teaching critical thinking in saudi arabia

500 Pages·2013·2.89 MB·English

TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING IN SAUDI
ARABIA: A STUDY OF TWO PRE-SERVICE
TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS

by

Alhasan Yahya Allamnakhrah

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy

School of Education
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
May 2013
ORIGINALITY STATEMENT
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my
knowledge, it contains no materials previously published or written by another
person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the
award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational
institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in the thesis. Any
contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at
UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that
the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to
the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or
in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.

Signed: ...........................................................................

Date:

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AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT
I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final
officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred
and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the results of the
conversion to digital format.

Signed: ...........................................................................

Date: .................................................................................

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DECLARATION
This is to certify that:
i. The thesis comprises only my original work.
ii. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other materials
used.
iii. The thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables,
figures, references and appendices.

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DEDICATION
This thesis, and all my achievement and success, are dedicated to my mother,
Salaha Ibrahim, and my father, Yahya Ali Al-Sadi, who have encouraged and
aspired me to achieve the highest goals in everything in my life and who have
provided care, supports and prayers throughout my studies. I am also indebted
to my lovely wife, Nourah Ali Asiri, for her devotion, patience and
encouragement, and also my lovely daughters, Al-Maha and Yarra, for their
continuous supports and patience.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
The prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said, He who would not be
thankful people, he who will not be thankful to ALLAH”.
During this long and challenging journey, several people have helped me with their
time, advice, experiences, and patience. Thus, this is an opportunity to thank them.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor,
Professor Colin Evers, for his ongoing assistance, guidance, counselling and expertise
during my research. Professor Evers has been a brother, a friend, a teacher, and a
supervisor throughout my entire candidature. I am most thankful to my co-supervisor,
Dr Michael Michell, for his support and direction throughout the entire process. I really
appreciate their criticisms and suggestions throughout the development of my thesis,
and their support and guidance has enabled me to complete this thesis on time.

My thanks and appreciation are also extended to my study’s panel committee
members, Professor Chris Davison, Professor Anne Burns and Dr Matthew Clarke,
who offered invaluable suggestions throughout the discussion in every seminar. I am
also deeply grateful to the lecturers and students at both King Abdul Aziz and Arab
Open universities who participated in the study. Without them affording their valuable
time and generously sharing with me their candid thoughts and experiences, this
research would not have commenced in the first place. I hope their efforts in lending
their voices in this study will go some way in bringing about further positive changes to
Saudi education. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank all staff and students
at the School of Education who assisted in various and important ways towards the
completion of this thesis.

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ABSTRACT
This thesis proposes a model for the teaching of critical thinking (CT) for secondary
pre-service teacher education students studying in Saudi Arabian universities. This
model is appropriate for Saudi Arabia because it was developed based on current
Saudi practice in the context of recent reform. Since policy driven reforms launched in
2006 and 2007, notably the Tatweer project and the Aafq project, promoting higher
global standards in Saudi education, there has been an increasing emphasis on the
promotion of critical thinking. Numerous studies, however, have shown a lack of CT
amongst secondary school students and teachers in Saudi Arabia, suggesting that CT
oriented curricula and methods of instruction in Saudi Arabian teachers’ colleges have
not yet been applied or taught to secondary pre-service teacher education students.
Prompted by these observations, this research investigated lecturers’ knowledge of CT
and its applications in secondary pre-service teacher education programs at two Saudi
Arabian universities: King Abdul Aziz University and the Arab Open University. These
investigations were delivered through two main qualitative case studies, each of which
represented a university. Each case study consisted of in-depth interviews with
lecturers and students at secondary pre-service teachers’ education programs, and
relevant documents (university programs, policies and students’ assignments). Using
Paul’s theory of CT and Vygotsky’s framework of spontaneous and scientific concepts
to gauge levels of CT knowledge and practice, the research revealed limited CT
knowledge and practice among lecturers and students in the investigated programs
and that this limitation corresponded with the absence of policies promoting the
implementation of CT. In light of these findings, this research developed a model that
provides strategies for enhancing the teaching and learning of CT skills amongst
secondary pre-service teacher education academics and students in Saudi universities.
The proposed model highlights a more systematic approach towards enhancing CT in
pre-service teacher education.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Page

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ii
AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT iii
DECLARATION iv
DEDICATION v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
ABSTRACT vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii
LIST OF TABLES xiii
LIST OF FIGURES xiv

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background and Significance of Study 1
1.2 Purposes of the Study 11
1.3 Research Questions 14
1.4 Organization of the Thesis 15

