INTEGRATING CRITICAL THINKING IN EFL CLASSES: CURENT PRACTICES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

 Critical thinking has recently been recognised as an important component of language education (Gunawardena & Petraki, 2014; Houghton & Yamada, 2012). This empirical study aims to investigate the integration of critical thinking in EFL classes at a university of foreign languages. Document analysis (course syllabi) and semi-structured interviews (teachers) were used to collect data for this specific question. The study found that critical thinking was stated as a course objective unevenly between the skill-based and content-based courses, and that the teachers faced certain constraints (e.g., the introduction of CEFR) to integrate critical thinking in their teaching. The study findings raise the question about how much EFL curriculum orientation should be about language skills or criticality, and the opportunities for critical thinking development in EFL skill-based and content-based courses.