Closing the assessment loop on critical thinking: The challenges of multidimensional testing and low test-taking motivation

•Explicit critical thinking (CT) instruction improved CT skills, but not dispositions.•After instruction CT skill scores of CT-instructed students were correlated with metacognition.•Greater gains in CT skills were also associated with higher test-taking motivation.•Our manipulation was unsuccessful in raising low test-taking motivation.•It is essential to account for low test-taking motivation in CT research.

Unlike most previous studies that have only assessed critical thinking skills, our study took a comprehensive approach to critical thinking assessment. We examined the impact of explicit critical thinking instruction on skill acquisition as well as changes in critical thinking dispositions and metacognition. Students receiving explicit critical thinking instruction showed significantly greater gains on an argument analysis skills test than students in a control class. In addition, only the skills test scores of the critical thinking group were significantly correlated with metacognitive measures after instruction. However, the critical thinking group showed no greater gains on measures of critical thinking dispositions. To examine another neglected aspect of critical thinking research, we manipulated students’ test-taking motivation before assessment, but our manipulation produced no significant gains in test-taking motivation or critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, test-taking motivation was significantly correlated with scores on the critical thinking skills test both before and after instruction and declined significantly in the control group. Our results suggest that future studies should further examine the impact of explicit critical thinking instruction on critical thinking skills, dispositions, and metacognition and identify ways to raise low test-taking motivation.