Developing pedagogical practices for English-language learners: a design-based approach

The present study investigated the effects of critical thinking instructions through a flipped teaching method on English Language learners’ listening comprehension. The sample consisted of 80 Iranian intermediate English language learners that were divided into two experimental and two control groups. The two experimental groups that experienced flipped classrooms were given listening materials before the start of the class. Then cooperative learning took place in a face-to-face learning environment. The two control groups were taught in conventional language classrooms. Besides, one class from each group received instructions during the treatment phase on critical thinking. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) was used to collect listening comprehension data on pretest and posttest. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 was used to run statistical analysis and t-tests on the data. The results of the study revealed that the flipped approach was more effective when language learners were given instructions on critical thinking. Language teachers can benefit from critical thinking instruction in flipped teaching to enhance the learners’ listening comprehension ability by activating higher-order mental capacities such as critical thinking.

Critical thinking is essential for success in the 21st century, particularly in language learning. This study explores pre-service English language teachers’ (ELTs) perceptions and practices regarding critical thinking instruction in Indonesia. Through a qualitative case study approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two pre-service ELTs from a private university in Yogyakarta. Thematic analysis revealed a rich tapestry of insights into the participants’ understanding of critical thinking, their perceived importance in language learning, and their willingness to integrate critical thinking into their teaching practices. The findings highlight the significance of critical thinking in language acquisition, as it empowers students to analyze complex information, evaluate diverse perspectives, and form informed judgments. Participants emphasized the need for incorporating critical thinking strategies into language teaching to enhance students’ cognitive abilities and facilitate deeper understanding. Nevertheless, the study also identified potential challenges, including the uneven distribution of critical thinking practices across the education system and the need for specialized teacher training to implement critical thinking instruction effectively. The study contributes to understanding pre-service ELTs’ perceptions and practices of critical thinking in Indonesia. It also provides valuable insights for teacher training programs, curriculum development, and future research investigating critical thinking instruction in English language teaching.

This article investigates the effects of ethnic acceptance and prejudice on English language learning among immigrant nonnative speakers. During 2004 and 2005, the author conducted participatory dialogues among six Vietnamese and Mexican adult immigrant English language learners. The researcher sought to answer five questions: (1) What are some nonnative English speakers’ experience regarding the way native speakers treat them? (2) How have nonnative English speakers’ experiences of ethnic acceptance or ethnic prejudice affected their learning of English? (3) What do nonnative English speakers think they need in order to lower their anxiety as they learn a new language? (4) What can native English speakers do to lower nonnative speakers’ anxiety? (5) What can nonnative English speakers do to lower their anxiety with native English speakers? Even though many of the adult immigrant participants experienced ethnic prejudice, they developed strategies to overcome anxiety, frustration, and fear. The dialogues generated themes of acceptance, prejudice, power, motivation, belonging, and perseverance, all factors essential to consider when developing English language learning programs for adult immigrants.

Education in the 21st century requires not only content mastery but also the development of higher-order thinking skills to address complex global challenges. This study investigates the effects of STEM Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and students’ critical thinking on creativity in English language learning. Employing a mixed methods approach with an explanatory sequential design, the study first gathered quantitative data through surveys and tests, followed by qualitative data from interviews and classroom observations. The participants consisted of 200 Grade X students from two senior high schools in Serang City, selected through purposive sampling. The quantitative findings revealed that both STEM PjBL and critical thinking significantly influence student creativity, with strong positive correlations (r = 0.867 and r = 0.889) and moderate effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 0.516 and 0.505). The qualitative data supported these findings, highlighting students’ increased engagement, collaboration, and reflective thinking during project implementation. These results suggest that integrating STEM-based projects in English learning can effectively foster critical and creative thinking skills, offering a promising interdisciplinary approach to language education. The study contributes to current literature by demonstrating the combined impact of PjBL and critical thinking in a language learning context, an area often overlooked in prior research. The findings hold practical implications for curriculum designers and educators seeking to promote 21st-century competencies through integrated, student-centered instruction.

The technology advancement in this era of globalization promotes the innovation and transformation in English language teaching and learning especially for EFL students. The innovations in English Language teaching and learning have fostered the variations of teaching strategy and method. One of the recent strategies proposed in pedagogical context is inquiry-based teaching strategy. Since the recent issues of active learning have been discussed in some school of thoughts, it is closely related to the importance of critical thinking students should have. In order to achieve English language learning goals, which is to enhance the students’ skill, competence, and also critical thinking, the teaching and learning process has to be designed more innovatively and effectively. Nevertheless, the implementation of this strategy should be adjusted in accordance to the students’ capability in learning English in class. Therefore, teachers have to understand well the characteristics of inquiry-based teaching before implementing it in class. This paper attempts to explore the use of inquiry-based teaching in promoting students’ critical thinking, especially in reading comprehension. This paper discusses the issues of this strategy based on theoretical frameworks and provides the example of an activity using 5E that can be applied in class. The reading activity through inquiry-based teaching can be constructed by the teacher by considering the students’ condition and environment.

