Abstract
Critical thinking skills are key components of knowing and learning English First Additional Language (EFAL). Mastering critical thinking skills boosts learners’ confidence and improves their thinking ability. The purpose of this study is to explore the teaching of short stories as a resource to develop Grade 11 EFAL learners’ critical thinking skills. A qualitative approach was employed to draw responses from all the participants. Ten learners and three EFAL paper two teachers were purposefully sampled from a secondary school in the Bochum East circuit. The researcher collected data using observation method, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. Teachers and learners were interviewed and short story lessons were observed while the assessment activities given to learners were analyzed. The collected data was analyzed using thematic data analysis method. The findings indicate that critical thinking can be promoted during an EFAL paper two lessons through asking open-ended questions that will lead learners to share their knowledge, opinion, and views or come up with a solution of a given problem. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers integrate all levels of cognitive questions from Bloom’s Taxonomy and allow learners to be active participants during the lesson rather than relying on the teacher's knowledge and understanding. This study contributes to scholarship by positioning short stories as dynamic tools for developing learners’ critical thinking skills and enhancing both theoretical understanding and classroom practice in English language and literature education.
Introduction
Critical thinking (CT) skills have been recognized as one of the most crucial skills and the most important indicators of learners’ learning quality (Bean, 2011). Lenin (2019) states that the world requires learners to sharpen their CT skills to remain relevant to the educational needs of their time. According to Pardede (2019), the use of literature in English Classrooms Literary works (poetry, drama, and fiction) have long been used in First Additional Language (FAL) classrooms. Many researchers (Abudlridha & Latiff, 2020; Calafato, 2023; Hemalatha & Kumari, 2020; Kumar, 2022; Motlhaka & Jore, 2022) advocate for the use of literature in the classroom as it provides authentic materials, offers meaningful input, improves linguistic knowledge, increases language awareness, enhances communicative competence, develops interpretive skills, promotes cultural understanding, facilitates CT and creativity, and stimulates social development in learners. Yusuf (2019) states that through reading literature, learners learn how to demonstrate their abilities to remember, differentiate facts from opinions, understand the literal and implied meanings, be perceptive and make moral reasoning, and finally connect and apply what they have learned from the texts to other domains or real-life situations (Abudlridha & Latiff, 2020). This allows learners to relate what they are learning to their real-life situation or what they have observed in their communities, which makes it easy for learners to comprehend what they are reading and make meaning out of it. In support of the above statement, Solnyshkina (2022) affirms that CT has been developed through Bloom's taxonomy and focuses the most on knowledge transfer, which refers to the students’ capacity to utilize the knowledge they acquired in class with real life. In other words, through this capacity of transferring knowledge and thinking critically, the learners can appreciate the target culture and compare it with their own; they become determined from whose perspective the story is narrated and how to react in real-life situations which are similar to the once the characters face in the literary text.
Alsaleh (2020) states that CT skills can be developed through teaching literature using cognitive skills. He affirms that learners can develop CT through teaching and coaching to master CT reading, writing, speaking, and listening effectively. This can be done through asking learners all cognitive-level questions, such as lower to higher order questions, which develop their thinking abilities. Therefore, this can be developed through dialogue as the teacher can pause a question while learners are reading, which will allow them to think and share their thoughts and opinions.
Pardede (2019) states that it is very effective, interesting, and advantageous to use fiction to promote CT in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom context. It is effective because the nature of fiction provides many opportunities for the reader to respond, question, and analyze critically. This literary genre is close to the students’ lives because using fiction as the medium of CT development is interesting. It is advantageous due to two notable points. First, since the students actively employ their CT skills and study individually and in a group in turn during the learning process, they not only develop their CT but also master the novel, develop their English proficiency. Second, they critically draw conclusions from literary works, and these can be applied in the students’ daily lives. Palacio and Digo (2024) state that the main reason for teaching CT skills is to promote learners’ language learning opportunities and expand their language awareness. Most importantly, teaching CT skills promotes learners’ personal intellectual growth through perceiving and appreciating the rich literacy world around them. Despite the fact that literature plays an important role in the reading process, the literature in a South African context reveals that learners continue to struggle. Madikiza et al. (2018) affirm that teachers neglect CT skills in their teaching, which could be attributed to a lack of knowledge or they are not taught during their teacher training.
