Effects of Dialogic Teaching on Students’ Critical Thinking Dispositions in the Context of Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Dialogic teaching pedagogy (DTP) fosters more dynamic and interactive learning processes. Recognizing its growing importance, this study examined the effects of DTP on students’ critical thinking dispositions (CTD) in teaching reading comprehension within the Ethiopian EFL context. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent pretest–posttest design was employed with 94 sixth-grade EFL students from intact groups. The intact groups were selected based on their pretest scores. The sections were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 48) and control (n = 46) groups. The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI) was administered before and after the intervention, complemented by systematic classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The experimental group’s CTD mean scores (M = 3.57, SD = 0.625) is higher than the control group (M = 2.85, SD = 0.293). The t-test results were t = -6.296, df = 47, and p < 0.001, indicating a significant mean difference between the two groups with CTD. There was also a large effect size (1.213). Qualitative findings further supported that DTP enhanced students’ critical thinking disposition and dialogic engagement. These results suggest that DTP can serve as an effective alternative pedagogy for English language teaching.