critical thinking skills in elt

Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom

The enquiring mind

Critical thinking is innate – it comes from inside us – and as humans we have survived and developed by approaching things critically. Children naturally try to check what they have been told, and are ‘programmed’ to piece together the information they encounter. For example, a six year-old child I know was told that diamonds are the strongest and hardest thing on earth and could cut through other stones and even metal. He then visited a rock on the English Jurassic Coast that had been ‘carved’ into an arch, and after listening to an explanation of how it had happened asked, ‘Which is more powerful, diamonds or the sea?’ This child could not yet read and write, but like other children, he was developing his critical mind.

Critical thinking essentially means having a questioning, challenging, analytical state of mind. A critical mind is comfortable with a degree of scepticism and doubt; it is a mind that is open to reinterpreting and refining its knowledge, and accepting that what we know may change in the light of new knowledge. A critical thinker questions whether something is believable, evaluates how strong is the basis of an assumption, and makes new connections between what they know and learn.

Multiple intelligences are involved in critical thinking. The conductor of an orchestra critically interprets the written score, even if it is as familiar as Beethoven’s Ninth. They aim to add something new, and communicate their interpretation to the musicians through movement. A surgeon has to work out the wider picture from the detail they can see, and act quickly. Someone working in business accesses the information relevant to their sector, assesses its significance, and looks for a new opportunity. These people are all thinking critically. Our students will do jobs like these when they have completed their education.

Critical thinking in the classroom

Part of our job as language teachers – and more broadly as educators – is to develop our students’ critical thinking competence. In reality, different students may have experienced varying degrees of nurture and discouragement at the hands of their parents, previous education, and wider culture. Our students’ level of critical thinking may not be related to their language level.

We can start by introducing tasks which ask students to question what they read and listen to, investigating the deeper – more implicit, meanings in texts – and identify assumptions and weaknesses. We can ask students to respond to statements that emerge from the materials we are already using. For example, my class were shown a slide in a lecture which stated ‘China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world’. I elicited critical questions which included: ‘When? – How soon is ‘soon’?’; ‘Why not India?’; ‘How do you know? – What are your sources?’; and ‘How well will they speak English?’ We can start by asking the simple question ‘So what?’ Our classes, and all our lives, will be richer for our students’ responses.

Critical Thinking in EAP (oupeltglobalblog.com)
Critical Thinking – Teaching Tips from Around the World (oupeltglobalblog.com)

A Working Model for Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom

In the article on the topic of Critical Thinking in ELT , my co-author Paul Dummett suggested that critical thinking in English language teaching should involve more than simply identifying fact from misinformation or searching texts for supporting evidence. We argue instead that critical thinking is more encompassing and should be viewed as a ‘critical disposition’ (Davis and Barnett, 2015) or as an enquiring mindset towards learning.

To understand this in the context of an ELT lesson, it is useful to see critical thinking in terms of lower- and higher-order thinking so we fully understand its role in our lesson planning. In Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001), lower-order thinking includes remembering, understanding, and applying. These three processes are fundamental in learning a language. Consider, for example, how a learner learns a new word: by remembering it, understanding what it means, and using or applying it. As language teachers we spend a large amount of time helping our students to achieve this – and rightly so!

However, we can also ask ourselves if it is possible to challenge students and encourage them to use higher order thinking in which they (referring to Bloom’s taxonomy again) analyse, evaluate, and create. In other words, we should encourage students to think both critically and creatively, so they personalize with the new language and ultimately achieve greater learner autonomy.

Paul and I developed the diagram below to show the relationship between lower- and higher-order thinking and how basic comprehension, critical thinking, and creative thinking relate to each other in the classroom.

First of all, it is worth noting that our lower/higher order thinking scale is horizontal. Many other representations of levels of thinking present it vertically, but this seems to suggest lower-order thinking is somehow ‘lesser’ or something to be completed before we can ask students use higher-order thinking. This isn’t true. Knowledge and comprehension are clearly a crucial part of learning and is no way ‘lesser’. Furthermore, thinking in the classroom isn’t a series of steps where we proceed up a scale from lower to higher. In fact, an effective language lesson might begin with a creative thinking task, then involve some comprehension work with a video, followed by a class discussion involving critical thinking. So, the process of thinking is – of course – rarely (if at all) linear.

We also believe that approaching lesson planning with a notion of this lower- and higher-order thinking improves a teacher’s ability to design engaging language tasks at any stage of a lesson. For example, imagine you were going to start a lesson on the topic of ‘Stages in life’ with this image.

Typically, we might begin by asking students to say what they see and to check they have key words (e.g. women, walking stick, bench, mobile phone, etc.). However, we could also consider other types of questions to make greater use of the image and to encourage students to think about it in different ways. Here are some questions we could ask:

For Comprehension:

– Where are the women?

– What are they waiting for?

– What are they doing?

For Critical thinking:

– Can you give the photo a title?

– What does the photo tell us about communication?

– Why do you think the photographer took this photo?

For Creative thinking:

– What do you think the two older women are saying to each other?

– What do you think the younger women is texting?

– Can you write a question for each woman?

As you can see, by thinking about thinking in this way, the teacher goes beyond the basic comprehension tasks that typically fill many lessons and slowly develops the learner’s higher-order thinking skills. Encouraging both critical and creative thinking in this way is a slow process and one that only works by being an everyday part of any lesson, but it seems more principled than simply treating critical thinking as something separate.

In the next article in this series, we’ll start to explore other ways in which this view of critical thinking in the context of lower- and higher-order thinking might be applied to lesson planning and materials design.

To learn more, please see our book Critical Thinking in ELT: a practical model for the classroom from National Geographic Learning .

Anderson, L. and Krathwohl, D. (Eds.) (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives . London, UK: Pearson.

Davis M & Barnett R (2015) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education (pp1–26) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Dummett, P & Hughes, J (2019) Critical thinking in ELT National Geographic Learning

Hughes, J. (2015) ETpedia Pavilion ELT: Pavilion Publishing

Author: John Hughes

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Critical Thinking in ELT

Sponsored advertorial by National Geographic Learning

From the authors to your classroom: written by Paul Dummett

After years of talking and writing about critical thinking (CT) and of reading and listening to others do the same, my colleague John Hughes and I decided that we should codify our thoughts on the subject. What came out of it two years later in 2018 was Critical Thinking in ELT: a practical model for the classroom from National Geographic Learning. We knew what constituted a critical thinking activity and what did not, having already written many such activities for Life , an integrated-skills course for young adults and adults published by National Geographic Learning. But we were less clear about how to define CT’s place in ELT materials. What did it mean in relation to the teaching of the four skills and to grammar and vocabulary? Was CT something that could be ‘taught’ or was it simply an innate ability within the learner that needed awakening? And were we asking students to think critically about language or about the ideas that were being communicated?

It would be fair to say that most of the calls in recent years for greater inclusion of critical thinking activities in the language classroom stem from two prevalent notions. One is the idea that education needs to get its priorities right: to spend less time training students for tests of knowledge and start stimulating them to think for themselves. The other notion is that we live in an age of misinformation in which only the critically minded can avoid manipulation or slavish conformity. These are both valid points. The unfortunate thing is that they tend to lead to a narrow application of CT in ELT materials: that is to say, the analysis of texts and evaluation of the ideas expressed in them.

