Effectiveness of Active Learning Strategy for Developing Critical Thinking

Abstract

The present study entitled ‘The Effectiveness of Active Learning Strategies for developing Critical Thinking’ is an attempt to find out the techniques to develop critical thinking in reading skill. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate some active learning strategies for effective reading comprehension. For this purpose, I experimentally used three active learning strategies which were TPS (Think, Pair and Share) Approach, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) technique and Five Questions technique on the targeted group. Active learning strategies were taken as instructional activity involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing. A simple questions and answers format addressed to the issues of how to create more "active" classroom spaces and what barriers teachers should be aware of while teaching reading skill. The research was based on both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data were collected through the tests (pre-test, progressive test, and post test) given to 32 students selected purposively. The major finding of the study showed that active learning strategies were effective in developing critical thinking. This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter one introduces general background, review of related literature, objectives of the study and significance of the study. Chapter two deals with methodology adopted for the study. It encompasses source of data, process of data collection and limitations of the study. Chapter three presents an analysis and interpretation of the data. In this chapter, data have been analyzed and interpreted through statistical and descriptive approach. Chapter four presents the findings derived from the analysis of the data. On the basis of the findings, some recommendations have been presented in the last chapter