As an English First Additional Language (EFAL) literature teacher, my observation based on teaching short stories is that most learners depend on teachers for knowledge and information, while teachers’ objectives seem to be striving to cover the syllabus on time, without concern about the progress learners are making as far as their CT skills acquisition is concerned. Snyder et al. (2019) concur that several researchers found that the current education system focuses on the standardized curriculum and assessment while ignoring teachers’ ability to teach CT skills. This may result in learners failing to answer open-ended questions on a short story they have read, where they are perhaps required to provide a critical reflection on the short story. The gap in the studies that have been conducted is the integration of CT while covering the syllabus and ensuring that learners have understood the context and they are able to relate it with their life situations. It is crucial that South African teachers master CT skills when teaching literature in order to assist learners in developing CT skills. Therefore, the study aims to explore how short stories can be a useful resource in promoting CT skills when teaching English FAL, and learners must be able to develop CT skills while learning all the aspects they need to master when learning literature. Alsaleh (2020) states that it is important to teach CT skills when teaching literature to enhance learning quality and allow learners to develop the skills of being critical when learning or studying. Besides, the main aim of Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement is to produce learners who are able to identify, solve problems, and make decisions using critical and creative thinking (DBE, 2014). It is crucial for learners to learn CT skills at the school level, so that they can apply them later at the tertiary level and in real-life situations. Teachers play a role in delivering the curriculum and ensuring that there is effective teaching and learning within South African classrooms when teaching EFAL literature. The main role that teachers should play in the classroom is to promote learners’ CT skills and create good citizens who can solve problems on their own. Therefore, this study is of utmost importance to be conducted because it will give teachers an insight into how to promote CT skills while covering the syllabus.
Research Problem
The researcher's experience of teaching EFAL literature has shown that learners who are taught in Grade 11 EFAL classrooms do not think critically and solve problems because they think that it is their teachers’ responsibility to critically analyze the short stories. Velasquez (2018) states that many researchers agree that it is crucial to integrate CT skills in a lesson. There is a huge gap in short story teaching as lessons are teacher-centered and do not promote discussion, which develops CT skills. In support of the above statement, Simango's (2019) study reveals that lessons are teacher-centered, which results in the non-existence of learners’ engagement with the content. Moreover, during a short story teaching lesson, learners read and teachers ask simple follow-up questions, instead of asking questions based on the content of the question. Consequently, the learners’ responses show comprehension of basic facts about the short story, not critical engagement with content.
Literature Review
Challenges Teachers Face When Teaching CT
Mok and Yuen (2016), Saleh (2019), and Shpeizer (2018) stated that the main challenges that teachers are facing are that they have a vague concept of CT and the discrepancy in understanding of CT, which may lead to learners’ poor CT performance. Within this perspective, Gandana et al. (2021) reveal that teachers have not acquired adequate knowledge and practice in teaching CT, which makes it difficult for them to integrate it into their teaching and learning. In support of the above findings, Ilyas (2018) states that teachers are all familiar with the term “critical thinking” and the concepts related to Bloom's Taxonomy although they still have difficulties in transforming their critical thinking, which suggests a diverse conception and implementation of CT (Saleh, 2019). Therefore, it is crucial for learners to develop CT, but without rigorous training for teachers, it is very unlikely that there will be a significant change in learners’ critical ability and disposition as expected. Lai (2011) asserts that schools do not encourage the development of higher order thinking skills, which leads learners to learn only to recall what they are taught and not think out of the box. Zainudi et al. (2019) further found that learners are afraid of making mistakes in class during a lesson, which leads them to shy away from voicing out their own views. This may lead to teachers failing to acknowledge that learners are having difficulties thinking critically when they are given a problem. Ruano (2021) contends that the most challenging factor that teachers are facing is that CT demands time and which they do not have as they are expected to cover the content and finish the syllabus. Therefore, investing too much in CT development might cause problems with other teachers and stakeholders.
