Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to asssess Moroccan university students’ critical thinking skills through analyzing their argumentative writings. The focus is on their ability to express their opinion and support their arguments with relevant evidence. The choice of this topic is motivated by the fact that the anecdotal evidence indicates that students, even at a higher level of language proficiency, are unable to develop a point of view and support their claim. An ex-post facto design was used. Forty opinion essays were written by semester Six students, and analyzed using a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. The focus was on the higher order thinking skills, namely analyzing, evaluating, and creating. The frequency analysis revealed that the participants exhibited a low level of critical thinking in their writing. They were unable to develop a stand and support it with arguments. The study gains value for its pedagogical implications. The objective is to revolutionize the writing teachers’ perception of teaching writing by suggesting some techniques they can use to help their students’ develop critical thinking skills.