<p>In the midst of an increasingly changing world, the ability to think critically has become a crucial attribute expected of university graduates. However, the endorsement of critical thinking in higher education has been challenged by the growing cultural diversity in university classrooms. Concerns about Asian students' lack of critical thinking and the appropriateness of critical thinking instruction in international education have been raised by teaching professionals. The present dissertation sought to understand the influence of culture on the teaching and learning of critical thinking in higher education. Chapter 2 presented a study examining the instructional contexts of Hong Kong and New Zealand. It was found that similar assessment methods were employed in the university courses in both cultures, but university courses in Hong Kong placed more emphasis on knowledge development whereas those in New Zealand explicitly described critical thinking in the course objectives. Chinese international and New Zealand European postgraduate students were individually interviewed to investigate the exact influence of cultural-educational contexts in Asia and New Zealand on university students' conception and practice of critical thinking (Chapter 3). Both samples of students held similar conceptions of critical thinking, but reported differences in their socialization experiences regarding the practice of critical thinking in their respective cultures. Specifically, stronger inhibition on students' practice of critical thinking was noted in Asia than in New Zealand. In Chapter 4, two studies that investigated the differences in critical thinking skills between Asian and New Zealand European students are presented. In both studies, New Zealand European students were found to perform better than their Asian counterparts on an objective measure of critical thinking skills. The difference was explained by students English language ability but not cultural factors such as cultural differences in cognitive styles or behavioral adoption of New Zealand culture. It was suggested that observed cross-cultural difference in critical thinking skills is related more to language ability rather than cultural variables. A significantly positive relationship between critical thinking skills and academic performance was found, and the relationship was not significantly different between Asian and New Zealand European student samples (Chapter 5). The relationship was also not different as a function of students' adoption of New Zealand culture, indicating that pedagogy with an emphasis on critical thinking is similarly applicable to both Asian and New Zealand European students. Overall, the present findings indicated that culture has an important influence on students' practice of critical thinking. Although there is cross-cultural difference in critical thinking skills between Asian and Western student samples, the difference appears to be related more to language ability rather than cultural factors. The present thesis provided empirical evidence to show that culture influences the educational practice of critical thinking, but the influence of culture does not necessarily impede the application of critical thinking instruction in international classrooms. With appropriate adaptation, critical thinking instruction can be beneficial to the intellectual development of students regardless of their cultural backgrounds.</p>

This study examined about the Critical Thinking in Teaching and Learning session among secondary school Tamil teachers. This research consists of two objectives. First objective is to identify the use of critical thinking in teaching and learning session among Tamil teachers. Second objective is to identify the techniques to implement critical thinking in teaching and learning among Tamil teachers. Researcher have been chosen an urban secondary school at Kuala Langat, Selangor as my research area for this research. Researcher includes five Tamil teachers consists of a senior assistant dan Two form two teachers and Two form four teachers as research's sample. The types of methods used to collect data were mix method such as Quantitative and Qualitative methods. Besides that, Interview, Questionnaire and also Observation analysis methods were used to analysis the data obtained in this research. Researcher have used Bloom’s Theory for better results in this research. By using Interview and Questionnaire instruments, researcher had collected data for the first objective while do observation for the second objective. Most of the teachers used I-Think maps and do Question & Answer (Q&A) session in Tamil teaching and learning session methods to improve critical thinking among the students. As a result, all 5 teachers implement the Critical Thinking in teaching and learning lesson of Tamil. Moreover, their knowledge toward Critical Thinking is very strong and the use various kind of ways to improve Critical Thinking such as Audio, Video, and most important I-Think Map and Q & A Session to voice out.

