Promoting Critical Thinking Through Discussion

Abstract

Being able to think and speak effectively and thoughtfully is a valuable commodity to function successfully with civility in a democratic society and must be practiced. A form of discussion called Socratic seminaring, enhances teaching and learning at the college level in this regard by encouraging the development of thinking skills and student voice. In this article, readers are offered an opportunity to view the author’s initial experience with this form of discussion at the college level within a teacher education program from theoretical and practical lenses.

Factors Contributing to EFL Learners’ Construction of Arguments in Culturally Infused Discussions

“…More specifically, Socrates, from whom the technique derived. He believed that decisive, rational, and well-founded answers could be achievable with the use of the right suitable questions to open the source of knowledge that exists in every human being (Helterbran, 2007). Socratic questioning can be thought of as a technique that guides students in producing as rational answers as possible when engaged in discussions (Tofade et al, 2013), thus promoting their argumentative skills (Maiorana, 1991;Paul & Binker, 1990).…”

“…Employing critical reading as a strategy to promote critical thinking abilities is very often mingled with another strategy: an argumentative discussion. It is believed that discussing after reading critically may enhance a stronger basis to develop critical thinking abilities (Helterbran, 2007). Hayes and Devitt (2008) estimated that small groups for discussion are an effective tool for developing critical thinking skills among young students.…”

Learning Through Discussion: A Study to Foster Students' Engagement in Efl Class

“…The activities lead them to strengthen elements of their logical improvement, problem analysis and solution generation, and recognition or appreciation of ideas (Chinedu et al, 2015;Kolhekar et al, 2021;Schulz & FitzPatrick, 2016). They experienced dealing with students' engagement; small group discussion; students' active authentic problems, encouraging peers in the discussions, and fostering inquiry-oriented experiments (Gossett & Fischer, 2005;Helterbran, 2007;Pollock et al, 2011). Those are good chances to develop critical thinking skills.…”

Boosting Critical Thinking: A Prominent Aspect to Uphold Learners’ Autonomy in the EFL Classroom

“…Such discussions facilitate active learning, enabling students to not only absorb information but also engage critically with it, fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Moreover, when conducted in a safe and supportive environment, discussions can significantly contribute to students' confidence in expressing their ideas and perspectives (Taylor, 2002).…”

“…This discussion activity is applied after students reading between the line to a text or article. Taylor (2002) elaborated that the teacher takes responsibility in this activity is to arrange conversations by: 1. Establish a kind of conversation to start the class with; 2.…”