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The recent buzzword in second language or foreign language teaching is critical thinking. Studies confirm that promoting critical thinking in the classroom yields long term rewards in terms of helping students to think for themselves, analyze the meaning of language and take ownership for their learning. Moreover, critical thinking enriches the language learning experience and makes it more meaningful.
What is Critical Thinking?
There is no clear definition, but one view is that CT refers to the “the mental processes, strategies, and representations people use to solve problems, make decisions, and learn new concepts” (Sternberg, 1986, p. 3 in Zhao, et, al. 2016). Critical thinking has also been viewed as a process introduced by teachers to help students engage in meaningful activities which require judgment, interpretation, analysis, evaluation and making inferences from information. There are at least three reasons to foster critical thinking in the classroom:
- It helps students to make informed decisions by studying the pros and cons of a given situation.
- Students are encouraged to see a problem from different perspectives which develops analytical skills.
- Critical thinking promotes learner autonomy as students form their own opinions, provide a rationale for those opinions, and arrive at practical solutions.
In summary, critical thinking ensures that nothing is taken at face value. (Phillips & Phillips, 2023)
How can teachers teach critical thinking?
Teachers can create a climate for critical thinking in the classroom through some strategies outlined below.
- Socratic questioning: ask questions which require some thought. For example, instead of asking where the Eiffel Tower is located, the question may be re-framed to ask what the purpose of building the Eiffel Tower was.
- Debates and Discussions: engage students in topics of contemporary interest. They could range from shopping trends (online or in person) to more serious issues of banning cars altogether to save the environment. Of course, the teacher must be judicious in her choice of subject in order to avoid social or cultural conflict.
- Cognitive activities: maintain a journal or diary to reflect on a day’s work, interest, or activity. Such reflective activities help learners to think deeply about their actions and decisions. This habit-forming practice can lead to constructive thinking and nurture responsible adults.
- Problem-solving skills: encourage learners to think beyond the four walls of the classroom on real problems: their cause, prevention and possible solutions. Problem-solving enhances critical thinking by encouraging students to be creative and come up with innovative, practical solutions. (Phillips & Phillips, 2023b)
How can Teachers Assess Critical Thinking Skills?
Teachers can test critical thinking skills through several tasks. These could be formative, continuous, or summative. For example, continuous tasks which are graded at the completion of different stages keep the learners motivated, are less stressful, and allow for collaborative or group learning. Students can also choose from a variety of topics which they find interesting. This is more relevant to project work which can involve a number of steps such as researching the topic or problem, role assignment to each member of the group, discussion, writing up a summary together, creating a presentation and taking turns to present — all of which require a thoughtful and guided analysis of the problem throughout.
Conclusion
The benefits of promoting critical thinking in the classroom are manifold, and in seeing the value such activities bring, policy and curriculum makers are also creating course content which supports critical thinking. The long-term impact of critical thinking on learners is clear. It makes their educational journey so much more rewarding and helps them to navigate their way outside the classroom by putting things in perspective and helping to make sense of the world.
Bibliography
Phillips, E., & Phillips, E. (2023b, December 2). 4 Strategies to build your students’ problem-solving skills. The Will to Teach. https://willtoteach.com/problem-solving-skills/
Phillips, E., & Phillips, E. (2023, November 23). Critical Thinking in the Classroom: A guide for teachers. The Will to Teach. https://willtoteach.com/critical-thinking-in-the-classroom/#
Zhao, Cairan & Pandian, Ambigapathy & Mehar Singh, Manjet Kaur. (2016). Instructional Strategies for Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Classrooms. English Language Teaching. 9. 14-21. 10.5539/elt. v9n10p14.
1 Comment
“Critical thinking enriches the language learning experience and makes it more meaningful. ”
Absolutely! Developing critical thinking skills has never been more important. Given how pervasive Generative AI is within our information ecosystem, our learners would most definitely benefit from robust critical thinking skills.
Being a critical thinker, for our learners, means that they might question the content that comes across their social media feeds, their PMs, their SMS. Is this real? Why is this coming across my feed? What’s the purpose? Who/What created this content?
Dr. Geoffrey Hinton (i.e. the “Godfather of AI”) recently remarked on the HUGE uptick in fraud/scams enabled by the widespread adoption of GenAI tools like ChatGPT. The internet is awash with misinformation and disinformation; being able to navigate the information ecosystem is a great deal more challenging today than it was just two years ago.
I think your suggestions above are right on the mark, especially the Socratic questioning techniques and the reflective thinking. Language teachers have long known that reflection on learning has many benefits, even a simple KWL activity, or daily “Recap of yesterday’s learning” task are worthwhile (though, as Rebecca Moore Howard puts it, sometimes learners find this “groan-worthy”!).
Interestingly, AI has been found to be useful in developing the lower-level Bloom skills; teachers are still very much needed to help learners get to the higher level, critical thinking (applying) skills that are SO necessary for life today.
Thanks for your article (been meaning to respond for some time now… )
(Check out the report “Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking Skills in Undergraduates: A systematic Review” by PP. Premkumar et all, 2025. It’s got some useful insights.)