For us, critical thinking had a more far-reaching relevance to language study. If, as we argue in the book – and as most people would probably agree – CT is a mindset or a global approach to learning rather than simply a box of tools to be used and put away again, then it must inform every aspect of language study. What’s more it must affect every level, from beginner to advanced. And it must have a place in every lesson.

Essentially, critical thinking activities are those parts of a lesson or exercise that require a learner to enquire more thoroughly about language or ideas in order to achieve a better understanding, to ask, ‘ What is really going on here?’ For instance:

in grammar, to ask how this structure is different from that one.
in vocabulary, to ask what the limitations of a particular word are.
in reading or listening, to ask if the author has used balanced or emotive language.
in writing or speaking, to ask what the reader or listener knows already about the subject.

In Critical Thinking in ELT , we describe many such examples of activities which stimulate reflection on individual language items, on longer pieces of discourse, and on ideas. We also present a framework for critical thinking that will enable teachers to develop their own CT activities. John Hughes will describe this framework in a future article, but for now I’ll conclude by outlining the three core beliefs about language learning on which it is based:

that language learning involves a balance of different thinking skills, of which critical thinking is just one.
that all lesson planning should take account of this balance of thinking skills, just as it would a balance of input and output,
that critical thinking plays a key role in the deeper processing and production of language.

To learn more, please visit ELTNGL.com/ctinelt

The content for this page was paid for and provided by National Geographic Learning.

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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the ESL Classroom

Linda D'Argenio
December 22, 2022

teaching critical thinking skills in fluency vs accuracy

Critical thinking has become a central concept in today’s educational landscape, regardless of the subject taught. Critical thinking is not a new idea. It has been present since the time of Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates’ famous quote, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel,” underscores the nature of learning (students are not blank slates to be filled with content by their teachers) and the significance of inquisitiveness in a true learning process, both in the ESL classroom and in the wider world of education. Teaching critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom will benefit your students throughout their language-learning journey.

In more recent times, philosopher John Dewey made critical thinking one of the cornerstones of his educational philosophy. Nowadays, educators often quote critical thinking as the most important tool to sort out the barrage of information students are exposed to in our media-dominated world , to analyze situations and elaborate solutions. Teaching critical thinking skills is an integral part of teaching 21st-century skills .

Table of Contents

What is critical thinking?

There are many definitions of critical thinking. They are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. Some of the main ones are outlined below.

Dewey’s definition

In John Dewey’s educational theory, critical thinking examines the beliefs and preexisting knowledge that individuals use to assess situations and make decisions. If such beliefs and knowledge are faulty or unsupported, they will lead to faulty assessments and decision-making. In essence, Dewey advocated for a scientific mindset in approaching problem-solving .

Goal-directed thinking

Critical thinking is goal-directed. We question the underlying premises of our reflection process to ensure we arrive at the proper conclusions and decisions.

Critical thinking as a metacognitive process

According to Matthew Lipman, in Thinking in Education, “Reflective thinking is thinking that is aware of its own assumptions and implications as well as being conscious of the reasons and evidence that support this or that conclusion. (…) Reflective thinking is prepared to recognize the factors that make for bias, prejudice, and self-deception . It involves thinking about its procedures at the same time as it involves thinking about its subject matter” (Lipman, 2003).

Awareness of context

This is an important aspect of critical thinking. As stated by Diane Halpern in Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking , “[The critical] thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task” (Halpern, 1996)

What are the elements of critical thinking?

Several elements go into the process of critical thinking.

Identifying the problem. If critical thinking is viewed mainly as a goal-oriented activity, the first element is to identify the issue or problem one wants to solve. However, the critical thinking process can be triggered simply by observation of a phenomenon that attracts our attention and warrants an explanation.
Researching and gathering of information that is relevant to the object of inquiry. One should gather diverse information and examine contrasting points of view to achieve comprehensive knowledge on the given topic.
Evaluation of biases. What biases can we identify in the information that has been gathered in the research phase? But also, what biases do we, as learners, bring to the information-gathering process?
Inference. What conclusions can be derived by an examination of the information? Can we use our preexisting knowledge to help us draw conclusions?
Assessment of contrasting arguments on an issue. One looks at a wide range of opinions and evaluates their merits.
Decision-making. Decisions should be based on the above.

Why is critical thinking important in ESL teaching?

The teaching of critical thinking skills plays a pivotal role in language instruction. Consider the following:

Language is the primary vehicle for the expression of thought, and how we organize our thoughts is closely connected with the structure of our native language. Thus, critical thinking begins with reflecting on language. To help students understand how to effectively structure and express their thinking processes in English, ESL teachers need to incorporate critical thinking in English Language Teaching (ELT) in an inclusive and interesting way .

For ESL students to reach their personal, academic, or career goals, they need to become proficient in English and be able to think critically about issues that are important to them. Acquiring literacy in English goes hand in hand with developing the thinking skills necessary for students to progress in their personal and professional lives. Thus, teachers need to prioritize the teaching of critical thinking skills.

How do ESL students develop critical thinking skills?

Establishing an effective environment

The first step in assisting the development of critical thinking in language learning is to provide an environment in which students feel supported and willing to take risks. To express one’s thoughts in another language can be a considerable source of anxiety. Students often feel exposed and judged if they are not yet able to communicate effectively in English. Thus, the teacher should strive to minimize the “affective filter.” This concept, first introduced by Stephen Krashen, posits that students’ learning outcomes are strongly influenced by their state of mind. Students who feel nervous or anxious will be less open to learning. They will also be less willing to take the risks involved in actively participating in class activities for fear that this may expose their weaknesses.

One way to create such an environment and facilitate students’ expression is to scaffold language so students can concentrate more on the message/content and less on grammar/accuracy.

Applying context

As mentioned above, an important aspect of critical thinking is context. The information doesn’t exist in a vacuum but is always received and interpreted in a specific situational and cultural environment. Because English learners (ELs) come from diverse cultural and language backgrounds and don’t necessarily share the same background as their classmates and teacher, it is crucial for the teacher to provide a context for the information transmitted. Contextualization helps students to understand the message properly.

Asking questions

One of the best ways to stimulate critical thinking is to ask questions. According to Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy ( Taxonomy of Educational Objectives , 1956), thinking skills are divided into lower-order and higher-order skills. Lower-order skills include knowledge, comprehension, and application; higher-order skills include analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To stimulate critical thinking in ELT, teachers need to ask questions that address both levels of thinking processes. For additional information, read this article by the TESL Association of Ontario on developing critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom .

Watch the following clip from a BridgeUniverse Expert Series webinar to learn how to set measurable objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy ( watch the full webinar – and others! – here ):

How can we implement critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom?

Several activities can be used in the ESL classroom to foster critical thinking skills. Teaching critical thinking examples include:

Activities that scaffold language and facilitate students’ expression

These can be as basic as posting lists of important English function words like conjunctions, personal and demonstrative pronouns, question words, etc., in the classroom. Students can refer to these tables when they need help to express their thoughts in a less simplistic way or make explicit the logical relation between sentences (because… therefore; if… then; although… however, etc.). There are a variety of methods to introduce new vocabulary based on student age, proficiency level, and classroom experience.

Activities that encourage students to make connections between their preexisting knowledge of an issue and the new information presented

One such exercise consists of asking students to make predictions about what will happen in a story, a video, or any other context. Predictions activate the students’ preexisting knowledge and encourage them to link it with the new data, make inferences, and build hypotheses.

