USING DEBATING TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER THE STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING AS A MEAN TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the impact of debate strategies on students' critical thinking and speaking abilities. This study employed a quasi experimental design with a control class and an experimental class, using a quantitative methodology. SPSS was used to analyse the data, which were gathered through pre-test and post-test. Since the data were not normally distributed according to the normality test results, the Mann–Whitney U test was used to test the hypothesis. According to the study's findings, speaking and critical thinking abilities had significance values of p < 0.001, or less than 0.05. It shows that employing debate strategies has a major impact on students' critical thinking and speaking abilities. As a result, debating techniques can be employed as a successful teaching method to enhance students' critical thinking and speaking skills when learning English.