Volume 04 Issue 08-2024
69
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
08
P
AGES
:
69-73
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
Critical thinking needs to be taught and implemented in higher education, especially in teacher education program. It
is because student teachers are going to teach this skill to their students at school as well. The critical, higher-order
thinking and reading-for-meaning skills development are imperative to allow learners to become active participants in
this changing world. In this work, we paid attention teachers’ responses and strategies to improve learners’
comprehension through developing critical, higher-order thinking skills.
KEYWORDS
Critical thinking, strategies, techniques, comprehension.
INTRODUCTION
Most students still find challenges in developing critical
thinking in English language. Specifically, in reading
and writing skill, students encounter barriers to figure
out information embedded on the passages and
experience problems to elaborate the intended
information into written text. In order to overcome
those challenges, it is stated that critical thinking skill
in reading and writing can be used as students’
knowledge, skills and attitudes in reading and writing.
It is because describing and explaining what critical
thinking is can be done by seeing it from the
perspectives of metacognitive strategies. In reading
and writing, the correlation between metacognition,
critical thinking and text understanding cannot be
Research Article
THE EFFECTIVE WAYS OF DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING IN CLASSES
Submission Date:
Aug 18, 2024,
Accepted Date:
Aug 23, 2024,
Published Date:
Aug 28, 2024
Crossref doi
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajps/Volume04Issue08-11
Baymuratova Saltanat Jaksimbaevna
MA student of KarSU, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajps
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 04 Issue 08-2024
70
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
08
P
AGES
:
69-73
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
separated. Further, it is stated that critical thinking in
reading can be grouped into three phases of
metacognition, namely planning, monitoring, and
evaluating. They are explained using the three types of
knowledge namely declarative, procedural and
conditional knowledge. Students need critical thinking
abilities in English language learning to read beyond
the literal, write persuasive essays, communicate their
ideas with sufficient supporting evidence, and
question the opinion of others.
Critical and higher-order thinking and reading for
meaning
The mastery of reading comprehension in the 21st
century requires students to develop their critical
comprehension skills. This would allow them to think
more deeply about texts, enabling them to answer
more complex questions which calls for independent
integration, interpretation, critique and evaluation of
texts. The introduction of various strategies to create
meaningful reading experiences is necessary to
promote
lasting
and
continual
growth
and
development in reading as well as further improve the
academic performance of learners [6]. In their study,
found that deficient readers lack critical reading and
thinking skills and concurred that the use of reading
strategies can lead to proficient reading and promote
academic success. In this paper we try to present three
instructional strategies that used to assist teachers in
developing critical thinking and comprehension skills in
their classrooms, namely anticipation guides.
My turn, your turn; and P4C thinking moves. In these
three strategies learners are required to respond to
questions and at the same time learn to question
thoughts and ideas that have been taken for granted.
These questioning techniques play a vital role in
developing higher-order thinking skills. Learners are
expected to disrupt the common way of thinking,
engage in more thoughtful ways, dig deeply and
develop the ability to inquire and be more reflexive.
This critical stance is an attitude that needs to be
nurtured continually as they interact with texts and, at
the same time, with life more generally.
Teachers’ understanding of critical thinking in the
classroom
In a study conducted by Choy and Cheah teachers
defined critical thinking to be ‘the impetus to facilitate
thinking among students in the classroom and enable
students to enjoy
the process of learning … involves
analyzing information’, but suggest that students
apply critical thinking only some of the time. However,
Choy and Cheah propose that the lack of
understanding, in their definition of critical thinking,
implies that teachers themselves struggle [1].
Teachers also allude to constraints that hinder the
development of critical thinking which include ‘lack of
time for designing and developing critical thinking
Volume 04 Issue 08-2024
71
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
08
P
AGES
:
69-73
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
activities’ and because of a ‘lack of understanding of
how to develop tools for fostering criticality they find
integration difficult’ Teachers do, however, relate the
importance of teaching critical thinking throughout the
curriculum and with a focus on the use of effective
teaching strategies [8].
Anticipation guide is considered as one of the
beneficial tool in order to develop students’ critical
thinking. The anticipation guide strategy is pre reading
activity using an English first-language text. Teachers
had the opportunity to ask questions for clarification to
ensure that they understood the strategy well.