Critical thinking is only one of the 21st-century skills English students need to succeed. Explore all of Bridge’s 21st-Century Teaching Skills Micro-credential courses to modernize your classroom!

Change of perspective and contextualization activities.

Asking students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes is a challenging but fruitful practice that encourages them to understand and empathize with other perspectives. It creates a different cultural and emotional context or vantage point from which to consider an issue. It helps assess the merit of contrasting arguments and reach a more balanced conclusion.

One way of accomplishing this is to use a written text and ask students to rewrite it from another person’s perspective. This automatically leads students to adopt a different point of view and reflect on the context of the communication. Another is to use roleplay . This is possibly an even more effective activity. In role-play, actors tend to identify more intimately with their characters than in a written piece. There are other elements that go into acting, like body language, voice inflection, etc., and they all need to reflect the perspective of the other.

Collaborative activities

Activities that require students to collaborate also allow them to share and contrast their opinions with their peers and cooperate in problem-solving (which, after all, is one of the goals of critical thinking). Think/write-pair-share is one such activity. Students are asked to work out a problem by themselves and then share their conclusions with their peers. A collaborative approach to learning engages a variety of language skill sets, including conversational skills, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, as well as critical thinking.

In today’s educational and societal context, critical thinking has become an important tool for sorting out information, making decisions, and solving problems. Critical thinking in language learning and the ESL classroom helps students to structure and express their thoughts effectively. It is an essential skill to ensure students’ personal and professional success.

Take an in-depth look at incorporating critical thinking skills into the ESL classroom with the Bridge Micro-credential course in Promoting Critical Thinking Skills.

Linda D'Argenio

Linda D'Argenio is a native of Naples, Italy. She is a world language teacher (English, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese,) translator, and writer. She has studied and worked in Italy, Germany, China, and the U.S. In 2003, Linda earned her doctoral degree in Classical Chinese Literature from Columbia University. She has taught students at both the school and college levels. Linda lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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40 Activities For Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classes

In this article, I’m going to tackle critical thinking; what it is, what it involves, and some practical activities to develop it in EFL classes.

Critical thinking is one of the main purposes of education. Teachers should prepare their students to think critically from the first day of school. Critical thinking helps students to lead successful, fulfilling lives and become engaged citizens.

What Is Meant By Critical Thinking?

In today’s world, critical thinking is:

The ability to think about one’s thinking to recognize and improve it.
The process of applying, analyzing, constructing and evaluating information.
Making reasoned judgments using certain criteria to judge the quality of something.

What Critical Thinking Involves?

Asking questions,
Defining a problem,
Examining evidence,
Analyzing assumptions and biases,
Avoiding emotional reasoning,
Avoiding oversimplification,
Considering all interpretations,
Using higher level thinking skills; analyzing, evaluating and
Reaching creative solutions for problems.

Why Teach Critical Thinking?

Teachers should focus mainly to develop their students’ critical thinking to help them:

Be active receptors of the massive information that they receive nowadays.
Solve the complex problems that they face every day.
Make sound decisions about personal and civic affairs.

The Main Teaching Strategies To Develop Critical Thinking

Using ongoing classroom assessment.
Putting students in group learning situations to get continuous support and feedback from other students.
Presenting case studies to the class without a conclusion and using discussion and debate methods.
Using critical questions.
Using dialogues written or oral and encouraging students to analyze them.
Using comparisons to show the pros and cons of two things.

Example #1 of a Critical Thinking Activity

Using debates

Letter x Email

Broom x Vacuum cleaner

Telephone (landline) x Cell phone

Oven x Microwave

Sponge and soap x Dishwasher

Candle x Bulb

Book x Kindle

1. Ask the class who, in their own opinion, wins and why?

2. Ask students to pretend to be the item that they choose, try to list its advantages, and debate them with the other student.

3. Ask students to act out what they prepared in front of the class.

4. Ask the class to listen and take notes.

Example #2 of a Critical Thinking Activity

Using short stories

Ask students to read the following short story and answer the questions below:

Just before Christmas my father took me skiing at Mount Baker. He’d had to fight for the privilege of my company, because my mother was still angry with him for sneaking me into a nightclub during his last visit, to see Thelonious Monk.

Write an introduction to this short story.
Write the second paragraph.
Do you think they stayed up all night in the nightclub? What did they do?
What do you think about the father?
Do you think the family enjoyed Christmas?
If you were the mother, would you be angry?
What did you learn from the story?
Can you guess the best/worst case scenario of how the story will end?
Why did the father take the kid to the nightclub?
Do you think the mother wanted to go to the nightclub?
Do you like such a father?
Do you think the dad lives with the family?
What are the feelings of the kid?
Do you think the kid has siblings?
Did the kid solve the problem with his mother?
What would you do if you were in his/her shoes?
How old is he or she?
Where do they live? Country or town?
Do you think the kid is good at school?
Why did the father sneak the kid into the nightclub?
Do you think the mother was right when she got angry?
What do you think of the dad?
Should the kid apologize to the mother and how?
Does the father accompany his kid often or rarely?
What do you think happened before Christmas?
Why did the father not take the mother along? …. etc.

When asking students such critical thinking questions, the teacher should:

Keep the discussion focused.
Keep the discussion reasonable.
Stimulate the discussion with more probing questions.
Summarize periodically what has and what has not been dealt with or resolved.
Engage as many students as possible in the discussion.

More Examples of Activities For Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classes

3. Write a title on the board, divide the students into groups, and they sit together and make a story (each group will have a different story and then share it with the whole class).

4. Use a short story, ask students about their opinions of the characters, then discuss with the whole class whether they agree or disagree asking why?

5. Draw objects and ask them about them (compare and contrast).

6. Write an essay on a certain topic or respond to an email.

7. Suggest a suitable title for a story.

8. Transfer information to others

9. Brainstorm ideas using a mind map.

10. Summarize a text and give opinions.

11. Ask what-if questions (what if you were Oliver twist/Cinderella).

12. Ask students to complete a sentence.

13. Ask about the moral of a story.

14. Give students a problem related to their environment and ask them to do research about it and give some creative solutions for it.

15. Ask open-ended questions; questions that have many possible answers (e.g. should we spend more money developing earth or exploring space?). Divide the class into groups, each thinks of answers and then shares them.

16. Give a situation and encourage students (in groups) to analyze, evaluate, and make judgments.

17. Ask students to make an end to a story.

18. Ask students to criticize a certain situation.

19. List the advantages and disadvantages of a topic.

20. Introduce some situations using (what would you do in the following situation? what if we do not have …., what would happen if …?

21. Ask students: which is different: milk, water, soda, or juice? Why? Which one is better (in pairs and students pick different sides)

22. Imagine you are the president, the mayor, a leader, a doctor etc… What decisions would you take first?

Reading Activities

Let’s brainstorm some ideas of how to promote critical thinking after reading a story, e.g. “Cinderella”.

