How Adolescents Interpret the Moral Messages of Fables: Examining the Development of Critical Thinking

Autor/inn/en	Nippold, Marilyn A.; LaFavre, Scott; Shinham, Kristin
Titel	How Adolescents Interpret the Moral Messages of Fables: Examining the Development of Critical Thinking
Quelle	In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63 (2020) 4, S.1212-1226 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1092-4388
Schlagwörter	Moral Values; Folk Culture; Task Analysis; Middle School Students; High School Students; Common Core State Standards; Critical Thinking; Benchmarking; Written Language; Metacognition; Syntax; Verbs; Language Usage; Verbal Ability; Student Attitudes; Scoring; Writing Evaluation; Age Differences; Skill Development; Thinking Skills; Teaching Methods + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Aufgabenanalyse; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; High school; High schools; Oberschule; Studentin; Common core curriculum; Curriculum; Kerncurriculum; Kritisches Denken; Geschriebene Sprache; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Sprachgebrauch; Mündliche Leistung; Schülerverhalten; Bewertung; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; Denkfähigkeit; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode
Abstract	Purpose: Critical thinking pervades formal educational benchmarks in the United States, including the Common Core State Standards. However, little information is available on how it develops. Hence, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the development of critical thinking in adolescents using a written language-sampling task. We also examined related aspects of development: verbal productivity, syntactic complexity, and metacognitive verb use. Method: The participants included two groups of adolescents, aged 13 and 16 years (n = 40 per group). All testing took place in classrooms at a middle school or high school. Participants read four fables by the Greek storyteller Aesop (circa 620-560 B.C.) and explained in writing why they agreed or disagreed with the moral message of each story. To examine critical thinking, we evaluated their explanations using a unique 0- to 4-point scoring system. We also examined each participant's transcript for verbal productivity, syntactic complexity, and metacognitive verb use. Results: On the critical thinking task, the 16-year-olds outperformed the 13-year-olds, providing explanations that were more elaborate and detailed. However, there were many individual differences within groups, and even the older group did not consistently perform at the highest level, indicating that critical thinking is a late-developing ability. Age-related gains also occurred on verbal productivity and metacognitive verb use but not on syntactic complexity. Conclusion: Information gleaned from this study demonstrates how critical thinking develops during adolescence but remains incomplete. The study also has implications for assessing critical thinking in adolescents and knowing how to prompt complex language and thought. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01