Ahmadreza Partovi Boroujeni - Department of English, Meybod Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran
Anita Lashkarian - Department of English, Meybod Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran

This study intended to investigate the effect of teaching 8 sessions of critical thinking on listening comprehension ability. Participants of this study – 88 students – who were chosen from two intact classes after taking the Nelson English Language Test as an English language proficiency test, were randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. Afterwards, a listening comprehension test (PET) was administered to the groups. Then the experimental group received 8 sessions of treatment using debate as a classroom activity during the term. To compare the groups, they were given the same test as a posttest. An independent-samples t-test was done, before taking part in 8 sessions of debate to ensure the homogeneity of two groups (experimental and control groups), and after the treatment to compare the performance of two groups. The analysis of collected data showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups on listening comprehension test. However, the results indicated that teaching critical thinking skills in EFL context can improve language learning (p=.000). The results of the present study could help course designers, teachers and students.

critical thinking, listening, listening comprehension, debate