23. Analyze characters: Do you like “Character”? Why?

24. Use what-if questions: What if Cinderella was ugly?

25. Introduce or remove a character then ask for the impact on the storyline.

26. Ask for another ending for the story.

27. Ask for their thoughts about what’s after the ending.

28. Change the setting and ask for the results.

29. Ask students to watch the movie after reading the story and then compare the characters and the storyline!

Speaking activities

30. Ask students to look at a certain picture and describe their feelings about it.

31. Ask students to compare things.

32. Introduce a problem and ask students to give as many solutions as possible for it.

33. Ask students to gather information from conflicting resources.

34. Ask controversial questions.

35. Encourage Role Plays.

36. Ask students about their priority: education/health/entertainment and why?

Listening activities

37. Prediction.

38. Making inferences.

39. Drawing conclusions.

40. Differentiating between facts and opinions.

Writing Activities

41. Writing blurbs to pictures or ads … etc.

42. Writing Commentaries.

43. Responding to emails, letters or SMS.

For setting students up for success in critical thinking activities teachers need to:

Brainstorm enough information before asking students to carry out a certain task.
Encourage them to participate.
Provide them with help and guidance (when needed).
Assure them that there are no “wrong answers”.
Accept all answers and points of view.
Appreciate their efforts.
Praise their trials.
Teach them critical thinking skills!

Here are some critical thinking skills that students need to learn:

Thinking outside the box.
Asking questions and then questioning answers.
Analyzing the reading or the listening text.
Logically addressing an issue.
Supporting their stance with evidence.
Respectfully refuting others’ opinions.
Evaluating the truth of a claim or argument.

Adapted from U.S. Department of State English Language Programs – Samar Aal

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CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND MEANING IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Harits Masduqi [email protected] The University of Sydney, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
How to Cite

Many ELT experts believe that the inclusion of critical thinking skills in English classes is necessary to improve students' English competence. Students' critical thinking skills will be optimally increased if meaning is prioritized in English lessons. Those two inter-related elements can be implemented when teachers do collaborative activities stimulating students' thinking process and meaning negotiation. Yet, the realization might be counter-productive if they are applied without careful consideration of task purposes and of students' roles. Based on the consideration, this paper is focused on presenting how critical thinking skills and meaning should be properly incorporated in an English lesson.

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Universitas Negeri Malang (UM), Jalan Semarang 5,
Malang 65145

Contact Info:

Telephone: +62 341 567475
Fax: +62 341 567475
E-mail: [email protected]

English Language Teaching
Vol. 12, No. 1 (2019)

Improving EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking Skills in Argumentative Writing

Nabila Nejmaoui

In the 21 st century where information has become easily available and accessible, education has shifted its attention to teaching students how to process and think critically about the information they receive. Welcoming the changes that education constantly witnesses, the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) has embraced the integration of critical thinking. Accordingly, the present paper aims to explore the effect, if any, of integrating critical thinking on learners’ use of critical thinking skills in argumentative writing. To this end, an experimental study was conducted; 36 Moroccan EFL learners from the department of English were divided evenly into an experimental group and a control group. While the participants in the experimental group were taught writing with critical thinking skills, the others were taught writing with no reference to these skills. The participants in both groups took a pre-test and posttest to evaluate the development of their use of critical thinking skills in argumentative writing. The data which has been quantitatively analyzed indicates that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group. The students’ ability to use more credible evidence, address alternative arguments, support conclusions, and maintain the logical flow of ideas in their essays did not reach a mastery level in the posttest, yet the average level they reached is reassuring in view of the short time of the training they had. An integration of CT for longer periods may bring forth encouraging outcomes.

DOI: 10.5539/elt.v12n1p98

ISSN(Print): 1916-4742
ISSN(Online): 1916-4750
Started: 2008
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New Approaches to Teaching Critical Thinking Skills through a New EFL Curriculum

2020, International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation

This study aims at investigating new approaches to teaching critical thinking skills through a new EFL curriculum for Palestinian EFL learners. The ultimate aim of the study hopes to provide the Palestinian teachers, students, policymakers and curricula designers some guidelines for integrating critical thinking skills into EFL curricula. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena, qualitative and quantitative methods were used. This mixed approach is used to assure validity depending on different data collection sources. The researcher used a 32-item questionnaire adapted from (Saeed et al., 2012 & Rezaei et al., 2011) that addresses EFL teachers. The content analysis method was also used through which 79 English language supervisors' reports were systematically analyzed. The findings of the study showed that most of their EFL students do not recognize critical thinking skills. Analysis of the reports showed that most periods delivered to EFL students don not enhance critical thinking skills. Based on the results of the questionnaire and the content analysis of the report, the researcher presented some activities, guidelines, and strategies to be utilized by EFL teachers regarding course content, methods of teaching, classroom management, and EFL students' assessment.

Related Papers

Journal of curriculum and teaching

pauline roslin

Mohamed Elfatihi

Critical thinking has become a high priority in almost every institution and educational system around the world, particularly since the second half of the 20 th century. Developing the learners' critical thinking skills has become an educational ideal that schools strive to achieve. There is a tacit consensus about the importance of incorporating critical thinking in education and ample literature has been written about it although there are different approaches to how this should be done. Integrating critical thinking skills in language instruction, however is a less explored area, especially when it comes to justifying this process. The main purpose of this paper is to present a rational for the inclusion of critical thinking skills in language teaching with reference to EFL and ESL. Five categories of reasons are suggested to support the implementation of critical thinking skills in the language classroom. The first is philosophical reasons related to the connection between language and thought. The second is cognitive and metacognitive reasons dealing with how critical thinking skills influence and are influenced by processes such as memory, comprehension and metacognition. The third is pedagogical reasons related the fact that many modern language teaching methods and techniques today require the learner to engage in problem solving, evaluation and decision making. The last are socioeconomic reasons linked to the requirements of the job market.

Masoud Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki

Modern and forward-looking approaches to education and learning no longer treat learners as passive recipients of knowledge. Rather, they claim to nurture self-monitored and self-disciplined thinkers who are shown to be academically successful and promising. This qualitative case study aimed at exploring the teachers’ and learners’ attitudes towards critical thinking within the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context of Iran. To this end, the attitudes of eighty Iranian EFL learners and their teacher towards inclusion of critical thinking exercises into their regular syllabus were gauged. The results obtained from 18 unstructured interviews indicated that teacher’s and learners’ responses were diametrically opposed; while learners’ performance improved and they became more motivated, the teacher reported distress and dissatisfaction with the new approach to the syllabus. Thematic Content Analyses (TCA) and language skills tests also revealed that the L2 reading comprehension ability of learners benefited more than other skills. Other context-based factors and implications are discussed.

English Language Teaching

Mohammed al-Mekhlafi , Abdo Al-Mekhlafi

The purpose of the current study is to investigate post-basic English teachers` practice of critical thinking skills and the challenges they face while teaching skills in EFL classrooms. Three research questions were investigated to achieve this purpose: 1-To what extent do EFL teachers use classroom behaviors that nurture critical thinking at the post basic education schools? 2- Does EFL teachers’ practice of classroom behaviors that nurture critical thinking skills vary according to gender? 3-What challenges do EFL teachers face when incorporating critical thinking in their classrooms?The sample was drawn from 12 post basic schools: 3 female schools, 3 male schools and 6 mixed gender schools. The total number of grade 11 and 12 English teachers in these schools is thirty: 15 males and 15 females. To accomplish the objectives and fulfill the purpose of the study, the study employed a questionnaire and an observation form to collect the data needed to answer the research questions. ...

