is critical thinking an english class

• ELT News Get the latest ELT news! Our international network of journalists are always on the hunt for the latest and greatest news in the English language teaching space around the globe, so you can stay informed. Hear about breaking industry topics, international trends and issues, and other news relevant to you and your career.
• Teaching English Online Online English teaching is the fastest-growing sector in English language teaching. Whether you’re new to teaching and want to find out more or are an established online tutor looking for professional development, advice, or practical classroom activities, we have resources for all types of virtual EFL teachers. Learn about the skills and technology needed for the virtual classroom, online teaching salaries, job opportunities, best practices, and much more. We’ll help you successfully navigate teaching English online from home!
• Classroom Activities Incorporate interactive ESL/EFL games and activities into your lesson plans to keep your students engaged and learning. Discover the most reliable methods for injecting fun and excitement into your online or in-person classroom whether your students are young learners, teens, or business professionals. These TESOL games and activities range from icebreakers that give EFL students conversation practice to knowledge-based games that test students’ understanding of concepts.
• Pedagogy Learn about the latest pedagogy for TEFL/TESOL from the experts. Stay up to date with new teaching trends and learn how to be the most effective English teacher you can be. We’ll show you how to incorporate 21st-century skills into your classes, teach you to effectively use ESL games and activities to engage your students, and offer insights into ESL teaching methods like code-switching. ELT pedagogy is constantly evolving, so ensure you have the latest information to succeed in your teaching goals.
• Technology in English Language Teaching Stay ahead in English language teaching with the latest tech tools and trends. From language learning apps to AI-driven resources, explore ways to integrate technology that enhances student engagement, personalizes learning, and simplifies lesson planning. Discover articles on everything from virtual classrooms and interactive platforms to data-driven assessments, all geared toward helping you make the most of digital tools in your ESL/EFL teaching practice.
• Professional Development Take your teaching career to the next level with professional development. Whether it’s earning a Specialized TEFL/TESOL certificate to enhance your resume, taking a Micro-credential course to learn a new skill you can use to improve your teaching, or watching ELT webinars on hot industry topics, we’re always offering new professional development opportunities to our global teachers.
• Teaching English Independently Gain insights into the world of independent English teaching. Whether you’re launching your own tutoring business as a teacherpreneur, freelancing for a company, or teaching through an ELT marketplace, get advice on choosing a niche, creating a strong teacher profile, and more. From building a student base to setting rates and creating resources, these articles provide essential tips for teaching English on your own terms.
• Job Resources Ready to land the English teaching job of your dreams? Get tips on how stand out in a competitive market, design a professional TEFL/TESOL resume and cover letter, ace your TEFL job interview, and more. Plus, learn how to take advantage of Bridge’s wide range of job resources and services, including our network of Preferred Employment Partners and digital badges, dynamic credentials that showcase your skills to potential employers.
• TEFL Certification Explore everything you need to know about TEFL certification, from choosing the right program to understanding course components. Learn how a TEFL certificate can expand your career options, open doors to international teaching, and enhance your teaching skills. We offer guidance for both new teachers and experienced educators looking to deepen their qualifications in the ever-evolving TEFL field.
• Teaching English Abroad Whether you’re new to teaching or looking to make a change, we have resources to help you start your journey teaching English abroad off on the right foot or take the next step in your career. With the right tools, you can teach English online while traveling as a digital nomad or teach abroad in a traditional school setting. Learn how to be a better teacher for your international students, land the teach abroad job of your dreams, and make the transition to life abroad. We’re here to help every step of the way, from TEFL/TESOL certification that will qualify you for jobs around the world to vetting TEFL employers, so you can find a legitimate job while traveling or living in a foreign country. Embrace the adventure. We’ll help with the rest!
• Teaching English Proficiency Test Preparation Prepare students for success on English proficiency exams with strategies and insights for test prep. Whether teaching preparation for the IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, or other exams, discover best practices for each test section, ways to boost student confidence, and resources to structure effective study sessions. From scoring tips to test-taking strategies, these articles cover all aspects of guiding learners to achieve their desired scores.

