Abstract

This research analyses to what extent the use of debates on literature and cross-cutting themes presented by means of journalistic texts encourages critical thinking in the compulsory secondary education (ESO), concretely within a sample of 128 participants from third year of the secondary school. Firstly, the study investigates the effectiveness of these debates for the correct establishment of literary knowledge from the chosen book, The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes; secondly, the progression (or regression) of critical thinking among the students. To do so, it has been developed and validated a required tool to measure this critical capacity, taking as a starting point Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Test; even if the test was too complex and ambiguous for the level of the students, the test fulfilled most of the requirements to perform this measurement. That is why it was decided to adapt the structure of this test to a new one, Critical Competence Test (CCT), that allows a test to be carried out to assess the key aspects of critical thinking such as identifying assumptions, evaluating arguments, drawing conclusions, and problem solving. The development of the CCT is of great importance because a short test was obtained, with an approximate duration of ten minutes and an understandable language for any level as it has been formulated on purpose for Spanish speakers. All this to facilitate the study participants to carry out the test and the improvement of critical capacity that is intended to be obtained with this research.