LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:11 November 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Critical Thinking Skills among EFL/ESL Learners:
A Review of Literature

Pezhman Zare, Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on critical thinking skills in general and in the field of ESL/EFL learning in particular. It starts with a brief introduction. Then, a number of definitions of critical thinking are discussed in details. Critical thinking skills and sub-skills are illustrated. Afterward, characteristics of critical thinkers are presented. Next, the association between critical thinking skills and dispositions are discussed. After that, it is discussed how critical thinking started to appear and play a significant role in learning English as a second/foreign language. Finally, a brief conclusion closes the paper.

Keywords: Critical Thinking Skills, Dispositions, Language Learning, Teaching

Introduction

Academic journals and the mass media have presented critical thinking skills as being essential for the growing workforce of the 21st century. Critical thinking skills have been also recognized as vital for students’ academic success. Currently, there is a growing demand for superior critical thinking skills, problem solving, and negotiation skills as well as highly developed communicative competence (Gervey, Drout & Wang, 2009; Halpern, 2004; Zare & Moomala, 2013, Zare & Mukundan, 2015). Critical thinking skills have been identified as a logical, purposive deep thinking approach (Rudd, 2007) and/or as a doubtful or skeptical approach (Mason, 2007) employed in making decisions, mastering concepts as well as solving problems. Those who possess critical thinking skills demonstrate behavioral dispositions which are required and acknowledged in both academic and vocational contexts (Kosciulek & Wheaton, 2003; Mason, 2007; Rudd, 2007).

Definition of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a broad concept and has generated many different definitions and terminologies. The distinguished educational expert Dewey (1933) refers to critical thinking as reflective thinking, and proposes that it must be one of the aims of education. Norris (1985) defines critical thinking as deciding rationally what to or what not to believe. One of the most frequently referred to definitions of critical thinking is one used by Ennis (1987), who has similar views to Dewey and Norris. Ennis defines critical thinking as “reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do” (p. 10). For Dewey, Norris, and Ennis, critical thinking is about being careful and reflective when making decisions to believe something or do something.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Pezhman Zare, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Language and Humanities Education
Faculty of Educational Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang
Selangor
Malaysia
pezhman.zare@yahoo.com
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