Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking provides language teachers with a dynamic framework for encouraging critical thinking skills in explicit, systematic ways during their lessons. With the proliferation of fallacious arguments, "fake news," and untrustworthy sources in today's multimedia landscape, critical thinking skills are vital not only in one’s native language, but also when engaged in the task of language learning. Written with the language teacher in mind, this book provides a springboard for teaching critical thinking skills in multicultural, multilingual classrooms. Suitable for graduate students, in-training teachers, and language curriculum developers interested in purposeful applications of critical thinking pedagogy for the second-language classroom, this volume presents classroom activities, suggestions for lesson planning, and ideas for researching the impact of critical thinking activities with second-language learners. This book is ideal as an invaluable resource for teacher-directed classroom investigations as well as graduate dissertation projects. ELTons 2024 Finalist: Innovation in Teacher Resources. A detailed description of the book can be accessed trough this 30 second video: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AhpTIkQv9ubFgYAkZw_UYt6qg3mItw?e=DmqXaR

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements Part I From Research to Implications Introduction - What is Critical Thinking? A. Common Questions about Critical Thinking in English Language Teaching A.1 I’m a language teacher. Why should I be concerned about teaching critical thinking? A.2 Isn’t critical thinking something best taught in the students’ first language? A.3 My students are so unmotivated: How could ever I get them to study critical thinking? A.4 Isn’t critical thinking something that students pick up on their own as part of getting a good education? A.5 Aren’t we just forcing our students to adopt Western styles of thinking? A.6 Do you really need a book on critical thinking in ELT? B. Focusing on Critical Thinking B.1 Argumentation B.2 Logical fallacies B.3 Externalizing critical thinking through problem-solving C. Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to second language learners D. Implications Part II From Implications to Application Introduction Section 1: The Critical Thinking Cycle A. Developing Dispositions Activity 1: Prove it! Activity 2: Supporting opinions: The ‘why’ game Activity 3: Challenging beliefs Activity 4: Create a profile: Understanding biases Activity 5: Bias in news headlines B. Receiving Activity 6: Paying attention Activity 7: Show me you’re listening: Body language Activity 8: Show me you’re listening II: Backchanneling Activity 9: Picture what I’m saying Activity 10: Listen. Don’t interrupt! C. Reasoning Activity 11: Categorize it! Activity 12: Rank it! Activity 13: Persuade me! Activity 14: Spot the problem! Activity 15: Sloppy sophistry D. Responding Activity 16: Reflecting Activity 17: Summarize this Activity 18: Critical conversations Activity 19: Correct me! Activity 20: The critical thinking cycle: A review Section 2: Logical Fallacies A. Logical Fallacies: An Introduction Activity 21: Introduction to logical fallacies B. Logical Fallacies: Faulty Conclusions Non Sequitur Activity 22: Does it follow? Activity 23: Spot the non sequitur Activity 24: Non sequiturs in politics Probability Fallacy Activity 25: How probable? Activity 26: Drawing the conclusion Activity 27: Fearmongering with probability Begging the question Activity 28: Which is the better reason? Activity 29: Don’t beg the question! Activity 30: To beg or raise the question Post Hoc Fallacy Activity 31: Does A cause B? Activity 32: Fallacious connections Activity 33: Correlation not causation Hasty generalization Activity 34: All students in this class… Activity 35: Don’t be hasty! Activity 36: Everyday generalizations Single Cause Fallacy Activity 37: Many causes Activity 38: A popular restaurant Activity 39: How many causes? False Equivalence Activity 40: Comparing apples to oranges Activity 41: They’re not the same Activity 42: Wronger than wrong Sunk Cost Fallacy Activity 43: What should they do? Activity 44: Is it a good decision? Activity 45: What would you do? C. Logical fallacies: Questionable reasons Ad Hominem Activity 46: Don’t attack me! Activity 47: Attack the argument! Activity 48: Guilt by association Red Herring Activity 49: Avoiding the question Activity 50: Don’t distract me! Activity 51: Red herrings in politics Circular Reasoning Activity 52: Don’t go round in circles Activity 53: You gotta do what you gotta do! Activity 54: Is circular reasoning begging the question? Straw Man Activity 55: Don’t exaggerate! Activity 56: Family arguments Activity 57: Countering a straw man argument Either/Or Activity 58: The third option Activity 59: Either A or B but what about C? Activity 60: It’s not so black and white! Stacking the Deck Activity 61: Half the picture Activity 62: The full picture Activity 63: Fair play or stacking the deck? Equivocation Activity 64: Homonyms Activity 65: Changing the meaning Activity 66: Equivocation in politics Appeal to Emotion Activity 67: How does it make you feel? Activity 68: Be afraid, be very afraid Activity 69: So many emotions D. Logical Fallacies: Mistaken Assumptions Gambler’s Fallacy Activity 70: Heads or tails? Activity 71: Monte Carlo Activity 72: What would you do (Part 2)? Logical Paradox Activity 73: Is it a contradiction? Activity 74: The Abilene Paradox Activity 75: What’s the paradox? Unwarranted Assumptions Activity 76: Is it warranted? Activity 77: This morning’s assumptions Activity 78: What have the Romans ever done for us? Genetic Fallacy Activity 79: Which is the better reason? (Part 2) Activity 80: Who said it? Activity 81: Origins Common Belief Fallacy Activity 82: True or false Activity 83: Accept or reject Activity 84: The things we believed Slippery Slope Fallacy Activity 85: Negative chains Activity 86: Can I have a chocolate? Activity 87: Countering slippery slope arguments Ignorance Fallacy Activity 88: Evidence of no evidence? Activity 89: No evidence is no evidence! Activity 90: No evidence is evidence! Naturalistic Fallacy Activity 91: Is it good for us? Activity 92: What is to what ought to be! Activity 93: That’s just the way it is! Part III From Application to Implementation Introduction A. Creating a Critical Thinking Course A.1 Making your own CT course A.2 Negotiating a CT course B. Using the Activities to Supplement a Course C. Implementing Critical Thinking Activities into your Classroom C.1 Using the CT cycle activities as an introduction C.2 Using activity 21 as a needs analysis C.3 Using the logical fallacy activities C.4 Returning to the CT cycle C.5 Reflecting on learning C.6 Keeping a CT diary D. Going Beyond the Activities in the Book D.1 Researching CT D.2 Finding more fallacies D.3 Creating your own CT activities E. A Final Note Part IV From Implementation to Research Introduction A. Integrating Methodologies A.1 Action research A.2 Mixed methods research A.3 Putting it together B. The ‘PEAR’ Approach B.1 Progressive Exploratory Action Research B.2 Progressive Explanatory Action Research C. Final Caveats and Suggestions D. Making a Contribution E. Concluding Thoughts References Index