CRITICAL THINKING

On this page, you'll learn what defines critical thinking, what the features of critical thinking are, and understand the reasons for using critical thinking in the EFL classroom.

What is critical thinking?

One definition of critical thinking attributed to Michael Scriven and Richard Paul states the following:

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness (The Critical Thinking Community, 2013).

To draw a comparison between Scriven and Paul's definition, and the widely used model of higher-order thinking skills – Bloom's Taxonomy – it's best to compare terminology that occurs in both the definition and the model.

At the base of Bloom's Taxonomy is the category "remember," which involves such functions as "define," "duplicate," and "memorize." These terms deal with lower-order thinking skills and closely reflect teacher-centered, traditional methods of learning. Rote memorization of facts and

duplication of learned knowledge.

As the levels go higher up the pyramid, so do the higher-order thinking skills required. "Apply," "analyze," and "evaluate" are nearer to the peak, with the skill "create" at the top. In Scriven and Paul's definition, the terms "conceptualizing," "applying," "analyzing," and "evaluating" also occur. Thus, a comparison of a definition of critical thinking with a model of higher-order thinking skills reveals a general consensus as to what aspects comprise skillful thought. The following section will evaluate the different features of critical thinking, or those features which must be present for critical thinking to happen.

The features of critical thinking

All critical thinking activities share similar features, or characteristics:

Critical thinking is…

 reflective
 standards-based
 authentic
 reasonable (Nosich, 2012)

More detail on the individual features is provided in the following paragraphs.

Reflective

Reflection, or metacognition, is thinking about your thinking. As an exercise, examine why you hold certain values, beliefs, views, etc., such as those concerning freedom of expression. For instance, in Vietnam the government tightly controls the media. Where do your views concerning freedom of expression come from? What evidence is there to support them? What are the views of others? What are they based on? Which set of views is more accurate?

Standards-based

Standards help set criteria for which to hold up your views against. When compared to standards, such as "accuracy," "relevance," and "rational," how do your views concerning freedom of expression stack up against the views of others?

Authentic

Situations that occur in real-life, as opposed to fictional situations, are at the heart of critical thinking. Since critical thinking involves solving real problems, and real problems are often fraught with "grey" areas, these types of situations present the most challenge. In order to clarify this point, consider two different critical thinking scenarios:

1) You are provided a role-play to discover the murderer.

2) You are asked to reflect on the recent murder of a celebrity, and try to determine who the murderer could be based on the evidence.

In the first situation, the story has already been written, and while solving the mystery will involve critical thinking skills, such as deduction and analysis, the real-life situation in the second scenario presents more of a challenge. Without the answers already pre-determined, true critical thinking comes into play.

Reasonable

Finally, the idea that critical thinking must be reasonable is based on the idea that, while there may be certain rules or procedures set in place to perform certain tasks – such as solving the murder mystery above – our application of the rules must be mindful. Are we considering every eventuality and narrowing down our choices based on a rational way of thinking? Or are you simply "ticking boxes" and following a pre-set course of action regardless of whether your evaluation of the rules determines they might not best serve the end goal? A mindful thinker applies reason to situations and makes decisions based on what they believe is the best possible method.

Arguments in support of using critical thinking in EFL classrooms

In order to understand the role that critical thinking plays in the EFL classroom, it is necessary to examine the interplay between Second Language Acquisition and critical thinking, as well as that between Communicative Language Teaching and critical thinking.

Second Language Acquisition and critical thinking

Higher-order thinking skills, such as those listed in Bloom'sTaxonomy, and critical thinking share many similar features, such as application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Where critical thinking comes into practice in the EFL classroom is revealed in case studies conducted by other researchers in the ESL/EFL field, like Yu Ren Dong, and Sandyha Rao Mehta and Rahma Al-Mahrooqi.

Dong’s study examines pre-critical thinking learning versus post-critical thinking learning within a high school ESL context. Prior to carrying out critical thinking skills training with the learners, the teachers involved in Dong’s research’s experience was such that learners would produce content-specific utterances with little thought as to whether or not the utterances made sense. For instance, in discussing a family camping scene set in the jungle, the learner states that there is a “bear in the jungle (Dong, 2006, pg. 1).” When questioned about making this nonsensical statement, the learner’s response was that they only needed to form a grammatically correct sentence, not to consider the actual meaning behind the utterance.

Essentially this reduces the role of the learner to a passive recipient of the target language, rather than an actively involved part of the process. From what has been discussed about SLA previously, this type of learning is insufficient for effective SLA. However, when the teacher introduced questioning techniques into the classroom, the ability of the learners to engage with the L2 noticeably increased. Learners were asking thought-provoking questions of the types that would occur in the L1, and were actively involved in discussions and creating original texts (Dong, 2006).

In Mehta and Al-Mahrooqi’s study, which was set in a university EFL context, the researchers began with the assumption that in typical L2 cultures, critical thinking may be present, but either it appears in a different format from traditional ideas of critical thinking, or it is an underdeveloped skill (Mehta & Al-Mahrooqi, 2015).

The researchers used a three-fold approach to encourage students to reflect on their own learning, to discuss their thoughts and opinions surrounding topics, and to draft and re-draft written work to lend further practice in developing critical thinking skills (Mehta & Al-Mahrooqi, 2015). Furthermore, they draw attention to the necessity of the EFL teacher to provide learners with the tools they need to perform a task to the best of their ability. Things like functional language, academic language, and lexical sets are crucial components of L2 language production (Mehta & Al-Mahrooqi, 2015). Regardless, the success of their learners in engaging in critical thinking skills and their application suggests that this is an area with great potential in the EFL context.

Communicative Language Teaching and critical thinking

As stated in another section of this learning module, the idea behind Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and an associated methodology, Task-based Learning (TBL), is that learners are working together to achieve some task (Harmer (2), 2007). In this sense, higher-order thinking skills, including application, analysis, evaluation and creation of original work, are at the center of what is occurring in the language learning classroom.

As our understanding of language learning has evolved, there are certain processes involved in SLA that have shaped the CLT approach:



Interaction between the learner and users of the language
Collaborative creation of meaning
Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language
Negotiating meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor
Arriving at understanding
Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language
Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and trying to incorporate new forms into one’s developing communicative competence
Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things (Richards, p. 4)

Aligning these processes with Bloom's Taxonomy reveals clear correlations between CLT approaches and higher-order, or critical, thinking. For instance, in order to learn "through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language," teachers and learners must engage in the higher-order thinking skill of analysis. Also, in the instance of "collaborative creation of meaning," learners reach the highest level of critical thinking as the creation of new or original work is the end goal of engaging in this thought process.

Therefore, because CLT approaches, such as TBL, endeavor to realize the processes listed above, and the processes align with higher-order thinking skills, it is clear that utilizing critical thinking in the EFL classroom is beneficial.

References

Armstrong, P. (2016). Bloom's taxonomy. Vanderbilt University: Nashville, TN. Retrieved from: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Dong, Y.R. (2006). Learning to think. Educational Leadership. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete

Harmer, J. (2). (2007). The practice of English language teaching. 4th Ed. Pearson Longman: Essex, UK. Print.

Mehta, S.R. and Al-Mahrooqi, R. (2015). Can thinking be taught? Linking critical thinking and writing in an EFL context. RELC Journal. Vol. 46 (I). pgs. 23-36. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Nosich, G.M. (2012). Learning to think things through: a guide to critical thinking across the curriculum, 4th ed. Prentice Hall. Print.

Richards, J.C. (2006). Communicative language teaching today. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Retrieved from www.cambridge.org.

The Critical Thinking Community. (2013). Defining critical thinking. Retrieved from: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766