The aim of this study was to examine the effects of using inquiry-based learning on students’ critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental design which employed time series design with single group participants was used. A total of 20 EFL undergraduate students who took advanced writing skills course were selected using comprehensive sampling method. Tests, focus group discussion, and student-reflective journal were used to gather data on the students’ critical thinking skills. The participants were given a series of three argumentative essay writing pretests both before and after the intervention, inquiry-based argumentative essay writing instruction. While the quantitative data were analyzed using One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA, the qualitative data were analyzed through narration. The findings of the study revealed that using inquiry-based argumentative writing instruction enhances students’ critical thinking skills. Therefore, inquiry-based instruction is suggested as a means to improve students’ critical thinking skills because the method enhances students' interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation skills which are the core critical thinking skills.

中文翻译：

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探究式学习对英语外语学生批判性思维能力的影响

这项研究的目的是检验使用探究式学习对学生的批判性思维能力的影响。使用准实验设计，该设计采用了单组参与者的时间序列设计。采用综合抽样方法，共选拔了20名参加高级写作技能课程的EFL本科生。测试，焦点小组讨论和学生反思日记被用来收集有关学生批判性思维技能的数据。干预前后，以询问为基础的论据写作指导，对参与者进行了一系列的三个论证论文写作预测。使用单向重复测量方差分析分析定量数据时，通过叙述分析定性数据。研究结果表明，使用基于探究性的论证写作指导可以提高学生的批判性思维能力。因此，建议采用探究式教学作为提高学生的批判性思维能力的一种手段，因为该方法可以增强学生的解释，分析，评估，推理，解释和自我调节能力，这是批判性思维的核心技能。