الفهرس 
Review of Literature and Related StudiesOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Summary of the Study
Introduction
In a rapidly changing world, every person is challenged to fulfill the global demand especially in developing skills. The impact of the rapid change in society to education is that education must prepare generation to have a certain skills needed by the society. The skills are called 21st century skills. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed 21st century skills that consist of life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and information media and technology skills.
Thinking is a necessary part of our social and intellectual lives. It is argues that the quality of our lives and of our learning depends on the quality of our thinking. Thinking is part and parcel of being intrinsic to human development and that we gain pleasure from being exposed to intellectual stimulus and challenge.
Acquiring thinking skills has been increasingly emphasized in education, especially with forces in globalization demanding its workers to be adaptable over and above being productive. Studies have recommended that students can no longer be passive recipients of given information and called for changes in pedagogical and learning environments that are geared towards developing thinking skills and utilizing creativity.
Teaching and learning process does not only increase student’s knowledge but also develop student’s creativity, critical thinking skill, characters which are included the character to have responsibility, social skills, tolerance, productivity, and adaptive skills. 21st century skills also emphasize on the ability to think critically, solve problem, communicate, and collaborate each others that are included in higher order thinking skills (Paige, 2009).
Critical thinking is recognized as an important skill for students to acquire in academic language, so many studies emphasized teaching it in EFL/ESL Classrooms.
Problem based learning approach is one new method that has been claimed promoting students’ critical thinking ability. This method is generally agreed to have important implications for transfer of knowledge and application of problem solving skills to new situations .This assertion has been supported by several previous research reports.
Critical thinking ability is possibly nurtured by PBL, through the process of problem solving, particularly within group brainstorming sessions. During these sessions, students critically consider one best possible solution for the problem at hand. The process is mediated by a facilitator, who is responsible for probing their meta-cognitive thinking, in making any decision. It is believed that probing questions may engage students in a systematic cognitive process that promotes the development of the students’ reasoning ability.
In addition, other processes, such as discussion, debating, sharing, and teaching one another, creates a platform for students to experience an environment that is conducive for critical thinking to grow. Similarly, students develop their critical thinking, especially reasoning skills through the process of interaction, reflection, and feedback in the problem solving or in the formative assessment process.
Through PBL process, students learn actively and that prior knowledge may be applied to new problem-solving situations. This will, in turn, significantly raise students’ ability to analyze and criticize, and enhance their performance in terms of English understanding and content knowledge.
In this study critical thinking was fouced and the students used problem-based learning appraoch to solve real life problems and develop their critical thinking skills .
Context of the problem
Most secondary stage EFL students -at Abd Al Aziz Al Saud experimental school -lack the necessary critical thinking skills that would enable them to make a positive decision that would achieve the goals they desire, increase the output of learning, and promote creativity and innovation of learners. Therefore, the present study aims mainly to answer this question: What is the effectiveness of problem-based learning program in developing critical thinking skills among the secondary stage EFL students?
Research questions:
These questions are derived from this main question:
1. What are the critical thinking skills necessary for the 1st first grade secondary students?
2. What is the effect of using problem-based learning program on developing these skills?
Significant of the study
This study may be instructionally effective in the following areas:
• Providing English teachers with fresh ideas for teaching and learning that might be used to improve critical thinking of secondary stage students, in times of rapid movement in technology and scientific knowledge.
• Shifting the minds of students from rote learning and memorising to a notion where they see value and engaging higher level cognitive activity like critical thinking that comes through problem-based learning (PBL).
• Developing secondary students’ critical thinking skills and enhancing motivation towards learning English through problem-based learning.
• Increasing the learning skills of students as well as their hands-on skills that come through PBL to prepare them for a challenging working environment.
Delimitation of the study
This study might have some limitations as noted below:
1. A group of 1st grade secondary students chosen randomly from Abd Al Aziz Al Saud experimental language school, Heliopolis, Cairo.
2. The second semester in the academic school year 2016-2017.
3. The following critical thinking skills as determined by the checklist: making inferences, recognition of assumptions, making deductions, making interpretations, and evaluating arguments.
