The Impact of Integrating Critical Thinking Skills in Reading Curriculum in Developing Qatari Students Performance in PISA Exams

Abstract

This study aims at identifying the effect of integrating critical thinking skills in the Arabic language reading curriculum for seventh graders in the State of Qatar as an attempt to improve the performance of Qatari students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This study uses the descriptive-analytical method. It analyzes the content of the reading course for grade seven in Qatar and the content of the PISA test in the field of reading knowledge and their critical thinking skills. The results of the study show a clear improvement in the performance of Qatari students in the Pisa tests in general, as they made remarkable progress between 2006 and 2015, where the general average - in the field of reading literacy - increased from (312) to (402). This clearly indicates the effect of integrating critical thinking skills into the reading curriculum.