The Importance of Teaching CT Skills
Hove (2011) asserts that the ability to think critically is an essential life skill. The study reveals that explicit instruction and practice of CT strategies in high school classroom can improve students’ academic performance. Adopting CT strategies can also prepare learners for the rigours of college, as well as helping them develop the skills necessary to compete economically in a global environment. Diamante et al. (2024) studied the teaching of literature for CT in a secondary school and found that learners’ conceptualization of the context of a short story could be an effective tool in making learners aware of the role of literature in society. The results show that learners were able to identify themes in the short story because they were able to relate with the short story through their knowledge of the history of South African politics. This indicated that learners did not simply consider literature as entertainment, but they saw it as having a special role to play in society. This took place after being introduced to CT through the sequence of CT tasks. Palacio and Digo (2024) supports the above findings that teaching literature in the classroom not only exposes learners to new cultures, but it also provides them with the opportunity to visualize and relate it to real-life situations or contexts. Uddin (2019) agrees that the application of critical pedagogy in the classroom enhances learners’ awareness of the learning and development of their CT abilities. The preliminary review of literature presented above has revealed that although CT is regarded as effective, it is often the missing link in the teaching of literature in the South African school context because teachers and learners are in a hurry to finish the syllabus. The research gap that the study has identified is the lack of integration of content and CT, which appears to be one of the challenges teachers face in the teaching of short stories.
Theoretical Framework
The study employed critical pedagogy as a theoretical framework for guiding and supporting the study based on the assumption that classroom teaching must always awake the values of social justice and equality in learners’ intelligence. Critical pedagogy was established by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator who was against oppression and sought to employ education as a weapon against oppression. The critical pedagogy's purpose is to explore the idea of students actually being able to create their own thoughts and views of the world (Nkealah & Simango, 2023). Under critical pedagogy, the researcher used critical literature pedagogy (CLP) theory because it relates to literature learning, as the study is based on the teaching short story. According to Uddin (2019) and Motlhaka (2016), critical pedagogy is the most crucial teaching strategy designed to strengthen the awareness of learners about justice and social equality while improving their knowledge. Therefore, it is crucial for teachers to promote CT in their teaching by allowing learners to debate through a problem posed or discuss a topic given rather than being spoon-fed and made to believe that teachers have substantive knowledge. In this study, critical pedagogy is complemented by CLP theory to allow learners not only to think out of the box but also to read with understanding. CLP theory values two alternative stances of reading and responding to a literary text, reading with and against a text (Afifuddin & Kadarisman, 2020). In line with this view, reading with a text involves being familiar with approaching or understanding the storyline, analyzing literacy relating to real-life situations and understanding historical context and developing thematic interpretation. This theory is based on the emphasis that learners must not just read a short story and consider only what is written, but get the hidden message that is not written, which still accounts for the way the story works, characters, functions, and how readers come to know and comprehend the world. Therefore, through discussion and open-ended questions, learners can learn the figurative meaning the author is sending to the readers, which allows them to relate it to real-life situations. This theory is suitable for this study because it enabled learners to be open-minded and relate literary texts to their real-life experiences by linking the themes and morals portrayed by the short stories to their real-life situations. Uddin (2019) remarks that CLP promotes deep thinking and engagement related to reading against the text for critical literacy, which leads to stronger skills related to reading with understanding. The role of CLP in this study is to encourage teachers to promote CT, as in previous studies, it was found that the incorporation of critical pedagogy and CT positively nurtures learners’ ability to question and think critically in the construction of knowledge. This theory revolves around the present and future of our young generation as they need to be critical thinkers in order to resolve problems with an in-depth understanding, and they must be allowed to showcase their views and understanding rather than to rely on what they are taught.
