The relatıonshıp between mıddle school students' crıtıcal thınkıng tendencıes and levels and theır persuasıve wrıtıng skılls

Critical thinking and persuasiveness are considered important skill areas for individuals in everyday and professional life. It is a great need to have these skills in order to achieve consensus in both oral and written communication. In addition to being able to look critically at various facts and events, the ability to persuade group members by using emotions and thoughts effectively also requires a higher level of thinking. This study aims to investigate the relationship between middle school students' critical thinking tendencies and levels and their persuasive writing skills. The research was conducted with the relational survey model based on the quantitative research method. This design provides a framework for understanding the relationships between two variables. The data were collected in the first semester of the 2024-2025 academic year. The study group of the research consists of 156 middle school students from a total of 4 schools in public schools in Yıldırım district of Bursa province. Participants were selected from 7th grade students on a voluntary basis. In the study, "Personal Information Form" was used to collect data on personal information, "Critical Thinking Disposition Scale for Secondary School Students" was used to determine the critical thinking tendencies of secondary school students, "Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Written Test (E-WCTET)" was used to measure critical thinking skills, and "Persuasive Texts Evaluation Rubric" and "Self-Assessment Form" were used to score persuasive writing skills. In the evaluation of the products obtained from the "Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Written Test (E-WCTET)", the criteria and scoring form within the test were used. The persuasive texts written by the students were evaluated with the "Persuasive Texts Evaluation Rubric" and the "Self-Assessment Form". In this whole evaluation process, scoring was done by 3 experts. A computer statistical program (SPSS) was used for the validity and reliability calculations of the scale, rubric and scoring, and the necessary statistical procedures were carried out. Descriptive and correlational statistics, independent sample t-tests, ANOVA (Scheffe test) and Pearson correlation analysis were performed within the scope of statistical analysis. According to the results of the study, limited effects of gender variable were revealed in this study on persuasive writing and critical thinking. While the participants' self-efficacy perceptions in writing persuasive texts were high, low level results were obtained in terms of persuasive writing and critical thinking skills. It was concluded that there was a low positive correlation between students' critical thinking dispositions and self-assessment for persuasive text, persuasive text production skills and critical thinking disposition scale, persuasive text production skills and Ennis-Weir critical thinking written test, and Ennis-Weir critical thinking written test and critical thinking disposition scale scores. There was no significant relationship between students' ability to produce persuasive texts and their self-evaluation scores for persuasive texts. Based on the results of the study, various suggestions were developed for researchers, teachers and curriculum development experts.