Developing Critical Thinking Skills through Writing in an Internet-Based Environment
Dr. Talha Abdullah Al Sharadgah

Abstract
This research study was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a writing program on improving Salman bin Abdulaziz University students’ critical thinking skills after participating in a seven-week task-treatment using an Internet-based writing program (IBWP) developed by the researcher. The subjects were 98 male students enrolled in a writing course during the first semester of the academic year 2013/2014. The effectiveness of the program was measured by a holistic critical thinking scoring rubric developed by Facione and Facione (1994). The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups: an experimental was taught writing via the Internet-based writing program IBW, and a control group was taught through the ordinary method. The findings of the study revealed that EFL students in the experimental group who used the IBWP showed greater improvement in their critical thinking skills than did the EFL students in the control group who used the ordinary method.

Full Text: PDF