EFL Education-oriented reading and speaking skills through critical thinking: a theoretical basis for the degrees in education

Author(s):  
Aitor Garcés-Manzanera

The development of skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is a necessary requirement for communication, but equally for L2 enhancement. Thus, the aim of this paper is to propose a system of activities for the Degrees in Education. This system integrates two skills, that is, reading and speaking, in addition to enhancing the development of critical thinking skills. All these aspects will be intimately linked to the importance of the education-related context for future school teachers.

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01155
Author(s):  
Yuliya Savinova ◽  
Tatiana Akhmetzyanova ◽  
Svetlana Pozdnyakova ◽  
Ekaterina Dvorak ◽  
Zhanna Zarutskaya

The issues of the student engagement in science-related activities and the development of students’ language communicative competence are especially relevant in a technical university, where due to the prevailing of the Sciences, the professional communicative competence has become increasingly vital. The goal of this article is to examine how interdisciplinary scientific conferences for students held in foreign languages can foster the foreign language communicative competence of students. In the article, we present the definition and the three basic models of communicative competence. A method of pedagogical observation is used that represents comprehension and analysis of goal-oriented preparation of students for practical scientific conferences. We reveal the fact that interdisciplinary scientific conferences for students held in foreign languages allow educators to foster the foreign language communicative competence of students and deepen their knowledge in professional area, as well as to equip them with research skills since students’ participation in the conferences increases their attention and focus, motivates them to practice critical thinking skills of high level.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Bobkina ◽  
Svetlana Stefanova

Drawing on the numerous benefits of integrating literature in the EFL classroom, the present paper argues that the analysis of a fictional work in the process of foreign language acquisition offers a unique opportunity for students to explore, interpret, and understand the world around them. The paper presents strong evidence in favour of reader-centered critical reading as a means of encouraging observation and active evaluation not only of linguistic items, but also of a variety of meanings and viewpoints. The authors propose a model of teaching critical thinking skills focused on the reader’s response to a literary work. The practical application of the method, which adopts the critical literacy approach as a tool, is illustrated through a series of activities based on the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-356
Author(s):  
H. Lestari ◽  
W. Sopandi ◽  
U. S. Sa'ud ◽  
B. Musthafa ◽  
D. Budimansyah ◽  
...  

This study aims to describe the impact of online mentoring activities in implementing the RADEC (Read, Answer, Discuss, Explain, and Create) learning model on the competence of elementary school teachers in training students’ critical thinking skills. The method was a pre-experiment with a one-group pretest-posttest design involving 25 elementary school teachers in Indonesia. The teachers received online mentoring in implementing RADEC learning model. The research instrument was a questionnaire to measure teachers’ knowledge and skills in training critical thinking. The data processing technique was carried out by calculating the mean and the percentage of each item to obtain a description of the teachers’ knowledge and skills in training students’ critical thinking before and after treatment. The data were analyzed inferentially with a paired sample t-test using SPSS version 22 software to see the impact of the treatment on teachers’ competence in training critical thinking. Based on the results of the paired-sample t-test, for both the knowledge and skills aspects, the probability value (sig) was 0.00 <0.05. This result means that there was a significant difference in the knowledge and skills of teachers in training students’ critical thinking skills before and after mentoring activities. The study results indicate that the online mentoring in implementing the RADEC learning model improved teachers’ competence in training elementary school students’ critical thinking skills. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Dilek Cakici

The primary aim of current study was to investigate the possible relationship between Metacognitive Awareness (MA) and Critical Thinking Skills (CTS) in a foreign language learning context. In addition, this research aimed to probe the effect of gender and years of pre-service English language teachers on the relation between metacognitive awareness and critical thinking abilities. 218 pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers participated in the study. Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Critical Thinking Questionnaire were employed to gather necessary data. Obtained results confirmed that there existed a highly significant positive correlation between MA and CTS. Besides, the results indicated that there was a strong relation between the years of pre-service EFL teachers and their MA and CTS. Seniors were found to be more metacognitively aware and critical thinkers than their counterparts. Conversely, it was revealed that there was no gender effect on both MA and CTS. Finally, certain suggestions were set for tertiary institutions to develop metacognition and critical thinking skills in foreign language classroom settings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-89
Author(s):  
Kristina C. Marcellus

