Article HistoryMalaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 aspires to develop Malaysian students who are able to master higher order thinking skills (HOTS) including critical thinking, reasoning, creative thinking, and innovation. The achievement in this area is discouraging, that is, research findings indicated that majority of students were not able to transfer the knowledge they have learnt in the classroom using HOTS to the context outside of the classroom. Studies revealed that teacher was one of the main factors that influenced success or failure in teaching for HOTS. However, the literature on various aspects of teacher factor is still wanting especially in Malaysia. Further, Malaysia had implemented training programs to equip teachers with knowledge and skills to teach for HOTS. Nevertheless, aspects of teachers" knowledge of HOTS and competencies in and teaching for HOTS were not explored extensively throughout Malaysia. What is more to explore the challenges faced by teachers in executing HOTS curriculum. Thus, this study was conducted to explore the challenges faced by teachers in teaching and learning for HOTS in the classrooms. It employed qualitative research method to collect and analyze data from interviews conducted with nine teachers who taught Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language), Mathematics, and Science at one of the showcase"s school of i-THINK program in Terengganu, Malaysia. The transcripts from interview were analyzed thematically to discover the emerging themes. The findings indicated that teachers faced several challenges in teaching and learning for HOTS. The challenges were in the aspects of teachers, teaching and learning preparations and processes, and in the aspects of pupils. Contribution/ Originality:This study is one of very few studies which have investigated the challenges faced by primary school teachers in Malaysia in teaching for higher order thinking skills through a qualitative study.

The purpose of this research was to explore primary school teachers' knowledge of higher order thinking (HOTS) and questioning skills. This was done because little is known about the level of teachers' knowledge and skills in HOTS; and their knowledge and skills in questioning to stimulate HOTS. To this end this paper employed exploratory case study to gain an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon in the actual setting so that the actual behaviour can be examined with minimum interference that may obstruct the reality. Nine primary school teachers were selected to be interviewed and observed. Semi-structured interview questions were used to collect data on teachers understanding of the concept of thinking and higher order thinking skills; and Likerttype checklist was used to gather data on the frequencies and types of questions teachers usually asked to promote thinking. Observations were conducted to validate the teachers' responses regarding the frequencies and types of questions asked during teaching and learning sessions. The data gathered through interviews were analysed to determine the emerging themes. The findings revealed that the teachers failed to explain clearly the concept of thinking and thinking processes; and majority of teachers could not give satisfactory explanation of HOTS as critical and creative thinking. However, half of the teachers could list the subskills of HOTS according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Data on teachers' questioning skills revealed that they were familiar with questioning based on Bloom's Taxonomy, however only half of the teachers practised asking HOTS questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy.

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The aspiration of Malaysian education system as mentioned in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 is to produce students who are highly critical and creative. Since teaching for higher order thinking was made explicit since 1989, a systematic evaluation of the adequacy and pitfalls of teaching for thinking programs was not done extensively. If examination result is the yard stick to measure the impact of teaching for thinking, then it can be concluded that 2016 UPSR result painted a dismal picture of failure in teaching for thinking. Studies showed that there is a positive correlation between language teacher used to communicate in the classroom and the development of thinking dispositions among students. Using the framework of language of thinking put forward by Costa and Marzano (2001), this study was conducted to explore language of thinking used by teachers during teaching and learning sessions in several primary school classrooms. This preliminary study attempted to gain in-depth understanding of the phenomenon in the actual setting so that the insight can illustrate a wider picture of the issue. This exploratory case study employed structured observations to collect data in the classroom of nine primary school teachers. The data was analysed based on theoretical proposition by Costa and Marzano. Findings revealed that teachers needed to improve their language of thinking. AbstrakAspirasi pendidikan Malaysia sebagaimana yang disebut dalam Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia 2013-2025 adalah untuk melahirkan pelajar yang berupaya berfikir secara kritis dan kreatif. Semenjak kemahiran berfikir pada aras tinggi e Study Exploring Primary School Teachers' Language of Thinking: A Cas disebut secara eksplisit dalam kurikulum sekolah menengah dan rendah dari tahun 1989 lagi, satu penilaian yang sistematik terhadap kejayaan dan kelemahan pengajaran untuk kemahiran berfikir tidak dibuat secara meluas dan menyeluruh. Jika keputusan peperiksaan dijadikan kayu ukur untuk mengukur keberkesanan pengajaran untuk berfikir, keputusan peperiksaan UPSR 2016 melukis gambaran kegagalan projek mengajar untuk kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi yang menyedihkan. Kajian menunjukkan ada perkaitan positif antara Bahasa yang digunakan oleh guru ketika berkomunikasi dalam bilik darjah dengan perkembangan disposisi berfikir dikalangan pelajar. Disposisi berfikir pula berkait langsung dengan tabiat berfikir dan kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meneroka Bahasa berfikir yang digunakan oleh guru dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran di sekolah rendah. Bahasa berfikir yang diterangkan oleh Costa dan Marzano (2001) digunakan sebagai kerangka teori kajian ini. Kajian ini cuba untuk meneroka amalan berbahasa guru untuk memahami fenomena ini dalam situasi sebenar supaya hasilnya dapat memberi gambaran luas terhadap isu ini. Kajian kes eksplorasi ini menggunakan pemerhatian secara berstruktur untuk mengumpul data. Sembilan orang guru sekolah rendah terlibat dalam kajian ini. Data telah dianalisis menggunakan toeri B...