IPCO Academy

_This study tries to investigate whether Libyan as a foreign language (EFL) teachers integrate critical thinking skills in their classrooms, and this study argues that many EFL Libyan teachers have no idea about the meaning and the ways of using these skills in their classes. Data are collected through three qualitative methods: observing 10 EFL Libyan teachers in different public high schools and interviewing 5 EFL teachers. Also, the Libyan curriculum of high schools "English for Libya was analyzed qualitatively whether it provides opportunities for integrating critical thinking skills or not. The finding stated that most teachers participated in this study do not understand the meaning of critical thinking skills and they give more priority to grammar rules and vocabulary through asking their students to memorize them for exams. Keywords-critical thinking skills: the skills of being independent in individuals thinking and perception. EFL: English as a foreign language. Integrating: implementing. Procedural knowledge: the application of given information. Declarative knowledge: the understanding and memorization of given information.

Matias Avalos Marin

Critical Thinking has become an educational and social ideal. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching has not been apart from the discussion on the importance of implementing Critical Thinking into the educational process. However, research on Critical Thinking has broadly been carried out in other fields of knowledge rather than in EFL. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehend the conceptions university English teachers had about Critical Thinking in order to get a wider understanding on the way it has been conceived in EFL in relation to its concept, traits, promotion and assessment. Content Analysis, as a qualitative process of analysis and source of information, interpretations and conclusions, was the method adopted. The software Atlas.ti was the tool implemented to analyze the information. The results revealed that there is some agreement on the conception of Critical Thinking as a set of cognitive skills for problem-solving and reflective learning. Nevertheless, EFL tea...

Journal of Language Teaching and Research

lotfollah Karimi

European Scientific Journal ESJ

Developing student's critical skills is one of the major concerns of foreign language teachers. Professional teachers and novice ones try to find ways to motivate their students. Developing communicative competence requires students to develop learning strategies and focus on language function and context. In every course assignments, learners understand and realize better that communication is not an easy thing. Developing accuracy and fluency in foreign language classes enhance students critical thinking too. However, What is critical thinking? What is the perception of learners about it? What communicative activities can foreign language teachers use in the classroom to enhance student's critical thinking? These are some research questions that this paper brings in focus, from theory to practice. The study is based on observations in EFL classes. From observations, it was found that developing critical thinking skills help learners to enhance their communication, enlarge their vocabulary, and help them to learn how to use language for different purposes in a variety of contexts. Foreign language teachers can help learners develop critical thinking skills. In this paper, some suggestions for foreign language teachers to use practical activities to foster critical thinking will be presented. Thus, in English language learning and teaching contexts, critical thinking becomes more dynamic.

IJELTAL IAIN Samarinda

The aim of this paper is to explore the challenges to, and benefits of, fostering of critical thinking (CT) in the Saudi EFL (English as a foreign language) context. Nowadays, the responsibility of educational institutions is to equip individuals with the essential skills to achieve success in their lives and to facilitate success for their communities. CT skills are amongst the skills most in demand and most needing to be acquired and improved by learners. The paper addresses the concept of CT from and Islamic versus CT from Western perspectives, also, possible challenges or barriers to CT, whether religious or pedagogical, in the Saudi context are analyzed and refuted. Finally, practices for promoting CT inside EFL classrooms are described within Saudi context and the benefits of incorporating CT strategies into language learning are outlined.

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How can genAI be used to promote critical thinking skills?

Learn how genAI can be used to promote critical thinking skills.

Presenter: Alexa Alice Joubin, Ph.D. | Professor of English, East Asian Lang & Lit, and Theatre & Dance

Recorded and produced: Spring 2024

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The Role of Humans in an AI World

Now more than ever, b-school curriculum needs to complement technical skills with human creativity and other unique characteristics, to enhance the capabilities of both.
Business educators need to teach students how to think critically about employing AI to identify problems and interpret solutions, rather than allowing AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to determine what’s relevant.
A new value framework—based on critical thinking and purposeful analysis—can help guide business schools, and accordingly students, to more meaningful solutions.

Ana Freire : [0:15] In my view, AI will replace everything. There are some human characteristics that need to be in place always, such as creativity, or the natural intelligence, the common sense, and many other features inherent from human behavior.

[0:32] We just need to find the way in how to basically combine artificial intelligence and the most wonderful characteristics of human beings in order to multiply the effects that both parts can generate together.

[0:51] Higher education institutions have the responsibility to not just teach the technological content, which is behind artificial intelligence, but also soft skills like communication or critical thinking in order to give the future leaders the opportunity to decide or to augment their own capabilities in order to multiply the effects of artificial intelligence when it's needed.

[1:17] Because maybe not in all environments and in all tasks artificial intelligence will be needed in our work.

Higher education institutions have the responsibility to not just teach the technological content, but also soft skills like communication or critical thinking.

David De Cremer : [1:26] Creativity is seen as something uniquely human. If you look at what creativity is about, it's really finding new solutions to problems that are relevant and meaningful to us.

[1:37] If you use that definition and we apply it to generative AI like ChatGPT, we see that there are a number of skills that our educators should train. First of all, ChatGPT provides solutions, it generates solutions, but who phrases the question? A human.

[1:54] It's about identifying a problem and then specifying in a question. It generates something, but who interprets what is generated? A human as well, because it needs to be seen as meaningful and relevant to a human. These are two important skills.

[2:10] Identifying the question relates to use generative AI in a way that you push our students to think critically. What are the big business questions? What are the big questions in life that business can help? Those are the problems that we define.

[2:24] That's related to what we call prompt engineering as well. If you know the right question, do you also know how to prompt ChatGPT to come up with an answer that's relevant?

Prompt engineering is a good skill to have, but it's not the job of the future.

[2:35] Prompt engineering is not the job of the future, I must say. Some people think it still is the case, but you have to remember ChatGPT is probabilistic. It's not deterministic, which means sometimes even with the same prompt, it may generate a different answer.

[2:52] Prompt engineering is a good skill to have, but it's not the job of the future. The job of the future in my view, is much more looking at what has been generated when you ask the right kind of question. That's based on your own purpose, what kind of value you want to create.

[3:06] That's why critical thinking about what is it that I'm doing, what is the value of my business, is important because you interpret from that framework. What's going to be the job of the future is really a content analyst.

[3:17] As humans, we participate in the real world. AI doesn't, so we assess the relevance and the meaning of it, and we can do so because we are active participants.

[3:28] Being a content analyst, knowing this is an outcome that ChatGPT generated, how can I transfer that into knowledge that I can use to come up with a solution for a problem? Those are skills that as educators, we really need to foster and ChatGPT is a very helpful tool to help in that process.

artificial intelligence
critical thinking
future of work
higher education
soft skills

Media Alert: Adobe Express for Education Fuels Strong Growth in Next-Gen Creativity and Job Skills Reaching Tens of Millions of Students and Teachers Globally

Adobe continues commitment to provide Adobe Express, an all-in-one AI creativity app and other industry-leading creative tools, to students and teachers across K-12 and higher education
Growing number of Adobe Creative Campuses and new partnerships with NBCU Academy, MagicSchool, India’s Ministry of Education and other institutions extend Adobe Express to millions more students and teachers globally
Adobe empowers student expression and critical thinking skills with responsible generative AI designed to be safe for the classroom

SAN JOSE, Calif. — June 25, 2024 — This week, at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) ISTELive24 annual conference, Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced strong growth in the number of K-12 and higher education students and teachers worldwide who have access to the company’s industry-leading creative solutions, driven by exponential expansion of Adobe Express for Education across more campuses as well as new partnerships.

