Paper Title
Students’ Critical Thinking Enhancement through Socratic Questioning: A Pedagogical Study

Abstract
With this attempt as a backdrop that enhancing students critical thinking (CT) in instructional practices is of vital importance in ESL/EFL classrooms, the current study was carried out to investigate the effect of Socratic questioning (SQ) on students CT skills with reference to the five domains of CT 1). Inference, 2). Recognition of Assumptions, 3). Deduction, 4). Interpretation, and 5). Evaluation of Arguments, in grade 12 in Omani female schools. The present study made an attempt to look for differences among students in using CT skills in reading classes. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Therefore, a total of 60 EFL female students distributed in two groups. Data analysis showed statistically significant differences between mean scores of those who are taught through SQ and those obtained by students who are taught CT skills in a normal setting. The students in the experimental group managed to implement better CT skills than those who were taught through traditional methods. Also, results showed that CT domains were significantly affected by SQ skills. In view of the discussion of findings pedagogical implications are explored and recommendations made. Keywords - Evaluative Questions, Probing and Illustrating Questions, Recognition of Assumptions Questions.