critical Thinking 121212

Doha Independent Preparatory School
English Department
Second Semester Project 2010 / 2011

FACTORS INFLUENCING

CRITICAL THINKING

IN THE ELT CONTEXT

Written by :

Ahmad Abdurrahman Khalid – English Teacher

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking is a very important skill for preparing successful citizens and students for a rapidly changing and challenging world. A prominent international language like English is very important for achieving critical thinking within the Qatari language education context. However, certain factors in the Qatari English language teaching (ELT) system influence the acquisition of English language, which in turn has its direct negative implications for the acquisition of critical thinking skills. These factors are the teachers, syllabus, assessment, and the non-ELT system.
This chapter hence critically discusses these four factors and attempts to draw conclusions about ways of incorporating critical thinking skills within the Qatari ELT context to produce better trained and prepared students who can contribute to their well-being and building modern Qatar .

INTRODUCTION

Critical thinking is a very important skill for the development of students. Its importance has been highlighted by many writers in the education literature. However, the literature on English language teaching (ELT) is short of publications that establish a link between English language and critical thinking and highlight the importance of English language as a fundamental tool for acquiring a vital skill like critical thinking.
Thus, while ELT in Qatar has been suffering from planning and implementation drawbacks over the past four decades or so , the incorporation of critical thinking has been more or less missing from the Qatari ELT classrooms for different reasons. Four factors are considered to impede using English and thinking about it critically in the Qatari ELT context. These are the teachers, syllabus, assessment,

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