The relevance of the problem under consideration. In the process of training at the pedagogical university, the educational activities of future mathematics teachers should acquire the features of his professional activity, so in addition to mastering knowledge, must have the ability to control mental processes, justify, identify problems and find their own solutions, be able to defend their opinions, choice of elements of educational content and teaching methods in lesson design. These provisions intensify the problem of developing critical thinking of future mathematics teachers in the process of their professional training. The purpose of the study is to reveal ways to organize the process of professional training of future teachers of mathematics, which will contribute to the effective formation of their critical thinking in the study of professional mathematical disciplines. Research methods: theoretical: analysis, systematization and generalization of pedagogical and psychological research. Critical thinking is the most important component of the training of future mathematics teachers. Critical thinking of the teacher is generally defined as a type of evaluative thinking activity, based on the formed skills of a certain type, which contributes to the understanding of theoretical knowledge, translating them into practical activities and predicting results. Methods of training future teachers of mathematics, focused on the formation of critical thinking skills, includes the organization of the educational process based on involving students in active cognitive activities using various methods of working with information and development of specially designed sets of tasks.

This article reports on how design-based research methodology was used to guide a line of intervention research that developed, implemented, revised, and evaluated online learning science curricula for middle school students, including general education students and English language learners (primarily of Hispanic origin). The iterative, design-based research approach was carried out in two stages with multiple steps per stage: (a) stage 1, or informed exploration, identified and described the problem under investigation; and (b) stage 2, or enactment, redesigned previously developed online science units, implemented each unit in case studies, and completed a feasibility evaluation. The present paper focuses primarily on the second stage, demonstrating the process by which online science units were repeatedly refined with input from stakeholders, and then examined for their feasibility to implement, usefulness for helping teachers engage with students, and potential to effectively deepen science knowledge. Data were drawn from multiple sources, including teacher logs, student and teacher surveys, student notebooks, content assessments, and focus groups. Results indicate that the online science units were feasible to implement, usable, and helpful. The data-driven, design-based research methodology proved to be both practical and efficacious, and underscored the critical importance of involving all stakeholders in the process of curriculum creation and refinement. This work offers a model for the development of constructivist science instructional materials for English learners using online, multimedia technology.

Two realities in American education in the last decade have combined to dramatically affect the professional lives of teachers-a school population that is increasingly more diverse in its makeup, and a national agenda for accountability that requires attention to the achievement of all students. The changing demographics of American schools, particularly an increase in the number of students for whom English is a new language, is part of the national conversation in education. Growth in the number of linguistically diverse learners has increased rapidly across the nation, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest. During the period between 1995 and 2005 the national growth rate of the K-12 English language learner (ELL) population was 61% while the overall growth rate for all students enrolled in public schools was 2.6% (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (NCELA), 2006). During the same period in Minnesota, the location of programs discussed in this chapter, ELL growth was over 161%, outpacing the national growth trend significantly, while the state total K-12 enrollment decreased by 6.5% (NCELA, 2006). The number of foreign-born immigrants doubled in the 1990s, from 2.6% of the state population to 5.8%. Minnesota has long been a state that welcomes refugees, and the refugee population has always been a significant portion of Minnesota immigrants. Between 2000 and 2005, the state resettled 21,743 refugees. Minnesota ranked second among states in refugee immigrant arrivals in 2004-2006. The Hmong population in Minnesota (estimated at 60,000) is second in size only to the California Hmong population, and the state is now home to 30,000 Somali residents-the largest community of Somalis in the United States. More than 60,000 ELL students are currently enrolled in Minnesota schools, representing more than 110 different language groups. Minnesota’s growing numbers of ELL and refugee students present educators with new challenges. The increase in refugee students and the fact that many of them have little formal education before arriving in Minnesota coincided with the full introduction of Minnesota’s accountability system, developed under Title I, and the new accountabilityprovisions in Title III, the federal education program for ELL students. Sadly, as suggested by Ruiz-de-Velasco and Fix (2000), the needs of immigrants with “significant education gaps” are simply overlooked-and correspondingly, drop-out rates are very high. The growth of second language learners statewide has led to a gap in achievement between these learners and other students that is of concern to both educators and policy-makers. Are teachers prepared for these challenges? The impact of increasing numbers of second language learners on teachers ill-prepared to meet their needs is substantial in many communities (Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). The pressure to meet achievement goals for all subgroups of learners requires that individual teachers as well as schools take responsibility for learning outcomes demonstrated by English language learners-a direct contrast to the historical practice of leaving this work exclusively to ESL and bilingual specialists. The task has fallen to in-service education to provide opportunities for practicing content and grade-level teachers to develop the expertise to successfully teach ELLs. At the same time, colleges and universities are faced with the daunting task of preparing pre-service teachers to attend to these language learners in their future classrooms. What is required for effective teacher development in both pre-service and in-service settings? In this chapter we examine the challenges inherent in preparing both groups to meet the complex linguistic and academic needs of second language learners by describing two very specific models of engagement with educators. We first describe the structure and content of a course module on English language learners at the University of Minnesota designed specifically for different K-12 pre-service content area programs. Data from a cohort in science education provide a sense of the challenges and outcomes of this approach. We then describe a professional development initiative designed for elementary school staff that was site-based, collaborative, and long-term (two years). Finally, as teacher educators, we offer thoughts on what other teacher development programs can do to maximize efforts to improve teacher learning regarding the education of English language learners.

