Preparatory School Learners’ Level of Critical Thinking Proficiency and Its Correlation with Their Academic Achievement in Ethiopia: The Missing Ingredient

Abstract

The present study investigated the level of preparatory school learners' critical thinking proficiency and its relation with their academic achievement. To the researchers' best knowledge, there is hardly any documented study exploring the relationship between these constructs among preparatory learners. To attain the purpose of the study, 108 grade 12 preparatory school learners from two sections (53 social science and 55 natural science majors: 56 male and 52 female students) were selected using a simple random sampling technique from Woldia Preparatory School. Data was collected through a critical thinking proficiency test adapted from "Cornell Class-Reasoning Test, Form X" (CCTT) and learners' previous semester cumulative average. The data was analyzed statistically, employing Descriptive Statistics, Independent-Samples T Test, Pearson product-moment correlation, and linear regression. The results from the descriptive analysis showed that the critical thinking proficiency of preparatory school learners was weak, namely, most students lack critical thinking proficiency at this level. Moreover, the level of critical thinking didn't vary significantly across majors and gender according to the independentsamples t test analysis. However, results from Pearson product-moment correlation indicated a fairly strong and positive correlation between critical thinking proficiency and academic achievement. The linear regression results also revealed that critical thinking proficiency act as the best predictor of academic achievement. The discussion and implications of the research are further presented with reference to the finding.