Five Ways to Introduce Critical Thinking into the Language Classroom more

Sun, May 1, 17:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul

Critical thinking is recognised as an important 21st century skill. But how can we introduce critical thinking into our busy language programmes? This practical session demonstrates five ways we can do this. Firstly, we can introduce metacognition by getting students to think about their own thinking using guided discussion worksheets. Secondly, we can add flexible critical thinking tasks and activities using readily available sources such as scam emails, misleading advertisements, and misleading data to sharpen thinking skills. Thirdly, class debates are a valuable way of getting students to build strong arguments by supporting their opinions with evidence, reasons, examples, and sources. Fourthly, puzzles, riddles, and quizzes are invaluable for ‘training the brain’. A final approach, easily introduced into a language classroom, is to add critical thinking 'value' to existing language exercises. We look at how higher-order thinking can be added to the teaching of vocabulary, grammar, syntax, reading, and academic writing.