At the event, Adobe Express was also named to this year’s EdTech Top 40 list. The prestigious list is part of an annual report by LearnPlatform that features the most commonly accesses ed-tech tools for K-12 in the United States.

Adobe Express for Education is the all-in-one AI creativity app that makes creative skill building easy. It is designed to be classroom safe with responsible generative AI features that are collaborative, easy and improve student engagement and impact communication skills. With Adobe Express for Education, students and teachers can easily design presentations, reports, resumes, videos, PDFs, animations, websites, posters and flyers.

“Given the high expectations and commitments students face, we’re incredibly excited to see so much momentum and growth for Adobe Express among tens of millions of students and teachers around the world,” said Mala Sharma, VP and general manager, creators and education for Adobe’s Digital Media Business. “We look forward to introducing new innovations in Adobe Express that will provide our global teacher and student community with even more easy and fun ways learn, create and collaborate with responsible AI.”

Equipping Students with Next-Gen Work Skills

Adobe has a long-standing partnership with higher education institutions around the world to help ensure that every student is equipped with the skills employers seek in today’s workplace, including creative problem solving, visual communication, collaboration, creativity, and the responsible use of AI. Today, nearly 6 million higher education students globally can access Adobe creative apps through their campuses.

In the United States, institutions including Penn State, a world-class public research university that spans 25 campuses throughout Pennsylvania and four campuses within the California State University (CSU) system, the largest and most diverse four-year public university system in the country, now have access to Adobe creative tools. More than half of CSU students come from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and nearly one-third of undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college.

The CSU schools are committed to delivering quality and equitable education for all, which includes closing the digital divide to give its 130,000 yearly graduates the technical and digital skills required to succeed in modern workplaces.“People worldwide equate the Adobe brand with quality, creativity and innovation,” said Cynthia Teniente-Matson, President of SJSU. “By bringing Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Adobe Express into classrooms, we’ve reimagined how we serve historically underrepresented student populations. They now have easier and quicker access to tools to learn skills that set them up for future success.”

Both Penn State and CSUs are Adobe Creative Campus partners, a growing community of higher education institutions across North America, Europe, Asia and Japan committed to boosting student outcomes and career success through equitable access to Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Express.

Kent State University in Ohio, Sheridan College in Canada, Marshall University in West Virginia, Northern Arizona University, Sheridan College in Canada and the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science & Forestry (ESF) in New York are all new Adobe Creative Campuses. “This is a terrific benefit to ESF’s students, who now have additional access to creative tools and the opportunity to boost their digital skills. Our Adobe Creative Campus status is the perfect complement to ESF’s,” said SUNY ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “As our world becomes increasingly digital, we are excited to extend these new tools to all students so they can learn to sharpen their skills and stand out after graduation.”

Adobe has also seen significant year-over-year growth in Asia, including the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) that will bring Adobe Express to more than 10,000 technical institutions across India and a new Adobe Creative Campus in New Zealand and Japan. Torrens University, Think Education and Media Design School is a leading post-secondary education network offering undergraduate, graduate and technical vocational credentials across Australia and New Zealand and The Ritsumeikan Trust, which includes two universities in Japan.

“Ritsumekan aims to become a next-generation research university, promoting the expanded recombination of research and education and the cultivation of innovation and emerging talent,” said Yoshio Nakatani, President. “As an Adobe Creative Campus, Ritsumeikan will strive to raise the level of creative skills throughout the university by enhancing hands-on training opportunities for students, faculty and staff, enhancing university-wide skill development opportunities using on-demand materials and demonstrating our commitment to the latest technologies, such as generative AI.”

Naomi Cocks, associate professor in the School of Allied Health at Curtin University in Australia, aims to help her students become capable problem-solvers whether they eventually seek jobs in the city or across the globe. Using Adobe Express, Cocks asks students to take a creative approach to synthesizing and sharing their learnings with peers and the broader community. “Adobe Express supports a teaching methodology that emphasizes active and playful learning,” she said. “Some typically quiet students really shine in this task because it’s a different way of tapping into their creativity.”

A Global K-12 Education Ecosystem

Adobe Express for Education is free for K-12 and empowers student expression, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills for tens of millions of teachers and students globally. With Adobe Express, K-12 students can apply new technology and creativity skills to make presentations, infographics, GIFs, videos, animations, web pages and more with unique capabilities like Animate Characters, drawing and PDF editing.

The New South Wales Department of Education in Australia is one example of an institution committed to enabling equitable, inclusive access to essential digital tools and provides Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud applications to all K-12 students. According to the institution’s CFO Charlie Sukkar: “I have witnessed first-hand the positive impact of Adobe's products in our Schools. Especially in high schools.”

New K-12 partnerships with MagicSchool and NBC Universal News Group’s education initiative NBCU Academy are bringing Adobe’s creative technologies to even more K-12 students and teachers globally . MagicSchool describes their platform as the “award-winning, most used and most loved AI platform for schools in the world.” Educators use MagicSchool to help create lesson plans, differentiate, write assessments, write IEPs, communicate clearly and more. MagicSchoolis integrating Adobe’s Firefly-powered Text to Image features into the context of the MagicSchool experience, making Firefly the only generative AI feature on the platform and helping empower student expression and critical thinking skills with responsible generative AI that is designed to be safe for the classroom. Intuitive Adobe generative AI features like Text-to-Image, Text Effects, Generative Insert and Generative Remove are accompanied by Adobe guardrails on generative AI prompts and outputs, encouraging appropriate use. Adobe also gives districts control over whether generative AI features are turned on or off and does not include student projects in training datasets for generative AI.

“We're excited to bring Adobe Express' AI image generation capabilities to educators and students in the MagicSchool platform,” said Adeel Khan, CEO & Founder of MagicSchool.ai. “We've known that generating images with AI sparks curiosity and creativity in schools – but we wanted to put safety and responsibility first in launching it to our millions of users. Adobe is the perfect partner because they've built their tools responsibly from the ground up for the safety needs of schools in mind.”

In April, Adobe and NBCUniversal News Group’s education initiative NBCU Academy launched The Edit , a first-of-its-kind program in the United States aimed at helping students build key digital media and literacy skills Students use tutorials and guidance on how to script, record and publish news reports using Adobe Express. This week, Adobe and NBCU Academy announced the winners of the competition. Read more about it here .

Adobe also announced a prestigious partnership with the Ministry of Education in India for K-12 and highereducation to bring Adobe Express into schools to help develop skills and enhance learning outcomes. India’s national education policy emphasizes the use of digital tools and AI to help build creativity skills for future readiness. Adobe is working with schools in India’s Central Board of Secondary Education as well as the Indian government’s Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) program to build digital creativity skills and upskill educators to support integrating Adobe Express into their curriculum. In addition, Adobe recently collaborated with India’s National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) to host Adobe Express and Adobe Acrobat content on their national platform.

About Adobe

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

© 2024 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Adobe Express for Education is the all-in-one AI creativity app that makes creative skill building easy. It is designed to be classroom safe with responsible generative AI features that are collaborative, easy and improve student engagement and impact communication skills. With Adobe Express for Education, students and teachers can easily design flyers, posters, resumes, presentations, reports, videos, animations, websites and PDFs.