Research Methodology
The study seeks to explore the teaching of short stories as a resource to develop Grade 11 EFAL learners’ CT skills. Research questions guiding the study were as follows:
This study used a qualitative research approach as it allowed the researchers to interact with participants to hear their views regarding promoting CT through the use of short stories. The sample of this study reflects the broader cultural diversity of learners from the Bochum East Circuit in the Capricorn North District with Sepedi people being the dominant group, alongside other significant groups like the Venda and Tsonga communities, each with distinct languages and traditions. Sepedi Home Language is the most spoken language in in Bochum East Circuit, Capricorn North District, followed by Xitsonga Home Language and Tshivenda Home Language. Therefore, the sample is representative of learners from diverse cultures because Bochum East Circuit, Capricorn North District, is characterized by a mix of cultures and languages, with Sepedi, Tshivenda, and Xitsonga being languages spoken in the region. The researchers used a simple random sampling, which allowed them to sample participants based on subjective judgment of their potential to generate the kind of data required to answer the research questions more appropriately. The study adopted simple random sampling because there is a large number of learners in Grade 11, and it is impossible for the researchers to give them all the opportunity to participate. There are 302 Grade 11 learners, and they are allocated according to their level of performance from A to E classes, and each class contains 60 learners. The A class is populated with learners with poor performance, while the C class is populated with top-performing learners. Therefore, the researcher wrote 60 pieces of papers and folded them. Ten were written “YES” while 49 were written “NO.” Learners who picked up a piece paper and those who picked up yes formed part of the study.
Data Collection and Analysis
This study employed three different data collection instruments, namely: observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The researchers believe that using multiple data collection instruments will help establish whether teachers apply critical pedagogy in their teaching of literature or not. In addition, this may also reveal the nature of questioning or lesson design that gets Grade 11 learners into learning through problem-solving techniques, aligned with the literature. The observation focused on how teachers teach short stories and whether learners are given opportunities to engage critically with the contents of the short stories. The researcher also observed the kind of questions that learners are asked, as to whether they promote CT skills through an open dialogue where learners share their views and opinions. The researchers interviewed both learners and teachers on the importance of learning CT skills through short stories. The researchers also used document analysis, which is a systematic procedure for evaluating documents, both printed and electronic. This study used document analysis to analyze question papers that learners responded to, as a tool to determine if teachers promote CT or they primarily use order questions. For example, learners were given a task to assess the short story individually and determine if they were able to apply their CT skills when writing application, evaluating, analyzing, and discussing questions that test their CT abilities. All the questions assessed if they engaged them in reflecting and thinking critically about the stories they were given to read, and this should be done without the help of the teacher. Inductive coding was suitable for this study because it allowed the researcher to make codes based on the responses received from interviews and observation. It also allowed the researchers to break down collected data into smaller samples, which makes it easy for readers to read and comprehend the findings. The thematic data analysis was employed to analyze data collected using focus group interviews. Researchers used the following six steps of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006):
Familiarization with the data
Researchers immersed themselves in the data by reading transcripts, notes, or other data sources multiple times and focusing on understanding the meanings and patterns within the data, rather than looking for specific themes at this stage. Generating initial codes
Researchers identified interesting features of the data and assigned a concise label (a code) to them and captured the core idea of the data excerpt. Searching for themes
Researchers collated codes and looked for recurring patterns or connections and grouped codes that share similar meanings into potential themes. Reviewing themes
Researchers evaluated the potential themes to see if they are coherent, distinct, and well-supported by the data. Researchers revised, merged, or discarded themes as needed to ensure they effectively represent the data's meanings. Defining and naming themes
Researchers clearly defined the essence of each theme, explaining its nuances and significance and assigned a concise and descriptive name to each theme. Producing the report
Researchers wrote up your findings, including a coherent narrative that links themes to research questions and used illustrative quotes from the data to support the description and interpretation of each theme.
This qualitative data analysis method enabled the researchers to systematically organize and analyze data by identifying themes through careful reading and re-reading of the transcribed data. The method also helped the researchers to produce insightful and trustworthy findings that clearly indicate the challenges faced by teachers in teaching short stories.
Discussion of the Findings
The study seeks to explore the teaching of short stories as a resource to develop Grade 11 EFAL learners’ CT skills. The following themes emerged from semi-structured interviews and were discussed during the analysis of data.
Responses from Teachers
The data describes the common challenges that learners have in the process of learning a short story and how CT can be promoted while learning a short story in EFAL at school X in Capricorn district in Limpopo province in South Africa. The challenges that lead to a lack of CT by learners as well as methods that teachers find effective in promoting CT were highlighted. The responses are presented according to research questions as indicated below:
What Leads Learners to Lack CT Skills?