Research Hypotheses
To accomplish the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses were tested:
1. There is statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group students on the post administration of the critical thinking test as a whole and in its sub-skills favoring the experimental group.
2. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the pre and post administration of the critical thinking test as a whole and in its sub-skills favoring their post test scores.
3. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group students on the post administration of the students’ satisfaction questionnaire of learning using problem based learning.
Study Tool
1. Critical thinking skills checklist.
2. Pre- post critical thinking test to measure critical thinking skills before and after the program.
3. Program consists of some real world problems, designed and taught by the researcher through problem-based learning strategy in order to develop 1st grade secondary students’ critical thinking skills.
4. Questionnaire of students’ satisfaction of learning using problem- based learning.
Definition of Terms
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis, 1991 as cited in Ennis ,2011).
Watson and Glaser (2002) maintained that critical thinking is associated with the following abilities: inferences drawn from factual statements, recognition of assumptions in a series of statements, interpreting whether conclusions are warranted or not, determine if conclusions follow from information in given statements, evaluating arguments as being strong and relevant or weak and irrelevant. (pp. 21-230).
Critical thinking is operationaly defined as a mental, skilful, responsible activity which results in inference, recognition of assumption, deduction, interpretation and evaluation arguments skills exercised by 1st grade secondary students in order to help them to act critically, and enable them to issue good logical judgment through real- life problems solving.This is in line with the definition of critical thinking adapted in the present study and formulated by Watson and Glaser (2002).
Problem –Based Learning (PBL)
Problem-based learning is an instructional method that initiates students learning by creating a need to solve an authentic problem. During the problem-solving process, students construct content knowledge and develop problem-solving skills as well as self-directed learning skills while working toward a solution to a problem (Hung, W. 2011).
Problem-based learning (PBL) is operationally defined as a student-centered method of teaching in which the students ”learn to learn” by investigation real-life problems ,and working cooperatively in small groups to seek out the tools necessary to solve these problems which serve as a learning context for students to learn problem-solving skills and develop their critical thinking skills.
Findings
Through analyzing the results, it can be said that the main aim of this study has been achieved. Since the 1st grade secondary EFL students’ critical thinking skill was developed due to using problem-based learning program.
The research questions were answered, and the research hypotheses were verified through the statistical analysis of the results which proved that using problem-based learning program was effective in developing the 1st grade secondary EFL students’ critical thinking skill.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are suggested:
• Take the problem-based learning technique into account while designing English language curriculum due to its role in motivating the students to get involved in the learning process.
• A big entity such Ain Shams University would have to start thinking about how PBL approach could be integrated into their training courses and conferences for deep practice for all participants.
• There is a need for English teachers to be knowledgeable about problem-based learning approach before it can be introduced into the classrooms at all stages of education especially at the elementary preparatory and secondary stages.
• In-service English teachers need training regularly to make them competent in preparing the 21st century students to face global challenges in their chosen disciplines.
• The Ministry of Education should give greater emphasis to in-service education for teachers because no matter the efficiency of pre-service training, the constant change in society and resultant change in curriculum will necessitate continuous in-service training for English teachers.
• Further Efforts could be made to consider the effect of PBL on students’ higher-order cognitive skills i.e. critical thinking and problem solving.
• School time-table, curriculum, assessment orientations would also have to be re-structured to favour PBL.
• Further efforts in improving evaluation system and learning environments are necessary for the success of the PBL curriculum.
• The feasibility of Problem-based learning in online PBL environment could also be investigated.
Suggestions for further studies
1.Future study may consider problem-based learning in teaching EFL in various educational stages to investigate its impact in developing students’ critical thinking skills.
2.Further study may involve large sample size from a wide geographic area to confirm these results.
3.Future study may use PBL in training both pre- in service English teachers to investigate its effectiveness in developing their critical thinking skills.
4.Future study may consider PBL in online PBL environment to investigate its effectiveness in developing secondary students’ creativity and critical thinking.
5.Further research could be beneficial to use and evaluate the effectiveness of PBL approach in the Egyptian context as the research concerning this method is extremely rare.