THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER - STUDENT COMMUNICATION AND THE CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES OF THE STUDENTS FROM A ROMANIAN FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY

MARIANA – SIMONA COCOSILA
Arges County Police Inspectorate/Human Resources Department
LUCICA SERBAN
Olt County Police Inspectorate/Human Resources Department
CRENGUTA OPREA
University of Pitesti, Psychology Department
ANDREEA STAN
University of Pitesti, Psychology Department

Abstract

Development of the critical thinking is a priority in modern education. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the relationship between teacher-student communication and the critical thinking abilities of the students from a Romanian Faculty of Psychology. The following objectives are being pursued: to build a questionnaire in order to examine the teacher-student communication; to evaluate the critical thinking abilities of the students; to analyze the relationship between these two dimensions. Method: Participants: The participants in this study were a number of 164 students from a Faculty of Psychology in Romania. From the entire number of participants 136 (82,9%) were women and 28 (17,1%) male. Instruments: Three instruments were used to meet the objectives of the study: The questionnaire of the teacher-student communication assessment (with three sub factors: Barriers to communication, Communication – information, Communication – relationships), The Analytical Reasoning Test, The Analogical Transfer Test. The study reveals a statistically significant association between critical thinking skills (analytical reasoning and analogical transfer) and the Communication - information sub factor. Results: The average scores obtained by our research subjects on the three sub factors: Barriers to communication (m=3.54); Communication – information (m=3.61) and Communication – relationships (m=3.32) and on the general score – The teacher-student communication (m=3.47) were reported to the standard of the questionnaire. Conclusions: The findings of this research allow us to underline the teacher-student communication aspects correlated with critical thinking abilities.

Keywords: teacher-student communication, critical thinking, teaching, Analogical Transfer Test.

This article can be cited as:

6. M.S. Cocosila, L. Serban, C. Oprea, A. Stan (2011). The relationship between teacher-student communication and the criminal thinking abilities of the students from Romanian Faculty of Psychology. Romanian Journal of Experimental Applied Psychology, vol. 2, no.4, pp. 37-47, 2011.