Comparison of Critical Thinking in Students Interested and Uninterested in Learning a Second Language Gholamreza Manshaee Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Science and Research Branch, Isfahan, Iran Tahereh Mahmoudian Dastnaee Islamic Azad University, Behshahr Branch, Behshahr, Iran Ali Seidi (Corresponding Author) Islamic Azad University, Gilan-E-gharb Branch, Gilanegharb, Iran Azam Davoodi Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Science and Research Branch, Isfahan, Iran Abstract—The main objective of this study is to identify the impact of critical thinking on students interested and uninterested in learning a second language. The population consists of 2875 high school students in the city of Tehran. The sample includes 385 high school students selected through simple random sampling and the study follows a causal-comparative design. The student’s age ranges from 14 to 18 years old who had at least learned one language as a second language (English). The instruments used in this study were: 1. Questionnaire on the level of interest in learning a second language 2. Critical Thinking Disposition questionnaire. The data were analyzed by the SPSS software by using the comparisons of independent sample t-test and within subjects Anova. The results showed that students interested learning a second language have higher levels critical thinking than students uninterested in learning a second language, and female students have higher levels critical thinking than male students. Index Terms—critical thinking, interest, second language learning, motivation I. INTRODUCTION Today more than ever man is facing a huge amount of human knowledge and business and this capacity of human knowledge and business is constantly increasing every day. Although this extensive knowledge and business is easily accessible through various resources, But choosing the appropriate and on time information from the mass of information has become so difficult and requires high mental and intellectual skills. There are a variety of intellectual skills and one of the most important of them is the critical thinking skills. But what is the nature of critical thinking? Despite the consensus of experts and scientists on the importance of critical thinking and its fostering, diverse opinions have been presented critical thinking on the definition and nature of critical thinking. (Vacek, 2009; Jones, 2007). One reason is that critical thinking is a complex concept and involves complex activity and mental processes. Therefore, it is not possible to describe and measure it easily (Wilgis & McConnell, 2008; Bataineh & Alazzi, 2009). Another reason is that each researcher has defined it according to his/her own understanding of the needs of his/her research (Bataineh & Alazzi, 2009). For instance, Critical Thinking Association quoting Snyder and Snyder (2008) defines critical thinking as the process of putting thought into order, conceptualizing actively and skillfully, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate collected or generated information through observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide for order or action. According to Halpern (2007, as cited in Stupnisky et al., 2008), Critical thinking is the use of cognitive skills that increase the likelihood of desired results it is used to describe a thinking that is target-oriented, reason-oriented and based on guidance. The aim here includes problem solving, reasoning, formulating, estimating probabilities, and decisions making. Broadly defines critical thinking as a set of cognitive skills such as identifying central issues and assumptions, evaluating an event, and inferencing result. Despite the controversy in definitions, there are a lot of overlaps such as Insight, wisdom, speculative thought, seeking reason, identifying underlying assumptions, problem solving, decision making, creativity, perception and evaluation. Hence, education in contemporary times needs to more focus on the process and critical thinking skills rather than content over the past times (Page & Mukherjee, 2007). ISSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 792-799, April 2014 © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.4.4.792-799 © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER