Investigation of pre-service ELT teachers' perceived critical thinking skills

This study investigated pre-service English language teachers' perceived levels of critical thinking skills at the Department of English Language Teaching at a foundation university in Turkey. The study also investigated their views regarding the impact of activities and tasks they were involved in as part of the courses they took, and of the practicum experience on the development of their critical thinking skills. Data was collected from 121 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors through the Critical Thinking Standards Scale, and some open-ended questions developed for the purpose of the study. The results revealed that an overwhelming majority of the pre-service teachers, especially the sophomores, had a high level of critical thinking skill perceptions. Participants believed that among all the activities and tasks, writing self evaluations after micro-teaching, reaction to research articles and assigned readings contributed to their development of CTS the most. Besides, the seniors believed that their practicum experience that allowed them to observe experienced teachers' teaching practices in a real classroom environment and the real-time interaction with students had a significant impact on their development as teachers with a critical thinking mindset. The study discusses the importance of these findings in relation to the decisions to be made and actions to be taken in the initial English language teacher education programs. Keywords: Critical thinking skills, prospective ELT teachers, English teaching