This question is meant to unearth teachers’ observations in terms of learners’ difficulty in mastering CT skills, as it is the root of the problem that makes learners to rely on the teacher and lack having their own opinion. Fadhlullah and Ahmad (2017) state that the cause of learners lacking CT is that the education system emphasizes the “teaching to test” approach, which distracts the process of learner-centered instruction but focuses more on the emphasis of the content. The respondents stated the following to explain the reasons that lead to learners’ lack of CT skills:
Excerpt 1 Learners are usually given questions that just require them to apply the first and second levels of questions, which are usually, recall type of questions. They are not taught critical thinking skills. This, at times leads them to fail in responding to open ended question during examination as their informal assessment does not include such questions.
Excerpt 2 If learners are lazy to read, are not curious and do not explore, then that may lead to their lack critical thinking skills.
Excerpt 3 Teaching methods and strategies play a crucial role in terms of how learners receive knowledge and respond to information imparted by the teacher in the classroom during lessons for example, if a teacher practices teacher-centred approach all the time in the classroom, eventually learners grow weak in terms of brain muscles as they become too reliant on the teacher in almost everything.
The findings also indicate that learners do not have the foundation of reading, which results in lack of curiosity and exploration, thus they tend to rely on the teacher's knowledge and understanding, which leads them to failing to accumulate CT. In support of the above statement, Hall and Morris-Compton (2018) state that studies have revealed that low confidence and practice level of learners is one of the factors that contribute to learners’ low reading abilities in schools, as learners are not in a position to try and practice reading and are also not prepared in class to try answering comprehension questions.
What Challenges Are Experienced by Learners Who Are Taught CT Skills?
This question is meant to reveal the challenges that learners face when they are taught CT skills. These challenges not only affect them academically but even in the future when they will be trying to build their lives. The respondents stated the following to explain the challenges learners experience when they are taught CT skills:
Excerpt 1 Learners struggling with answering or responding to some questions that require in-depth understanding of the literature genre they are studying as they don’t have basic knowledge on how they must tackle questions and identify the moral of the short story, the themes and figures of speech. So, when they are not taught or led on how to read questions with understanding, it leads to them to depend on the teacher's information all the time and by doing so they are not developing to become critical thinkers and they will always rely on the teacher's notes.
Excerpt 2 The learners became narrow-minded, they are not inquisitive and that prevents them from relating to their experiences, reasoning and common sense.
Excerpt 3 Learners were taught to depend on a teacher at primary level as most of the time they were given notes without them having a deep understanding of what they are reading about which led them to become too reliant on teachers. Therefore, when they are now taught critical thinking skills they find it difficult to observe and analyse information as well as to draw conclusions on certain information or data on their own since they don’t have background knowledge of working on their own.
As a Literature Teacher, How Are You Assisting Learners to Develop CT While Teaching a Short Story?
This question is meant to reveal how teachers integrate the development of CT skills in their short story lessons while completing the syllabus. This will assist learners not only to accumulate knowledge but also to improve their thinking ability. Alsaleh (2020) notes that CT is a learned skill that is developed through practice and continually engaging learners into active learning:
Excerpt 1 Providing a platform for learners to discuss their own point of view on the plot of a short story individually in a form of literature long questions would enable them to be self-reliant in terms of formulating and drawing up their conclusion as well as making judgements of characters including situations in a short story which require critical thinking. This will assist learners to develop critical thinking in a lesson based on short stories.
Excerpt 2 I ensure that every learner participates by having turns to read the short story, responding to questions and bringing their personal experiences in relation to the story. I will also test their ability to respond to open-ended questions by posing question while reading the short story and after reading so that they know how they are supposed to respond to questions.
Excerpt 3 As a teacher I can assist learners by creating questions which require them to give their own views about the story they have read. They give their own opinion and evaluate the genre they have read. They must not only read for understanding but also learn to relate what they are reading to their experience.
How Can Short Stories Be Used as Teaching Resource That Promotes CT Skills?