An anticipation guide is a metacognitive strategy and is
effective in activating prior knowledge, highlighting
misconceptions and promoting reflection while
learning … which provides a foundation for the
assimilation of new knowledge [3].
In addition to these skills, the anticipation guide
encourages learners to improve critical thinking
through increased engagement, making predictions,
arousing curiosity, comparing beliefs and making
assumptions. The anticipation guide is a pre-reading
activity which engages students in discussion in the
class about a text, allowing them to examine their own
thoughts and opinions about. The aim, according to is
to provide a purpose for reading which results in
increased comprehension. The knowledge of what to
expect in the text before reading it, motivates learners
to brainstorm possible or anticipated outcomes. After
this process learners can check whether their thinking
about the text is aligned with what actually occurs in
the text.
My turn your turn
According to Nomlomo, the strategy ‘My turn, your
turn’ is a pedagogical approach which is necessary in
classrooms, to be used in any subject, since it
encourages learner engagement. However, for turn-
taking to be effective, four components are to be
considered which include knowledge of students,
knowledge of context, knowledge of pedagogy and
knowledge of subject matter. These components are
integral in creating an interactive environment within
which turn-taking can flourish [5].
Th
e strategy of ‘My turn, your turn’ started with the
teacher reading a text. Nomlomo posits that turn-
taking (‘my turn, your turn’) uses allocation and
acquisition to manage the strategy. The allocation
refers to giving a learner a turn to speak, while
acquisition informs the speaker to act when it is their
turn. Small bits of the text are revealed at a time with
the teacher modeling a reaction using the cue
–
My
turn, for example: “What do you think the character
will do next?” My turn [teacher responds]: “
I think he
will go home …” –
Your turn [cue for learner response]
“What do you think?” … the teacher expects learners
to share their thoughts and ideas about possible
Volume 04 Issue 08-2024
72
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
08
P
AGES
:
69-73
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
answers to the question. Dewi, Suharsono and Munir
agree and state that turn-taking as interactional
patterns of interactions might be influenced by the
context where it is employed … [which will] influence
the process of interaction production. [2]. Ryan and
Forrest describe turn-taking to be a greatly
unappreciated strategy, since it allows speakers to
draw from a number of resources to project and co-
ordinate turns to talk, enabling gaps, interruptions and
concurrent talk to be minimized [7].
The use of reasoning words like “think”, “because”,
“agree” and “might” are words that prompt higher
-
order thinking [4]. The modeling of the strategy is
effective because learners will learn from teachers
who share their thinking. The questions posed are
prepared and focus on specific higher-order and critical
thinking skills. The questioning encourages learners to:
predict, infer, connect, clarify, summarize and
paraphrase.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, a major component of critical thinking
understands the perspective of the person you are
communicating with. Teachers should have a firm
grasp of cultural differences and nuances within their
students’ lives. 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
helps students to structure and express their thoughts
effectively. It is an essential skill to ensure students’
personal and professional success.
REFERENCES
1.
Choy, S.C. & Cheah, P.K., 2009, ‘Teacher
perceptions of critical thinking among students
and
its
influence
o
n
higher
education’,
International Journal of Teaching and Learning in
Higher Education 20(2), 198
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206.
2.
Dewi, R.F., Suharsono, S. & Munir, A., 2018, ‘Turn
taking strategies and its relations to EFL learners’
personality and power in the interaction of English
conversation class’, English, Teaching, Learning,
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305. https://
doi.org/10.24252/Eternal.V42.2018.A12
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Evans, D.R., Kodela, J. & Khan, A., 2022,
‘Anticipation guides: A tool to highlight knowledge
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Heron, M. & Palfreyman, D.M., 2021, ‘Exploring
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Nomlomo, V., 2010, ‘Classroom interaction: Turn
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taking as a pedagogical strategy’ Linguam: A
Journal of Language Learning 26(2), 50
–
66.
https://doi. org/10.5785/26-2-21
Volume 04 Issue 08-2024
73
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
08
P
AGES
:
69-73
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
6.
Ortlieb, E., 2013, ‘Using anticipatory reading guides
to im
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International Journal of Instruction 6(2), 145
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162.
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Ryan, J. & Forrest, L., 2021, ‘No chance to speak:
Developing a pedagogical response to turn-taking
problems’, Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching 15(2), 103
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116.
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Toshpulatova, D. & Kiinjerumatova, A., 2020,
‘Teacher perceptions on developing students’
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