Investing in Inquiry-Based Teaching to Improve EFL Students’ Critical Thinking Skill

<table width="662" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="393"><p class="Abstract">The study on inquiry-based classroom teaching provided us an opportunity for recognizing how critical thinking skills for EFL students are enhanced through inquiry-based instruction. In order to obtain the results, the researcher used a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative data with triangulation design. qualitative and quantitative data were obtained at the same time. A cluster random sampling technique was used in order to determine the sample; 36 junior high school students in grade 7 were employed as the research sample. The instrumentation was comprised of a reading test for obtaining quantitative data and an observation sheet for obtaining qualitative data. Data analysis was assisted by SPSS 18 and observation checklist. Findings showed that inquiry-based teaching significantly improves students’ critical thinking skills. The improvements are made possible through five phases of the inquiry cycle which is implemented by the teacher in EFL learning. The ability to interpret, analyze, infer, evaluate, explain, and the improvement of their self-regulation all falls under this improvement.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>