EFL teacher beliefs in boosting students’ critical thinking

Alvina Zulfa  Kummala; Mirjam  Anugerahwati; Utari Praba  Astuti

doi:10.21070/jees.v7i1.1522

(1) * Alvina Zulfa Kummala Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang
Indonesia
(2) Mirjam Anugerahwati Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang
Indonesia
(3) Utari Praba Astuti Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang
Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v7i1.1522

Abstract

The urgency of teaching critical thinking skills to the students currently cannot be neglected. The teacher holds essential role to prepare them to have great soft skills for their future lives. No matter what they want to be or what discipline of knowledge they want to emphasize, the ability to think critically will be beneficial for them. Hence, this paper aims to dig up teacher beliefs about the notion of critical thinking and how to teach it to the students. This research focused on EFL teachers of secondary level in Indonesia, particularly in Malang. By utilizing questionnaire and interview to collect the data, the results demonstrated that: (1) there are 85% of respondents believe in the importance of teaching critical thinking skills in secondary school area. (2) EFL teachers believed that it is very crucial for the teachers themselves to have the ability to think critically before teaching to their students, (3) they believed that by providing numerous activities such as debate, avoiding ‘lecturing’, problem solving and others could boost the students’ thinking skills.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Teachers have strong beliefs in the importance of critical thinking skills for the students
Teachers should have the competence to think critically at first time
Teachers should have the ability to provide various activities that can train the students to be critical thinkers.

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Author Biographies

Alvina Zulfa Kummala, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang

Alvina Zulfa Kummala, English Language Teaching, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. She is currently pursuing her master degree in Universitas Negeri Malang, majoring at English Language Teaching. She got her bachelor degree of English Literature in UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang. Forthwith, she is passionate on investigating critical thinking, teacher professional development, topics in linguistics and cultural studies. During her life as Master students, she dedicates herself to teach the students in MTs Negeri Batu, Malang.

Mirjam Anugerahwati, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang

Dr. Mirjam Anugerahwati, English Language Teaching, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. She got her master degree of Applied Linguistics in University of Queensland, Australia. Additionally, she continued in Doctoral Program of English language Teaching in Universitas Negeri Malang. Her expertise is in the field of Cross-Cultural Understanding, Character Building, and Curriculum Development. She is currently teaching in Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. She energetically produces numerous articles or book chapter and coach teachers to have betterment in teaching.

Utari Praba Astuti, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang

Dr. Utari Praba Astuti, English Language Teaching, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. She is one of the lectures in Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. Her areas of teaching are Grammar, Reading, TEFL, EYL. Furthermore, TEFL, Materials Development, and Teachers Professional Development are her interest of research. She flourishingly accomplished her master program in University of London, and doctoral program in Universitas Negeri Malang. She has as huge enthusiasm in creating a number of articles as well as book chapter.

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