Development and validation of the critical thinking in academic reading scale for english language teaching students (CTARS-ELT)

Abstract

Although extensive research has been carried out on critical thinking within the field of ELT, a search of the literature revealed few studies which focus on the domain-specific assessment of critical thinking. Mostly, researchers of the field are consumers of domain-general scales. A highly questionable assumption could be that general critical thinking skills are transferrable to specific fields or domains in different disciplines. Taking this into account, this study intended to develop and validate a psychometrically multidimensional self-report instrument to measure critical thinking in the skill of reading for ELT students. Based on a thorough review of the existing literature on critical thinking and features of interactive reading, as well as the results of semi-structured interviews with a panel of experts, a hypothesized model which is composed of seven components was proposed, and a 41-item questionnaire was developed accordingly. The results of EFA confirmed the seven proposed components in the hypothesized model, and CFA indicated statistical support for all the factors and items. Furthermore, Cronbach's alpha test proved the reliability of the scale. Overall, Critical Thinking in Academic Reading Scale for ELT students (CTARS-ELT) can be considered a comprehensive guide to the assessment of CT skills in academic reading.