Introduction. Rupert Wegerif, Li Li, James C. Kaufman. Section 1: Theory, history and context of teaching thinking * Teaching for Thinking: Ethical Reasoning. Robert J. Sternberg * A Recent History of Teaching Thinking. Steve Higgins * Teaching Thinking: An Ideological Perspective. Yoram Harpaz * A Confucian perspective on teaching thinking in China. Li Li. * There's more to thinking than the intellect. Douglas P. Newton. Section 2: Approaches to teaching thinking * Tools for Inquiry: the role of thinking skills approaches in developing pedagogy as theory. Vivienne Baumfield. * How to improve thinking. P.N. Johnson-Laird * Thinking-Based Classroom Teaching Theory and Practice in China. Weiping Wei. * Philosophy for Children: Short and long term effects. K., J., Topping and S. Trickey. * Teaching for Successful Intellectual Styles. Li-fang Zhang. * The Prospects of Cognitive (Brain) Training as an Aid for Teaching Thinking. Oshin Vartanian and Erin L. Beatty. * Using an Informed Understanding of Styles to Enhance Learning and Teaching in 21st century Learning Environments. Carol Evans and Michael Waring. Section 3: Creativity and creative thinking * Possibility Thinking: from what is to what might be. Anna Craft * Promoting Creativity in Chinese Classrooms: An Examination Based on Educational Policies. Zhaocun Li, and Amber Lauren Johnston. * What we want impacts how we create: Creativity, motivation, and goals. James C. Kaufman, Roni Reiter-Palmon and Ryan Royston. * Integrating Knowledge Management into the Instruction of Creativity in a Blended Learning Environment. Yu-chu Yeh. * Teaching Creative Thinking in K12 Schools: Lingering Challenges & New Opportunities. Ronald A. Beghetto. * Thinking Creatively Across the Lifespan. Anna Hui. Section 4: Critical thinking and metacognition * Metacognition and teaching higher order thinking (HOT) in science education: Students' learning, teachers' knowledge and instructional practices. Anat Zohar and Sarit Barzilai. * Knowledge, disciplinarity and the teaching of critical thinking. Tim Moore. * Metacognitive Learning Environments: An approach to metacognition research. Shirley Larkin. * An Overview of Metacognitive Awareness and L2 Reading Strategies. Pingyu Liu and Li Li. * Thinking about metacognition improves thinking. Marcel V.J. Veenman. Section 5: The assessment of thinking * Do They Really Work? Evidence For The Efficacy Of Thinking Skills Approaches In Affecting Learning Outcomes: The Need For A Broader Perspective. Robert Burden. * Assessing Critical Thinking in Our Students. Heather A. Butler. * Assessing Creative Thinking: Practical Applications. Haiying Long and Jonathan A. Plucker. * Assessment for creative teaching and learning in disciplined improvisation. Vivian M. Y. Cheng. * A Model for the Assessment of Rational Thought and its Potential Operationalization. Richard F. West Keith E. Stanovich Section 6: Teaching thinking in STEM subjects * STEM Education and Problem-Based Learning Areej M. Adel El Sayary, Sufian A. Forawi, and Nasser Mansour * The Teaching and Learning of Probabilistic Thinking: Heuristic, Informal and Fallacious Reasoning. Egan J Chernoff and Bharath Sriraman. * Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education: The CASE for thinking through Science. Mary Oliver and Grady Venville. * Epistemic practices and thinking in science: fostering teachers' development in scientific argumentation. Sibel Erduran and Merce Garcia-Mila. * Teaching Engineers to Think Creatively: Barriers and Challenges in STEM Disciplines. David H Cropley. * Teaching Mathematics Creatively. Ai-Girl Tan Section 7: Teaching thinking through collaboration and new technology * Technology and teaching thinking: why a dialogic approach is needed for the 21st Century. Rupert Wegerif. * Catalyzing Collaborative Learning and Collective Action for Positive Social Change through Systems Science Education. Michael Hogan, Owen Harney and Benjamin Broome * Becoming a questioner in a philosophy class. Baruch B. Schwarz and Ben Zion Slakmon * Thinking, Interthinking, and Technological Tools. Simon Knight and Karen Littleton.

