The effect of using concept mapping on the grammar achievement and critical thinking dispositions of the Iraqi secondary students

Abstract EN

The current study aims at investigating the effect of using concept mapping as a teaching method on the Iraqi secondary students' achievement in English grammar and their critical thinking dispositions.

Therefore, two hypotheses were formulated to investigate the effect.

The total population consists of (73) female students in the 4th secondary stage- for the academic year 2015-2016.

The chosen sample of the research consists of (60) female students.

It is divided into two groups; each one consists of (30) students to represent the experimental and the control groups of the study.

In addition to that, a pre-test was administered before the beginning of the experiment for the sake of equalizing the two groups and investigating the students’ capabilities in English grammar.

After conducting the experiment, an achievement post-test was administered for the two groups in order to discover any improvements in grammar.

The performance of both groups on the pretest and posttest of the critical thinking dispositions scale has been taken into account.

The obtained data were analyzed by using various statistical means such as: t-test for two independent groups, one way analysis of variance ANOVA, and Scheffe's test.

The study results showed a statistical significant difference at (α = 0.05) level between the two groups in the grammar test and critical thinking disposition scale.

In the light of the positive results in favor of the experimental group which taught by concept instructional method, some recommendations to improve students’ achievement in grammar and critical thinking dispositions are put forward.

Moreover, some suggestions are provided for further studies in the field of teaching English as a foreign language.