PRACTICAL

STRATEGIES FOR

CRITICAL THINKING

IN COMMUNICATION Eva Fanjanirina ANDRIANARIVO

English Teaching Program (E.T.P.) Antananarivo Madagascar

TESOL 2013 – Dallas, Texas

STRATEGIES

Before

OBJECTIVES

Critical Thinking in Communication

Raise multi-cultural

understanding and awareness of

global issues.

Motivate students to be responsible for their learning and think deeply

about the content.

Stimulateintercultural

communication. Use concrete

examples ; Illustrate abstract

concepts

Cover content in such a way that

students grasp and retain more and

achieve academic success.

STUDENTS and

TEACHER’S

ROLES

Students’ Roles

.

Teacher’s Roles

CONTENT AREAS

DEVELOP VOCABULARYFRAYER MODEL AEDR 518

Definition

Examples Non-examples

Facts/Characteristics

WorksheetsWorks.com

CRITICAL THINKING

SKILLS

ANALYZE

EVALUATE

CREATE

REMEMBER

UNDERSTAND

APPLY

COGNITIVE

DOMAIN(Bloom, Krathwohl and

Anderson)

ACADEMIC

SKILLS

COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY

• LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

• VOCABULARY and CONTENT

• STRUCTURE and GRAMMAR

CHOICE OF

MATERIALS

Curriculum

Content-based

Authentic

Interesting

During

COMMUNICATION

ACTIVITIES

Summarize: Who … What happened?When … Where …How much … How many …Summarize the passage in your own words.

Unscramble the main events in the passage .List out the main facts in the passage.Fill in the blanks with appropriate words from the passage.Connect ideas from the passage using conjunctions / subordinators.

How … Why … ?What caused … Justify.What are the impacts of …?What do you think could happen if …?Compare and Contrast facts from the passage to other realities (in your community / country) or personal experiences

If … occurs then, what will happen?If you were …, what would you do? What could / would have happened if … had not + P.P.?What measures were taken to solve the problem of …? What measures do you think should have been taken? How would you approach the same problem?

What are the advantages of …What are the good things about …What are the problems with …What are the disadvantages of …What are the worst thing about …?How do you feel about …?

Is the solution effective or ineffective?What should have been done earlier?What are your points of view …?Do you agree or disagree?how do you know that someone is good (or bad) at sth?

Remember

Analyze

Evaluate

What does … mean? What does it imply?What made s/he decide to…?Why did s/he … ?What could have caused …?

What could have happened earlier?What may happen next?Why did s/he said that …?What was meant when s/he said that …?If … occurred, what would happen?

Use the key words to report about realities in another community / countryChange the beginning of the passage.Change the ending of the passage.Change the cause / effects / solutions stated in the passage.

Remove parts of the passage (beginning, turning point, ending, solution,…) and imagine what it could be. Draw conclusions.

Infer

Apply

Create

After

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PARAMETERSTo evaluate students’ performance during the discussion. To assess ability to interact in

English, handle questions, support opinions, clarify points of view.

PARAMETER RUBRIC CREDITS /15

Participation - Little participation- Adequate participation- Large participation

012

Pronunciation comprehensibility

-Many errors – Interferes with understanding- Few consistent errors but comprehensible- Comprehensible and clear

012

Vocabulary: breadth and precision of usage

-Limited, inadequate, inaccurate, unable to rephrase-Use frequent circumlocution- Adequate, less frequent circumlocution- Extensive, appropriate, accurate usage

0123

Content -Limited arguments – Irrelevant support- Adequate supporting arguments -Appropriate and enough supporting arguments with examples

123

Structure and Grammar

-Major structural errors - Incorrect utterances- Definite structural problems – Correct utterances- Minor structural errors – Many utterances correct- Very good control – Most utterances correct

0123

Fluency -Speech halting and fragmentary – Long unnatural pauses- Less frequent hesitation with some incomplete sentences-Quite fluent – Natural and continuous speech

012

REFERENCES

- Carol B. MacKnight. “Teaching Critical Thinking through Online Discussions.”

- http://www.accessexcellence.org/LC/TL/buchanan/

- “Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies.”

- Professor Vernellia R. Randall. “Bioterrorism, Public Health and the Law. Law 801:

Health Care Law Seminar. Questions and Critical Thinking. »

- Frayer Model AEDR 518. « Concept Definition Map. »

- “Activities to promote Interaction and Communication.”

- Andrianarivo Fanjanirina Eva. “Guidelines for Effective Reading Discussion.”

TESOL 2012. Slideshare