Gamification in English language learning comprises of game mechanics which involve points, badges, leader boards and rewards. It is one of the approaches that has been used by the educators to change the pace of lesson in learning English. This approach has been used in the class because of the benefits that it can offer in English language learning. This paper focuses on the use of gamification in English language teaching (ELT) and learning by looking at the advantages it has brought to language skills. Gamification can be used in the teaching of the different skills in English and in terms of its benefits to English language learning, gamification makes learning more effective by making grammar learning more pleasurable, vocabulary memorisation more successful, communication and cooperation easier to be practiced and others. It is hoped that this paper will add to the literature on the applications of gamification in ELT and lead to the betterment of ELT in second language setting particularly in Malaysia.

The article analyzes and compares Bloom's traditional and revised taxonomy, focusing on the cognitive domain and, in particular, on knowledge. A two–dimensional model of Bloom's revised taxonomy is proposed for consideration, since an interesting situation has developed in Kazakhstan education now - the hierarchy of cognitive skills is used from the classical taxonomy, while the concept of active verbs is already used from the revised one. We believe that it is necessary in this case to fully use the revised concept, and the article provides an example of a matrix for formulating educational goals. Particular attention is paid to the cognitive skill of application, which some classify as the lowest level of thinking, while others consider it the highest. The article suggests that this skill is transitional, echoing both levels. In addition, the article explores the relationship between critical thinking and Bloom's taxonomy in the context of teacher training. It is considered how the use of Bloom's taxonomy can contribute to the development of critical thinking in future teachers, and what advantages this may have in educational practice. The article provides a better understanding of the evolution of the taxonomy and descriptions of cognitive skills and abilities presented in Bloom's taxonomy, their role in the formation of competent teachers with the ability to think critically and effectively apply knowledge in the learning environment.

The continuous claim about the unsatisfactory performance of Malaysian graduates during interviews and at workplace in relation to their communication skills in English is alarming. This raises questions about the extent to which future workforce is prepared for this globalised world which requires them to interact and collaborate with individuals not only from their own country but also from other countries. At higher learning institutions, many English language educators face challenges in creating language learning environment that supports intercultural communication. In preparing future workforce for international communication, English language teaching and learning needs to go beyond the four walls of a classroom, over to other regions. An alternative to provide such language learning environment is by designing e-collaborative learning that provides opportunities for language learners to learn the language with students from other countries in a meaningful way. This paper showcases the impacts of e-collaborative English language learning conducted between engineering students of one technical university in Malaysia and one higher learning institution in Bordeaux, France for about one semester. At the end of the semester, the students from both countries wrote a reflection of their experience. The data from the reflective writing were analysed using thematic analysis to highlight the impacts of the e-collaborative learning on students' intercultural communicative competence. This study highlights key considerations to structure e-collaborative language teaching and learning among students of different regions.

Qatar is a Gulf state undergoing a sweeping educational reform where educational development is linked to ICT and the English language. ICT is promoted to upskill the future generation or the “digital natives”. English is seen as a key to a myriad of doors and a passport to a world class education. In all public schools, English is a compulsory subject taught from grade one where learners are exposed to English for more than 500 teaching hours every year. It is also the medium of instruction for maths and science. The purpose of my year-long study was to investigate the effectiveness of ICT in supporting the learning and teaching of English language in the Qatari context. It was guided by the critical paradigm and employed action research as the investigative methodology. The initial data collection process was carried out through a survey instrument. More than 200 students answered questions about their attitudes, perceived values, current uses and issues with ICT. The findings of the study have identified a number of challenges. One of which is the minimal support that ICT is providing to the teaching of the listening skill. An intervention programme was later designed in a form of a webquest lesson based on CLIL (content and language integrated learning) and informed by the survey findings, student’ voices and previous research in the field. After that, the intervention programme was trialed with two classes (n=50) and evaluated by qualitative (classroom observations) and quantitative instruments (questionnaires). Evidence from the evaluation data showed that ICT has the potential to support the teaching and learning of English language through its positive impact on autonomy and motivation. The results also revealed that teachers have limited knowledge of the potential of ICT and they could play an indirect role in impeding its use. This study has shown how action research, as a self-reflective inquiry, could broaden our understanding of the role of ICT in language classes. The study concluded that ICT-supported teaching of English in Qatar should be accompanied by a positive ICT culture, reflective research, proper staff training, teacher networking and supportive educational leadership.