Conceptions of Critical Thinking from University EFL Teachers

Abstract

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 teachers brought about their deficiency in understanding on what Critical Thinking entails. Thus, they emphasized the need of training on topics such as teaching, learning, didactics, methodology, strategies and resources to foster Critical Thinking in EFL. Based on teachers' participation in this study and the literature consulted, it was concluded that Critical Thinking in EFL is compound of communicative competence, creativity, argumentation, problem-solving, decision-making, autonomous learning, metacognition and emotions.

Strengthening English Language Teaching in Rural Schools through the Role-Playing: Teachers Motivations

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Impact of Teaching Critical Thinking Tasks for Enhancing Paragraph Writing Performance of EFL Learners

“…These tasks are very useful in teaching writing skills. Marin and Pava (2017) state that promoting critical thinking tasks (CTTs) in EFL requires teachers to think about teaching beyond grammatical structures and vocabulary, and focus on fostering thinking, creativity, autonomous learning, decision-making and self-evaluation. Likewise, educators should provide opportunities for students to be creative and study in a real communicative environment in which students freely express their points of view about topics discussed in class.…”

Does Communicative Language Teaching Help Develop Students’ Competence in Thinking Critically?

“…Even at the present time, its definition has broad parameters and lacks consensus over its meaning. Marin & Pava (2017) investigated university English language teachers' view on critical thinking in the Colombian context. The findings showed that critical thinking is mainly considered as problem solving, which comprises higher order thinking skills.…”

“…The findings showed that critical thinking is: 1) judgement; 2) a skeptical and provisional view of knowledge; 3) originality; 4) a careful and sensitive reading of text; 5) rationality; and 6) an ethical and activist stance. In this paper, critical thinking in higher education is operationally defined as: 1) originality/ creativity (Moore, 2013;Bailin et al, 1999); 2) careful and sensitive reading of text and think of beyond the text (Moore, 2013); 3) problem solving (Marin & Pava, 2017); and 4) skills which you can train to obtain (Wasserman, 1987).…”

“…Critical thinking is considered essential at the doctoral level in British universities. However, critical thinking for undergraduate students may be considered as "desirable but not essential" among modern language teaching staff (Marin & Pava, 2017) and it is not usually included in language assessment criteria. However, there are language teachers who advocate developing students' critical thinking in language teaching.…”