Abstract
With the benefits of critical thinking (CT) in language education, there has been a call for an explicit focus on CT in language teacher education. This study investigates pre-service teachers’ perceptions of a course named ‘Critical Thinking in English Language Teaching’, especially what changes they had after the course. The 2020-2021 cohort of pre-service teachers of an English Teacher Education program at Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University were the participants of the study. Questionnaires and group interviews were used to collect the data about the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of CT and CT teaching before and after the course. The findings showed that the participants reported a change in their understanding of CT. They reported more confidence in the pedagogical aspects of CT instruction. The study contributes to the literature about the effectiveness of the infusion approach to CT instruction from pre-service language teachers’ perspectives and proposes some implications for a similar course on CT in the English language teaching context.
References
- . Abrami, P., Bernard, E., Borokhovski, D., Waddington, C., Wade, C., & Persson, T. (2015). Strategies
- for teaching students to think critically: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 85(2), 275–314.
- DOI:10.3102/0034654314551063
- . Almulla, M. (2018). Investigating teachers’ perceptions of their own practices to improve students’ critical thinking in secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education (IJCRSEE), 6(3), 15-27.
- . Ansori, M. (2019). English teachers’ efficacy in using pedagogical techniques to promote higher order thinking skills. Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature & Linguistics, 6(2), 1-13.
- . Atkinson, D. (1997). A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 71-94.
- . Badger, J. (2019). A case study of Chinese students and IEP faculty perceptions of a creativity and critical thinking course. Higher Education Studies, 9(3), 34-44.
- . Benesch, S. (1993). Critical thinking: A learning process for democracy. TESOL Quarterly, 27 (3), 545-8.
- . Benesch, S. 1999, 'Thinking critically, thinking dialogically', TESOL Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 573-80.
- . Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), 81–109. doi:10.1017/S0261444803001903
- . Browne, M.N. & Freeman, K. (2000). Distinguishing features of critical thinking classrooms. Teaching
- in Higher Education, 5 (3), 301-9.
- . Brumfit, C., Myles, F., Mitchell, R., Johnston, B., & Ford, P. (2005). Language study in higher education and the development of criticality. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 145 - 168.
- . Buranapatana, M. (2006). Enhancing Critical Thinking of Undergraduate Thai Students through
- Dialogic Inquiry. The University of Canberra, Australia.
- . Cherubini, L. (2009). Exploring prospective teachers’ critical thinking: Case-based pedagogy and the standards of professional practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 228-234.
- . Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education, 7 edn, Routledge, New
- York.
- . Davies, W.M. (2006). An “infusion” approach to critical thinking: Moore on the critical thinking debate. Higher education research & Development, 25 (2), 179-193.
- . Ennis, R.H. (1985). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational leadership, 43 (2),
- -8.
- . Ennis, R.H. (1989). Critical thinking and subject specificity: Clarification and needed research.
- Educational Researcher, 18 (3), 4-10.
- . Ennis, R. H. (2018). Critical thinking across the curriculum: A vision. Topoi, 37(1), 165-184.
- . Facione, P.A. (1990). Critical thinking (The Delphi report). Prepared for the Committee on Pre-College
- Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association, California Academic Press, Millbrae, CA.
- . Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. SAGE.
- . Gieve, S. (1998). Comments on Dwight Atkinson's "A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL":
- another reader reacts... TESOL Quarterly, 32, 123-9.
- . Halpern, D.F. (1999). Teaching for critical thinking: helping college students develop the skills and
- dispositions of a critical thinker. New directions for teaching and learning, 80.
- . Joshi, A., Kale, S., Chandel, S. & Pal, D. K. (2015). Likert scale: Explored and Explained. British Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 7 (4), 396-403.
- . Kabilan, M. K. (2000). Creative and critical thinking in language classrooms. The Internet TESL
- Journal, 6(6).
- . Le, N.T.C. (2005). From passive participant to active thinker: a learner-centered approach to
- materials development. English Teaching Forum, 43 (3), 2-9.
- . Li, L. (2016). Integrating thinking skills in foreign language learning: What can we learn from teachers’ perspectives. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 22, 273-288. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2016.09.008.
- . Liang, W. & , Fung, D. (2020). Fostering Critical Thinking in English-as-a-Second-Language Classrooms: Challenges and Opportunities. Thinking Skills and Creativity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100769
- . Lloyd, M. & Bahr, N. (2010). Thinking critically about critical thinking in higher education.
- International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4 (2).
- . Lorencová, H., Jarošová, E., Avgitidou, S. & Dimitriadou, C. (2019): Critical thinking practices in
- teacher education programmes: a systematic review, Studies in Higher Education, DOI:
- 1080/03075079.2019.1586331
- . Ma, L. & Luo, H. (2020). Chinese pre-service teachers’ cognitions about cultivating critical thinking in teaching English as a foreign language. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2020.1793733
- . McPeck, J.E. (1990). Critical thinking and subject specificity: A reply to Ennis. Educational Researcher.
- (4), 10-12.
- . Moore, T. (2004). The critical thinking debate: how general are general thinking skills?. Higher
- Education Research & Development, 23 (1), 3-18.
- . Nickerson, R. (1988). On improving thinking through instruction. Review of Research in Education, 15
- (3), 3-57.
- . Niu, L., Behar-Horenstein, S.L. & Garvan, W.C. (2013). Do instructional interventions influence
- college students’ critical thinking skills? A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 9, 114-128.
- . Paul, R.W. (1993). Critical thinking: What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world,
- Foundation for Critical Thinking, Santa Rosa, CA.
- . Petek, E., & Bedir, H. (2018). An Adaptable Teacher Education Framework for Critical Thinking in Language Teaching. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 28, 56-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2018.02.008.
- . Siegel, H. (1988). Educating reason: Rationality, critical thinking and education. Routledge & Metheun,
- NewYork.
- . Ten Dam, G. & Volman, M. (2004). Critical thinking as a citizenship competence: teaching strategies. Learning and Instruction, 14 (4), 359-379.
- . Tiruneh, D.T., Verburgh, A. & Elen, J. (2014). Effectiveness of Critical Thinking Instruction in Higher
- Education: A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies. Higher Education Studies, 4 (1), 1-17.
- . Toy, B. Y. & Ok, A. (2012). Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a teacher education programme: does it make a difference?. European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(1), 39-56, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2011.634902
- . Vandermensbrugghe, J. (2004). The unbearable vagueness of critical thinking in the context of the
- Anglo-Saxonisation of education. International Education Journal, 5 (3), 417-22.
- . Waters, A. (2006). Thinking and language learning. ELT Journal, 60 (4), 319-327.
- . Yang, C. (2019). Cultivating critical thinkers: Explore transfer of learning from pre-service teacher training to classroom practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 1116-1130.
- . Yuan, R., & Stapleton, P. (2019). Student teachers’ perceptions of critical thinking and its teaching. ELT Journal. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccz044
- . Yuan, R., Yang, M. & Lee, I. (2021). Preparing pre-service language teachers to teach critical thinking: Can overseas field school experience make a difference? Thinking Skills and Creativity, 40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100832
- . Yuan, R., Liao, W., Wang, Z., Kong, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). How do English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers perceive and engage with critical thinking: A systematic review from 2010 to 2020. Thinking skills and Creativity, 43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2022.101002
- . Zhang, H., Yuan, R. and He, X. (2020). Investigating University EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Critical Thinking and Its Teaching: Voices from China. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 29, 483-493.