FOR EDUCATORS

• Teaching Business English

For HR Teams

• Corporate Language Training
• Corporate English Case Studies

FOR LEARNERS

• Study Resources and Tips
• SEE ALL TOPICS Empower learners and organizations to communicate effectively in today’s global marketplace with our Business English insights and resources. These articles cover everything from teaching strategies and curriculum design to specialized training for corporate environments. Whether you’re an educator, HR professional, or learner, find essential tools and tips to enhance English skills for the workplace, from practical language applications to cultural nuances in business communication.
• Corporate Language Programs
• TEFL Events
• Expert Series Webinars
• Promote Your Own ELT Event!
• Company News Stay up to date with the latest happenings at Bridge! From new partnerships and program launches to milestones and industry events, stay informed about what’s new and exciting in our organization. Dive into articles on how we’re growing, innovating, and contributing to the English language teaching industry to better serve educators, learners, and corporate clients worldwide.
• Meet the Team Meet the Bridge Team! Our advisors, course tutors, and staff share their backgrounds, TEFL/TESOL stories, and best tips so you can get to know our international team and learn more about our experience in the industry. We’re here to help you every step of your TEFL journey, so get to know us a little better!
• Alumni Stories Hear from Bridge students and grads all over the globe who are fulfilling their TEFL/TESOL goals by teaching English abroad, online, and in their home countries. Find out what a day in the life is like for these English teachers, how their Bridge course has helped them achieve their teaching goals, and what their future teaching plans are. Bridge voices can be found all over the world – hear their stories today!

Explore More

Stay in our orbit.

Stay connected with industry news, resources for English teachers and job seekers, ELT events, and more.

Explore Topics

• Teaching English Online
• Classroom Activities
• Technology in English Language Teaching
• Professional Development
• Teaching English Independently
• Job Resources
• TEFL Certification
• Teaching English Abroad
• Teaching English Proficiency Test Preparation
• Bridge News

Popular Articles

• What Is TESOL? What Is TEFL? Which Certificate Is Better – TEFL or TESOL?
• 5 Popular ESL Teaching Methods Every Teacher Should Know
• 10 Fun Ways to Use Realia in Your ESL Classroom
• How to Teach ESL Vocabulary: Top Methods for Introducing New Words
• Advice From an Expert: TEFL Interview Questions & How to Answer Them

Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the ESL Classroom

• Linda D'Argenio
• December 22, 2022

Critical thinking has become a central concept in today’s educational landscape, regardless of the subject taught. Critical thinking is not a new idea. It has been present since the time of Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates’ famous quote, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel,” underscores the nature of learning (students are not blank slates to be filled with content by their teachers) and the significance of inquisitiveness in a true learning process, both in the ESL classroom and in the wider world of education. Teaching critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom will benefit your students throughout their language-learning journey.

In more recent times, philosopher John Dewey made critical thinking one of the cornerstones of his educational philosophy. Nowadays, educators often quote critical thinking as the most important tool to sort out the barrage of information students are exposed to in our media-dominated world , to analyze situations and elaborate solutions. Teaching critical thinking skills is an integral part of teaching 21st-century skills .

Table of Contents

What is critical thinking?

There are many definitions of critical thinking. They are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. Some of the main ones are outlined below.

Dewey’s definition

In John Dewey’s educational theory, critical thinking examines the beliefs and preexisting knowledge that individuals use to assess situations and make decisions. If such beliefs and knowledge are faulty or unsupported, they will lead to faulty assessments and decision-making. In essence, Dewey advocated for a scientific mindset in approaching problem-solving .

Goal-directed thinking

Critical thinking is goal-directed. We question the underlying premises of our reflection process to ensure we arrive at the proper conclusions and decisions.

Critical thinking as a metacognitive process

According to Matthew Lipman, in Thinking in Education, “Reflective thinking is thinking that is aware of its own assumptions and implications as well as being conscious of the reasons and evidence that support this or that conclusion. (…) Reflective thinking is prepared to recognize the factors that make for bias, prejudice, and self-deception . It involves thinking about its procedures at the same time as it involves thinking about its subject matter” (Lipman, 2003).

Awareness of context

This is an important aspect of critical thinking. As stated by Diane Halpern in Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking , “[The critical] thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task” (Halpern, 1996)

What are the elements of critical thinking?

Several elements go into the process of critical thinking.

• Identifying the problem. If critical thinking is viewed mainly as a goal-oriented activity, the first element is to identify the issue or problem one wants to solve. However, the critical thinking process can be triggered simply by observation of a phenomenon that attracts our attention and warrants an explanation.
• Researching and gathering of information that is relevant to the object of inquiry. One should gather diverse information and examine contrasting points of view to achieve comprehensive knowledge on the given topic.
• Evaluation of biases. What biases can we identify in the information that has been gathered in the research phase? But also, what biases do we, as learners, bring to the information-gathering process?
• Inference. What conclusions can be derived by an examination of the information? Can we use our preexisting knowledge to help us draw conclusions?
• Assessment of contrasting arguments on an issue. One looks at a wide range of opinions and evaluates their merits.
• Decision-making. Decisions should be based on the above.

Why is critical thinking important in ESL teaching?

The teaching of critical thinking skills plays a pivotal role in language instruction. Consider the following:

Language is the primary vehicle for the expression of thought, and how we organize our thoughts is closely connected with the structure of our native language. Thus, critical thinking begins with reflecting on language. To help students understand how to effectively structure and express their thinking processes in English, ESL teachers need to incorporate critical thinking in English Language Teaching (ELT) in an inclusive and interesting way .

