Critical Thinking in an Academic Speaking Class for EFL Students

Bich-Phuong Thi NGUYEN

《Asian Journal of English Language Teaching》 29卷 (2020/12) Pp. 95-108

摘要

This article illustrates the design of an academic speaking class for second-year students majoring in English Language at a university in Vietnam. The speaking topic focuses on Plastic Pollution, a current burning issue on the globe with the ultimate goals of enhancing academic language skills, particularly speaking, sharpening critical thinking and autonomy among students, as well as raising awareness of the youth about environmental issues. This paper aims to present a sequence of activities in an academic speaking class for EFL learners to develop their ability to think critically, integrated with speaking skills, which commences with scaffolding via analyzing the reading materials and culminates in the generation of spoken and written products. This model of the speaking classroom is expected to be beneficial to English language teachers to employ innovative methods in their classrooms for the purpose of optimizing the effectiveness of learning.