Enhancing Critical Thinking and Cultural Awareness in Iraqi EFL University Students through Short Stories: A Quasi-Experimental Study

This article explores the effect of short stories on improving critical thinking and cultural awareness for Iraqi EFL learners. The research employs a mixed-method approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative data to check how short stories affect students cognitively and culturally. The first part of the study consisted of pre- and post-questionnaires, which were analyzed using paired sample t-tests to determine the differences in students' critical thinking and cultural awareness, respectively. The study used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to determine the difference between male and female Iraqi EFL learners in terms of critical thinking and cultural awareness. Effect sizes are calculated in this study to quantify the magnitude of differences. Reflective journals and semi-structured interviews provide an in-depth understanding of students' reflections. The findings prove that short stories increased critical thinking and cultural awareness significantly. Male and female students displayed different responses. The females showed more significant improvement in cultural awareness, and the males showed sharp improvement in critical thinking. These results are in line with previous research that has underlined the benefit of literature in language learning and, at the same time, gave new insights into gender-based differences in educational outcomes.