The effect of university education on developing learners' critical thinking skills : a comparison between freshmen and senior learners at the University of Guelma

الملخص EN

The Algerian educational system has witnessed decisive reforms in the last decade to graduate competent students who can easily solve problems in workplaces.

In light of these educational reforms, this paper aims at investigating the effect of the educational program on developing University of Guelma EFL learners' critical thinking skills through the use of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.

The aim is to measure the skills of freshmen in their first semester and senior EFL learners in their final semester.

After a statistical analysis using an independent-sample T-test, the study reveals that the courses given at the university under the LMD reforms do not have a positive impact on developing learners' critical thinking skills.

The scores of senior learners are lower than freshmen ones though freshmen showed total lack of awareness of the concept of critical thinking in comparison to senior learners who have a general idea about it.

Some recommendations to enhance teaching critical thinking are suggested based on the results reached.