“As we head toward back-to-school season we’re incredibly excited to see so much momentum and growth for Adobe Express among tens of millions of students and teachers around the world,” said Mala Sharma, VP and general manager, creators and education for Adobe’s Digital Media Business. “We look forward to introducing new innovations in Adobe Express that will provide our global teacher and student community with even more easy and fun ways learn, create and collaborate with responsible AI.”

Adobe Express for Education is free for K-12 and is empowering student expression critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills for tens of millions of teachers and students globally. With Adobe Express, K-12 students can apply new technology and creativity skills to make presentations, infographics, GIFs, videos, animations, web pages and more with unique capabilities like Animate Characters, drawing and PDF editing.

The New South Wales Department of Education in Australia is committed to enabling equitable, inclusive access to essential digital tools and provides Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud applications to all K-12 students. According to the institution’s CFO Charlie Sukkar: “I have witnessed first-hand the positive impact of Adobe's products in our Schools. Especially in high schools.”

New K-12 partnerships with MagicSchool and NBC Universal News Group’s education initiative NBCU Academy are bringing Adobe’s creative technologies to even more K-12 students and teachers globally . MagicSchool is integrating Adobe’s Firefly-powered Text to Image features into the context of the MagicSchool experience, making Firefly the only generative AI feature on the platform. MagicSchool, describes their platform as the “award- winning, most used and most loved AI platform for schools in the world.” Educators use MagicSchool to help create lesson plans, differentiate, write assessments, write IEPs, communicate clearly and more. This partnership is part of Adobe ‘s commitment to empowering student expression and critical thinking skills with responsible generative AI that is designed to be safe for the classroom. Intuitive Adobe generative AI features like Text-to- Image, Text Effects, Generative Insert and Generative Remove empower students to express their creativity, think critically and encourage them to exercise voice and choice in their learning. Adobe guardrails on generative AI prompts and outputs encourage appropriate use and give districts control over whether generative AI features are turned on or off. Adobe does not include student projects in training datasets for generative AI.

In April, Adobe and NBCUniversal News Group’s education initiative NBCU Academy launched The Edit , a first-of- its-kind program in the United States aimed at helping students build key digital media and literacy skills Students use tutorials and guidance on how to script, record and publish news reports using Adobe Express. Monday, Adobe and NBCU Academy announced the winners of the competition. Read more about it here.

Adobe also announced a prestigious partnership with the Ministry of Education in India for K-12 and higher education to bring Adobe Express into schools to help develop skills and enhance learning outcomes. India’s national education policy emphasizes the use of digital tools and AI to help build creativity skills for future readiness. Adobe is working with schools in India’s Central Board of Secondary Education as well as the Indian government’s Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) program to build digital creativity skills and upskill educators to support integrating Adobe Express into their curriculum. In addition, Adobe recently collaborated with India’s National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) to host Adobe Express and Adobe Acrobat content on their national platform.

Equipping Students with Next-Gen Work Skills

Adobe has a long-standing partnership with higher education institutions around the world to help ensure that every student is equipped with the skills employers seek in today’s workplace: creative problem solving, visual communication, collaboration, creativity, and the responsible use of AI. Today, nearly 6 million higher education students globally can access Adobe creative apps through their campuses.

In the United States, institutions including Penn State, a world-class public research university that spans 25 campuses throughout Pennsylvania and four campuses within the California State University (CSU) system, the largest and most diverse four-year public university system in the country, now have access to Adobe creative tools. More than half of the students come from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and nearly one-third of undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college.

The CSU schools are committed to delivering quality and equitable education for all, which includes closing the digital divide to give its 130,000 yearly graduates the technical and digital skills required to succeed in modern workplaces. “People worldwide equate the Adobe brand with quality, creativity, and innovation,” said Cynthia Teniente-Matson, President of SJSU. “By bringing Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Adobe Express into classrooms, we’ve reimagined how we serve historically underrepresented student populations. They now have easier and quicker access to tools to learn skills that set them up for future success.”

Kent State University in Ohio, Sheridan College in Canada, Marshall University in West Virginia, Northern Arizona University, Sheridan College in Canada and the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science & Forestry (ESF) in New York are all new Adobe Creative Campuses. “This is a terrific benefit to ESF’s students, who now have additional access to creative tools and the opportunity to boost their digital skills. Our Adobe Creative Campus status is the perfect complement to ESF’s,“ said SUNY ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “As our world becomes increasingly digital, we are excited to extend these new tools to all students so they can learn to sharpen their skills and stand out after graduation.”

Adobe has also seen significant year-over-year growth in Asia, including the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) that will bring Adobe Express to more than 10,000 technical institutions across India and a new Adobe Creative Campus in New Zealand and Japan. Torrens University, Think Education and Media Design School, is a leading post-secondary education network offering undergraduate, graduate, and technical vocational credentials across Australia and New Zealand and The Ritsumeikan Trust, which includes two universities in Japan.

“Ritsumekan aims to become a next-generation research university, promoting the expanded recombination of research and education and the cultivation of innovation and emerging talent,” said Yoshio Nakatani, President. “As an Adobe Creative Campus, Ritsumeikan will strive to raise the level of creative skills throughout the university by enhancing hands-on training opportunities for students, faculty, and staff, enhancing university-wide skill development opportunities using on-demand materials, and demonstrating our commitment to the latest technologies, such as generative AI.”

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

PR Contact Marlee Bever Adobe [email protected]

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Critical Thinking in ELT
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COMMENTS

