Some limitations were recognized during this investigation. First, the population covered only the EFL teachers at the English Language and Literature Department at Sétif 2 University, Algeria, for the academic year 2018/2019. Therefore, the findings couldn’t be generalized to other academic contexts. Second, due to time constraint, only a convenience representative sample was considered instead of the whole population. Third, the deployed data collection tool was self-designed due to the non-availability of referential instruments. Moreover, EFL teachers kept postponing to answer the questionnaire though the items’ number was limited on account of answering the research questions. As a matter of fact, the quantitative analysis using the SPSS was challenging.

Ethical Considerations

In this research work, ethical considerations gain a central interest as they help to avoid any misconduct that may cause potential harm to participants. The research was bounded to be conducted with participants and comply with their beliefs, needs, and perceptions. In this respect, the participants were debriefed. The research objectives were clearly communicated to the participants. They were informed with their rights of the voluntary participation, and withdrawal rights without any anticipated penalty. They were advised that they could decline to answer any question. A written consent was obtained. Findings and conclusions were made available for consultation. The participants ‘data were not modified by no means. Respondents had the promise to preserve their rights of confidentiality and anonymity.

Results

Table 2 One Sample T-Test t2

=3
N. Items		M.	Std.D.	Sig.	R.I.	A.L.P.
1	Critical thinking (It is a reasoning reflective thinking that pushes to observe, question, debate, argue, clarify, compare, analyze, evaluate and seek for evidence) is an essential skill for the EFL teachers.	4.70	.483	. 000	5	High
2	Critical thinking could motivate and engage English language teachers.	4.60	.163	. 000	7	High
3	Critical thinking could motivate English language teachers to seek new resources to enrich their knowledge.	4.70	.153	. 000	4	High
4	Critical thinking helps English language teachers in setting, selecting, and orienting objectives.	4.60	.163	. 000	7	High
5	Critical thinking helps in raising awareness of the English language teaching as well as learning needs.	4.80	.422	. 000	2	High
6	Critical thinking helps English language teachers in organizing thoughts to justify their plans and selections (in content, methodology, instructions, materials, evaluation, etc.)	4.80	.422	. 000	2	High
7	Critical thinking could encourage English language teachers to collaborate with their colleagues, learners, etc.	4.70	.483	. 000	5	High
8	Critical thinking could engage English language teachers in assessing constantly their teaching as well as their learners’ performance.	4.60	.516	. 000	8	High
9	Critical thinking could encourage English language teachers to improve constantly their teaching performance.	4.70	.675	. 000	6	High
10	Critical thinking helps to approach English language teaching issues in an open-mind manner (e.g. Open to new cultures, learners’ autonomy, etc.)	4.80	.422	. 000	2	High
11	Critical thinking helps English language teachers in classroom leading and decision- making.	4.90	.316	. 000	1	High
12	Critical thinking could promote English language teachers’ professionalism.	4.70	.483	. 000	5	High
T2 M. and the general St.D.		4.7167	. 31230	. 000	3	High

The general M. as well as Std.D. of the one sample T-test t2 table are respectively estimated 4.7167 and .31230 indicating a high A.L.P..For the scored means as well as standard deviations of the likert scale questionnaire items (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12), they are respectively estimated M.= 4.70 (R.I.=5^th position) with St.D.=.483, M.=4.60 (R.I.=7^th position) and St.D.=.163, M.= 4.70 (R.I.=4^th position) with St.D.=.153, M.= 4.60 (R.I.=7^th position) and St.D.=.163, M.=4.80 (R.I.=2^nd position) with St.D.=.422, M.=4.80 (R.I.=2^nd position) and St.D.=.422,M.=4.70 (R.I.=4^th position) where St.D.=.483, M.=4.60 (R.I.=4^th position) with St.D.= .516, M.= 470 (R.I.=4^th position) where St.D.=.675 M.=4.80 (R.I.=2^nd position) and St.D.=.422 490 316 470 (R.I.= 5^th position) 483.The displayed Standard deviations’ scores designate a high A.L.P.; meaning that the responses are homogeneous.

Discussions and Conclusions

The aim of the inquiry was achieved; in the sense that the results were homogeneous revealing EFL teachers’ consent and awareness of critical thinking essentiality in their motivation and engagement. These findings are in line with the results obtained by Ghaemi and Taherian (2011) which showed the positive significance of critical thinking in teachers’ professional development. According to Birjandi and Bagherkazemi (2010), critical thinking has significance in teachers’ professionalism. Purali (2011) mentioned that when critical thinking is replaced by memorization and soon-to be-obsolete information teachers turn into passive actors.

EFL teachers agreed conscientiously on critical thinking benefits, which is in accordance with many scolars claim and conviction. Such scholars viewed that critical thinking can have a significant role in EFL teaching, and then it is expected to have a positive contribution in the promotion of EFL teachers’ professionalism.

Suggestions for Further Researches

The current inquiry explores critical thinking role in promoting university EFL teachers’ professionalism, but further inquiries could identify the relationship between the two variables or even experiment critical thinking impact on the EFL teachers’ professional development. As the research was cross-sectional quantitative, it deployed only an instrument, therefore, a blend of quantitative and qualitative data collection means could be beneficial/efficient/practical, especially with different levels at other academic settings with larger populations to support the findings’ generalization.

References

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