The relationship between middle school students' critical thinking disposition and reading skills

Critical thinking is a method of thinking in individuals with an interrogative perspective in the face of a circumstance that is learned, heard, or seen. Reading is the process of perceiving, deciphering, and understanding a literary or visual text system. The reading process also brings along critical thinking because what is read during the reading process is subjected to analysis and evaluation for interpretation and mental configuration in the reading process. Accordingly, individuals are required to think critically. For individuals to utilize their inherent critical thinking skills, it is required for them to sense a disposition toward these skills because dispositions pave the way for using skills. This study aims to reveal the relationship between critical thinking dispositions and reading skills. In the study conducted with the mixed approach and exploratory sequential design, quantitative data were collected via the correlational survey model while the qualitative data were collected via the phenomenology design. The sample of the study in the quantitative dimension was determined within the framework of the purposeful stratified sampling, which is a type of purposeful sampling. Accordingly, the study was conducted with 9 state secondary schools within the population of school types in the 3 educational regions in the center of the city of Tokat. Because the age group of 15 year-olds was regarded as the basis, the study was conducted with 7th- and 8th-grade students (except for survey implementation and qualitative interviews). 3 schools were determined from each educational region. Of these, 3 classrooms from each grade level were determined from the schools with the highest populations within the educational region while 2 classrooms from each grade level were determined from the schools with lower populations to conduct the implementations. Accordingly, the study was conducted with 9 secondary schools, 42 classrooms, and 1242 students. However, because not all of the students were reached along with some of the forms that were considered invalid, the study was conducted with 1165 students. The data were collected by using the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale for Secondary School Students, which was developed by the researchers, and the Reading Skills Achievement Test, which was developed by PISA. In the data analysis, genders, grade levels, parents' educational statuses, parents' employment statuses, family types, number of siblings, the status of receiving preschool education, daily time of reading books, daily time of using technology, the efficiency of the time spent with families, statuses of participating in social activities actively, types of teachers and financial incomes of families of participants were used as the variables. The analyses of the study were conducted with SPSS and LISREL software. The data obtained as a result of the analyses were interpreted by considering the literature. To support the quantitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 secondary school students, who studied in a state school in the city of Tokay in 2019-2020. The study, which was conducted with a male and a female student from each grade level between 5th and 8th grades, was concluded at the 16th participants because new data were absent and the study reached a satisfactory level. Additionally, to determine the perceptions of 1165 students toward the concepts of criticism and reading, metaphor forms were prepared for both concepts. The data obtained were interpreted by considering the literature. At the end of the study, significant relationships were determined between the critical thinking disposition and reading skills of secondary school students and it was determined that critical thinking disposition predicted reading skills. In the analyses conducted with the variables of the participants, it was discovered that each variable resulted in significant differences in critical thinking dispositions and reading skills and was related to these concepts while the critical thinking disposition's prediction level of reading skills differed based on these variables. The perceptions of the participants supported the quantitative results.