In this report, I outline and provide examples of an approach to using an international edition of an introductory sociology textbook to facilitate cross-cultural learning and critical thinking skills in an EFL (English as a foreign language) environment at a small engineering university in the United Arab Emirates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Инна Вячеславовна Шукурова ◽  
Наталья Евгеньевна Чеснокова

Рассматривается вопрос развития критического мышления студентов средствами иностранного языка. Оценивается место и роль дисциплины «Иностранный язык» в развитии универсальных компетенций студентов и в их адаптации к современным требованиям, предъявляемым будущим специалистам. Представлены составляющие умения критического мышления, которые позволяют осмысливать полученную информацию, обобщать и отделять ее от второстепенных фактов, формулировать выводы, оценивать. Средством развития критического мышления студентов выбран учебный иноязычный текст, который рассматривается не только как источник информации, но и как средство активизации мыслительной деятельности. Отмечается недостаток методик, способствующих развитию критического мышления. Описывается возможность использования таксономии педагогических целей Б. Блума в работе с учебным текстом. Таксономия позволяет правильно ставить образовательные цели, формулировать мотивирующие задания и отслеживать прогресс в развитии умений. Приведен пример работы с учебным текстом по принципу таксономии, который дает возможность корректировать учебную деятельность студентов, направленную на развитие их критического мышления. The article considers the process of students’ critical thinking development through the English language resources. The authors highlight the importance of English in the developing of students’ universal competencies and their adaption to the current professional requirements. The article outlines the essential critical thinking skills that allow students to comprehend the received material, break down the material into its constituent parts, to distinguish relevant information from extraneous material, to synthesize, to infer and evaluate it. The educational foreign-language text is used as a means of students’ critical thinking development. The authors emphasize the text’s multifunction nature and its contribution into enhancement of students’ thinking activity. Despite the teachers’ keen interest in the process of critical thinking developing some authors prove the lack of methods and techniques promoting its growth. The article gives an overview of Bloom’s taxonomy and outlines its application in the educational process. The taxonomy is widely used to set educational objectives, to formulate motivating exercises and monitor headway in knowledge and skills developing. The study shows that not all textbooks and tasks are intended to enhance critical thinking skills. So, the authors analyzed their English textbook and changed their approach to work with the texts. The article describes the experience proving that new challenging tasks help students comprehend the received information, distinguish relevant facts, summarize and learn to evaluate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Fenglin Zhou ◽  
Yuewu Lin

Critical thinking is one of the core objectives of talent training in higher education. Meanwhile, the cultivation of critical thinking skills in foreign language teaching has become more and more urgent, and it has also been written into the national standards for the training of foreign language talents. A good critical thinking includes both a skill dimension (Critical Thinking Skills) and a disposition dimension (Critical Thinking Dispositions). Critical Thinking Skills include interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation. This study intends to explore the current situation of the critical thinking skills of undergraduates in foreign language majors (English and Japanese) in a Normal University, and then attempts to find out the similarities and differences in critical thinking skills between English majors and Japanese majors after years of study at college. The results show that a clear difference exists between English majors and Japanese majors in overall critical thinking skills. In particular, English majors are superior to Japanese majors. Another finding is that there are also differences between the two majors in the three core sub-skills of critical thinking skills, analysis, evaluation and inference.


Author(s):  
Mamadjanova Nozima Adhamovna ◽  

This article discusses that the ability to think critically does not develop spontaneously. On the contrary, teachers play a major role in the development and management of the learning process. Foreign language classes help to develop critical thinking through a variety of materials and interactive learning technologies. Exploring the essence of critical thinking allowed him to move on to taking into account his abilities. As a result of studying this problem, it can be said that the foreign literature pays special attention to critical thinking skills.


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