CHAPTER 2 : SAUDI EDUCATION SYSTEM:
A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 18
2.1 Overview 18
2.2 Brief History and Philosophy of Education
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 18
2.2.1 The Path to Education Reform: the Tatweer Project 25
2.3 Development of Tertiary Education in Saudi Arabia
in the 20th Century 27
2.4 Tertiary Education in Saudi Arabia in the 21st Century 33
2.4.1 Afaq Project to Develop Higher Education 35
2.4.2 The Function of the Tertiary Education in
Saudi Arabia 36
2.4.3 King Abdul Aziz University 37
2.5 Private Tertiary Education in Saudi Arabia 39
2.5.1 Arab Open University 39
2.6 Teachers’ Colleges and Secondary Pre-service Teacher
Education Programs in Saudi Arabia 40
2.6.1 Program in King Abdul Aziz University 41
2.6.2 Program in Arab Open University 42
2.7 Summary 43

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW 45
3.1 Overview 45
3.2 Critical Thinking and Its Development - the emergence
of critical thinking 46
3.2.1 Critical Thinking Concepts in Psychology and
Philosophy: Why there is no consensus 51
3.2.2 Why consensus is desirable 53
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3.2.3 Contributions to the Concepts of Critical Thinking in
Philosophy 55
3.2.4 Contributions to the Concepts of Critical Thinking in
Psychology 58
3.3 Teaching and Learning Critical Thinking 66
3.3.1 The controversy surrounding learning and teaching
critical thinking 66
3.3.2 Teaching Critical Thinking Skills 70
3.4 Critical Thinking and Teacher Education 75
3.4.1 Critical Thinking in the Pre-service Teacher Education 78
3.5 Educators’ Knowledge and Critical Thinking 88
3.6 Understanding the Concept of Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia 91
3.6.1 Critical Thinking in Saudi Education 95
3.7 Summary 103

CHAPTER 4: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL
CONSIDERATIONS 105
4.1 Overview 105
4.2 Theoretical Framework 105
4.2.1 Paul’s Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking 118
4.2.2 Dividing the Theoretical Framework: Critical Thinking
Knowledge and Critical Thinking Practice 119
4.2.2.1 Critical Thinking Knowledge (CTK) 120
4.2.2.2 Critical Thinking Practice (CTP) 124
4.2.2.3 Established Effective Critical Thinking
Strategies 125
4.2.3 The Development of CTK and CTP: Vygotsky’s
Theory of Concept Development 130
4.2.3.1 Scientific Concepts, Pseudoconcepts, and
Complexes 130
4.2.3.1 Using Vygotsky’ Theory of Concept
Development as a Measure of CTK
and CTP Development 133
4.2.3.2 An integrated framework for the development
of CTK and CTP: Vygotsky Meets Paul 134
4.3 Research Methodology: Qualitative Research 138
4.3.1 Research Strategy: Multiple Case Studies 140
4.3.2 Data Sources 141
4.3.2.1 Lecturers 142
4.3.2.2 Students 146
4.3.3 Data Collection Techniques 149
4.3.3.1 Individual Semi-structured Interviews 149
4.3.3.2 Focus Group Interviews 152
4.3.3.3 Document Analysis 155
4.3.4 Research Ethics 160
4.3.5 Data Management 160
4.3.5.1 Transcriptions and translations 161
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4.3.5.2 Data analysis 163
4.3.6 Validation 167
4.4 Summary 172

CHAPTER 5: UNDERSTANDING LECTURERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND
PERCEPTIONS OF CRITICAL THINKING 174
5.1 Overview 174
5.2 Lecturers’ knowledge 182
5.2.1 Understanding and Defining Critical Thinking:
Diverse but Limited Views 184
5.2.2 Knowledge of Critical Thinking Skills: Uncertainties
and Misconceptions 198
5.2.3 Knowledge of Critical Thinking Dispositions:
Conflation of CT Dispositions with CT Skills 206
5.3 Lecturers’ Perceptions 215
5.3.1 Lecturers’ Perceptions of Their Understanding of
CT: Teaching Experiences and Western Influences 221
5.3.2 Impediments to Critical Thinking Knowledge and
How to Overcome Them: Cultural and Educational
Norms 229
5.3.3 University, Students, and Lecturers: Further
Impediments to CTK 233
5.3.4 Overcoming Impediments to Attaining CT:
Teaching the Teacher—an Urgent Priority 240
5.4 Discussion 245

CHAPTER 6 : LECTUERS’ CRITICAL THINKING PRACTICE (CTP) 260
6.1 Overview 260
6.2 Lesson Plans based on Critical Thinking 262
6.2.1 ‘Critical thinking is important…but rarely
employed as an instructional objective’ 262
6.2.2 Teaching critical thinking is essential: “but
we have not been asked to teach it specifically”. 271
6.3 Lecturers’ Strategies for Teaching CT 275
6.3.1 Use of Questioning Strategy 275
6.3.2 Use of Group Discussion 278
6.3.3 Use of Assignment Questions and Feedback 280
6.4 The Impediments to Teaching Critical Thinking 289
6.5 Discussion 295

CHAPTER 7: UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF
LEARNING CRITICAL THINKING 305
7.1 Overview 305
7.2 What Students Know or Presume to Know about CT 306
7.2.1 Students’ Concept of CT: ‘A Means of Resolving
Life’s Problems and Criticism’ 307
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