Teaching critical thinking in the language classroom
In this article, Ana Tatsumi, our ELT consultant from Brazil, discusses the importance of critical thinking, considerations for teachers and students, and shares some classroom activity ideas. ... Help students develop their own ideas: we should not expect them to develop critical thinking skills overnight, without any support. Help them with ...
PDF A Working Model of Critical Thinking in ELT
Working Model of Critical Thinking in ELTThis book focuses on the role of critical thinking in the English language classroom, showing how it can be used to achieve a greater understanding of individual words and sentences, of longer pieces of discourse, of ide. s, and of different means of communication. To accomplish these goals, we will set ...
Integrating Critical Thinking into your English classroom
Critical thinking is a key skill needed for everyday life. It should be applied to all aspects of a learner's studies, no matter their age or ability. It's a way of adding perspective, questioning intent and understanding ways of improving. Take a minute to watch this short video. It will help you to understand what we mean by Critical ...
Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom
Adults / Young Adults English for Specific Purposes Skills. Edward de Chazal, co-author of Oxford EAP, explores the topic of critical thinking and how it should be taught in the ELT classroom. The enquiring mind. Critical thinking is innate - it comes from inside us - and as humans we have survived and developed by approaching things ...
Critical Thinking in ELT
In Critical Thinking in ELT, we describe many such examples of activities which stimulate reflection on individual language items, on longer pieces of discourse, and on ideas. We also present a framework for critical thinking that will enable teachers to develop their own critical thinking activities. John Hughes will describe this framework in ...
Embedding critical thinking into the ELT classroom
He also shares his strategies for improving these key skills in the classroom: 1. Chris discusses re-evaluating and re-positioning Bloom and shares a variety of different ways you can look at and approach Bloom's Taxonomy. 2. He gives specific examples of how to embed not only critical thinking, but all of the other life competencies within ...
PDF Critical Thinking in ELT: A Working Model for the Classroom
rs should apply in confronting different types of literacy. Critical thinking is an essential armor for the learners to wear in exposing themselves to twenty-first century literacies such as visual literacy, nformation literacy, media literacy, and cultural literacy. The reason for an ELT teacher to focus on these liter.
A Working Model for Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom
In the article on the topic of Critical Thinking in ELT, my co-author Paul Dummett suggested that critical thinking in English language teaching should involve more than simply identifying fact from misinformation or searching texts for supporting evidence.We argue instead that critical thinking is more encompassing and should be viewed as a 'critical disposition' (Davis and Barnett, 2015 ...
Critical Thinking in ELT: A Working Model for the Classroom
Incorporating critical thinking in all different subject areas is highly recommended as an educational goal. In the field of English Language Teaching, Dummett and Hughes's (2019) Critical Thinking in ELT: A Working Model for the Classroom is a comprehensive introductory book with guidelines and models for integrating critical thinking activities in language skills.
Critical Thinking in ELT
What came out of it two years later in 2018 was Critical Thinking in ELT: a practical model for the classroom from National Geographic Learning. We knew what constituted a critical thinking activity and what did not, having already written many such activities for Life , an integrated-skills course for young adults and adults published by ...
Integrating Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in ELT
About. Employers look for problem solvers and innovative thinkers. Everyone knows the importance of critical thinking and creativity - two essential 21st-century skills - but how can they be incorporated into the ELT classroom? Join the discussion to see how these skills can improve your students' language proficiency and future ...
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the ESL Classroom
According to Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy ( Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, 1956), thinking skills are divided into lower-order and higher-order skills. Lower-order skills include knowledge, comprehension, and application; higher-order skills include analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To stimulate critical thinking in ELT, teachers need to ...
40 Activities For Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classes
Teach them critical thinking skills! Here are some critical thinking skills that students need to learn: Thinking outside the box. Asking questions and then questioning answers. Analyzing the reading or the listening text. Logically addressing an issue. Supporting their stance with evidence. Respectfully refuting others' opinions.
PDF Critical Thinking in ELT: Theory and Practice
based on reviewing some articles of critical thinking in English Language Teaching (ELT). INTRODUCTION Critical thinking has become prominent educational issue in many Asia countries recently. It is believed that critical thinking is important to be included as one of skills hand in hand with learning a foreign language, in this case English.
PDF Critical Thinking Skills and Meaning in English Language Teaching
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Harits Masduqi ([email protected]) The University of Sydney New South Wales 2006, Australia ... Critical thinking skills play significant roles not only in learners' academic achievements but also in their dynamic life of workforce after graduation. Hi-rose (1992) claims that numerous large corporations all over the ...
Critical Thinking in ELT: Theory and Practice
It means that critical thinking. is also necessarily taught to the students merging with learning English language skills. namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing, although this is not ...
Critical Thinking in ELT: A Working Model for the Classroom
Chapter 6 engages ELT teachers to the extensive need of critical thinking skills beyond classrooms, by suggesting activities learners should apply in confronting different types of literacy.
ERIC
Welcoming the changes that education constantly witnesses, the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) has embraced the integration of critical thinking. Accordingly, the present paper aims to explore the effect, if any, of integrating critical thinking on learners' use of critical thinking skills in argumentative writing. To this end, an ...
What critical thinking is and how it's taught
In schools, critical thinking is mostly treated as a general skill that can be taught in a generic way. The academic load sure makes adding the teaching of critical thinking a challenge, let alone teaching the specific skills for each subject and area of knowledge. However, there is evidence that it's very difficult for students to transfer ...
Critical Thinking Skills and Meaning in English Language Teaching
Many ELT experts believe that the inclusion of critical thinking skills in English classes is necessary to improve students' English competence. Students' critical thinking skills will be optimally increased if meaning is prioritized in English lessons. Those two inter-related elements can be implemented when teachers do collaborative activities stimulating students' thinking process and ...
Improving EFL Learners' Critical Thinking Skills in Argumentative
Welcoming the changes that education constantly witnesses, the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) has embraced the integration of critical thinking. Accordingly, the present paper aims to explore the effect, if any, of integrating critical thinking on learners' use of critical thinking skills in argumentative writing.
(PDF) New Approaches to Teaching Critical Thinking Skills through a New
Having a look at table (2), one can see that 82.8% of teachers believe that "Palestinian EFL teachers need more training about how to teach critical thinking skills". 80% of them either agreed or strongly agreed that "Teaching critical thinking skills is an important part of my job as a language teacher". 85.7% of the respondents either agreed ...
The Importance of Critical Thinking in Nursing
Critical thinking skills in nursing include making an inference (an educated guess). After collecting, processing, and analyzing information, nurses can develop inferences based on available information. It is important to recognize when something is an inference versus a conclusion. The latter can be developed when nurses have the information ...
How can genAI be used to promote critical thinking skills?
Attend a program or workshop to enhance your skills in teaching strategies, course design, and instructional technology. Teaching with Creative and genAI Technologies. Consult with staff members expertly-trained in pedagogical media strategy and creative technologies. Research Instruction
PDF Developing critical thinking in EAP: pathways for students
how to teach it. English language teaching and learning is strongly associated with linguistic knowledge and developing accuracy in language, as the assessment is predominantly about grammar and lexical knowledge (Li, 2016). Instructors' own critical thinking skills inevitably affect their teaching and their ability to enhance students ...
The Role of Humans in an AI World
A new value framework—based on critical thinking and purposeful analysis—can help guide business schools, and accordingly students, to more meaningful solutions. Transcript. Ana Freire: [0:15] In my view, AI will replace everything. There are some human characteristics that need to be in place always, such as creativity, or the natural ...
Enhance Leadership with Data-Driven Critical Thinking
As a leader, enhancing your critical thinking skills can lead to better decision-making and problem-solving. By leveraging data and analytics, you can add depth and precision to your reasoning ...
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MagicSchoolis integrating Adobe's Firefly-powered Text to Image features into the context of the MagicSchool experience, making Firefly the only generative AI feature on the platform and helping empower student expression and critical thinking skills with responsible generative AI that is designed to be safe for the classroom.

Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom

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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the ESL Classroom

What is critical thinking?

Dewey’s definition

Goal-directed thinking

Critical thinking as a metacognitive process

Awareness of context

What are the elements of critical thinking?

Why is critical thinking important in ESL teaching?

How do ESL students develop critical thinking skills?

Establishing an effective environment

Applying context

Asking questions

How can we implement critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom?

Activities that scaffold language and facilitate students’ expression

Activities that encourage students to make connections between their preexisting knowledge of an issue and the new information presented

Critical thinking is only one of the 21st-century skills English students need to succeed. Explore all of Bridge’s 21st-Century Teaching Skills Micro-credential courses to modernize your classroom!

Collaborative activities

Take an in-depth look at incorporating critical thinking skills into the ESL classroom with the Bridge Micro-credential course in Promoting Critical Thinking Skills.

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40 Activities For Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classes

What Is Meant By Critical Thinking?

What Critical Thinking Involves?

Why Teach Critical Thinking?

The Main Teaching Strategies To Develop Critical Thinking

Example #1 of a Critical Thinking Activity

Example #2 of a Critical Thinking Activity

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Improving EFL Learners’ Critical Thinking Skills in Argumentative Writing

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