For ESL students to reach their personal, academic, or career goals, they need to become proficient in English and be able to think critically about issues that are important to them. Acquiring literacy in English goes hand in hand with developing the thinking skills necessary for students to progress in their personal and professional lives. Thus, teachers need to prioritize the teaching of critical thinking skills.

How do ESL students develop critical thinking skills?

Establishing an effective environment

The first step in assisting the development of critical thinking in language learning is to provide an environment in which students feel supported and willing to take risks. To express one’s thoughts in another language can be a considerable source of anxiety. Students often feel exposed and judged if they are not yet able to communicate effectively in English. Thus, the teacher should strive to minimize the “affective filter.” This concept, first introduced by Stephen Krashen, posits that students’ learning outcomes are strongly influenced by their state of mind. Students who feel nervous or anxious will be less open to learning. They will also be less willing to take the risks involved in actively participating in class activities for fear that this may expose their weaknesses.

One way to create such an environment and facilitate students’ expression is to scaffold language so students can concentrate more on the message/content and less on grammar/accuracy.

Applying context

As mentioned above, an important aspect of critical thinking is context. The information doesn’t exist in a vacuum but is always received and interpreted in a specific situational and cultural environment. Because English learners (ELs) come from diverse cultural and language backgrounds and don’t necessarily share the same background as their classmates and teacher, it is crucial for the teacher to provide a context for the information transmitted. Contextualization helps students to understand the message properly.

Asking questions

One of the best ways to stimulate critical thinking is to ask questions. According to Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy ( Taxonomy of Educational Objectives , 1956), thinking skills are divided into lower-order and higher-order skills. Lower-order skills include knowledge, comprehension, and application; higher-order skills include analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To stimulate critical thinking in ELT, teachers need to ask questions that address both levels of thinking processes. For additional information, read this article by the TESL Association of Ontario on developing critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom .

Watch the following clip from a BridgeUniverse Expert Series webinar to learn how to set measurable objectives based on Bloom’s Taxonomy ( watch the full webinar – and others! – here ):

How can we implement critical thinking skills in the ESL classroom?

Several activities can be used in the ESL classroom to foster critical thinking skills. Teaching critical thinking examples include:

Activities that scaffold language and facilitate students’ expression

These can be as basic as posting lists of important English function words like conjunctions, personal and demonstrative pronouns, question words, etc., in the classroom. Students can refer to these tables when they need help to express their thoughts in a less simplistic way or make explicit the logical relation between sentences (because… therefore; if… then; although… however, etc.). There are a variety of methods to introduce new vocabulary based on student age, proficiency level, and classroom experience.

Activities that encourage students to make connections between their preexisting knowledge of an issue and the new information presented

One such exercise consists of asking students to make predictions about what will happen in a story, a video, or any other context. Predictions activate the students’ preexisting knowledge and encourage them to link it with the new data, make inferences, and build hypotheses.

Critical thinking is only one of the 21st-century skills English students need to succeed. Explore all of Bridge’s 21st-Century Teaching Skills Micro-credential courses to modernize your classroom!

Change of perspective and contextualization activities.

Asking students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes is a challenging but fruitful practice that encourages them to understand and empathize with other perspectives. It creates a different cultural and emotional context or vantage point from which to consider an issue. It helps assess the merit of contrasting arguments and reach a more balanced conclusion.

One way of accomplishing this is to use a written text and ask students to rewrite it from another person’s perspective. This automatically leads students to adopt a different point of view and reflect on the context of the communication. Another is to use roleplay . This is possibly an even more effective activity. In role-play, actors tend to identify more intimately with their characters than in a written piece. There are other elements that go into acting, like body language, voice inflection, etc., and they all need to reflect the perspective of the other.

Collaborative activities

Activities that require students to collaborate also allow them to share and contrast their opinions with their peers and cooperate in problem-solving (which, after all, is one of the goals of critical thinking). Think/write-pair-share is one such activity. Students are asked to work out a problem by themselves and then share their conclusions with their peers. A collaborative approach to learning engages a variety of language skill sets, including conversational skills, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, as well as critical thinking.

In today’s educational and societal context, critical thinking has become an important tool for sorting out information, making decisions, and solving problems. Critical thinking in language learning and the ESL classroom helps students to structure and express their thoughts effectively. It is an essential skill to ensure students’ personal and professional success.

Take an in-depth look at incorporating critical thinking skills into the ESL classroom with the Bridge Micro-credential course in Promoting Critical Thinking Skills.

Linda D'Argenio

Linda D'Argenio is a native of Naples, Italy. She is a world language teacher (English, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese,) translator, and writer. She has studied and worked in Italy, Germany, China, and the U.S. In 2003, Linda earned her doctoral degree in Classical Chinese Literature from Columbia University. She has taught students at both the school and college levels. Linda lives in Brooklyn, NY.