This question sought to establish the best method that teachers use in class to promote CT skills while covering the syllabus. Short stories or any other literature genres can be the best resources if they are used wisely to promote CT skills while covering the content. This question is meant to find ways how best short stories can be used to assist learners in developing CT skills as indicated below:
Excerpt 1 The themes in the short stories can be related to real life experiences. Therefore, if learners are asked questions that require them to identify the themes and their opinion towards the moral and themes of the short story, it will allow them to acquire critical thinking skills. Secondly, if learners are asked open-ended questions, which will allow them to share their understanding and debate through their different opinions towards the short story.
Excerpt 2 In the analysis of a short story, we focus on the plot by going through the plot. Learners may develop the ability to enhance their critical thinking skills. Secondly, by incorporating other aspect such as tittle, themes, figures of speech and characterisation that may also evoke such a skill.
What Type of Questions Should Be Asked During a Lesson to Evoke CT?
This question is meant to discover the kind of questions that can be asked to assist learners develop CT. Not all the questions that teachers ask during lesson may lead to debate or discussion as some may want learners to recall what they have learnt. Therefore, it is crucial for teachers to be knowledgeable of the kind of questions they must use or ask learners that will evoke CT skills as indicated below:
Excerpt 1 Questions such as “Technology makes people less social. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons why you agree or disagree and homework is necessary for learner success. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.” asked during a lesson trigger learners' critical thinking and help them to go beyond memorising facts and instead analyse, evaluate, and apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Excerpt 2 Open-ended questions stretch learners’ minds and compel them to dig deeper in order to get answers. With regards to questions on figures of speech, some learners can pick up figures of speech, however they fail to substantiate their answer. Therefore, if we as teachers drill learners to identify and substantiate how the figure of speech is used it will assist them to become critical thinkers.
Responses from Learners
What Kind of Challenges Are You Facing When Reading a Short Story?
The most crucial information is to identify the challenges learners are facing that prompted the researcher to begin the study. The first question of this study is intended to unearth the aspects learners are struggling with when reading a short story that become barriers in their learning. Most of the time, teachers discover that after reading the short story, learners still find it difficult to respond to questions as indicated below:
Excerpt 1 I don’t understand bombastic words. Since primary, I only did junior English, so it is hard for me to adjust to the English I’m doing now. I always feel like short stories are too long and I get lost trying to figure out the theme or what exactly is happening in the story.
Excerpt 2 I am having a challenge of not understanding the title of the short story. Which means that when I come across words which are challenging, I find it difficult to comprehend? Also understanding or identifying the moral of the short story is one of the most challenging thing, especially when you are failing to comprehend the short story starting from the tittle.
Excerpt 3 Pronunciation of words that I am not familiar with often leads to confusion that makes me stammer. Another challenge will be of sounding out words, speed and also decoding problems and language limitation. A very difficult reading text leads to faulty concentration habits.
The findings further state that reading in any language plays a vital role in the educational system and social lives although if it is not understood it poses a great challenge to the learners, teachers, and parents since learners may lack required exposure to the proper enabling environment, social milieu, and peers well-versed in linguistic abilities (Mohammed & Jamal, 2021). Gilakjani and Sabouri (2016) support the finding as they state that learners have difficulties in listening comprehension because schools pay more attention to writing, reading, and vocabulary. Nuraeni et al. (2024) state that grammar is also one of the reasons for students being inactive in the class interaction because lack of basic knowledge makes them silent and afraid of giving their opinion because they focus excessively on grammar, which is producing unnatural language. This fact appears as the result of lack of opportunities for non-English background students to practice the target language outside formal institution. This result has some similarities with a study in EFL learners conducted by Al-Roud (2016) who found that one of the factors hindering students from being active in speaking was the linguistic domain due to the fact that they felt incapable to utter their ideas orally.
Briefly Explain Your Challenges When Responding to Open Questions
This question aims to unearth learners’ challenges when responding to higher order questions as they are mostly the questions that promote CT as they allow learners to think out of the box and share their opinions and their views about the short story they have read. If the learners fail to comprehend the question, then it becomes difficult for them to know how to respond to the question as indicated below:
Excerpt 1 Lack of understanding of the question or text read often leads to disbelief of the answers I think they are correct and sometimes I end up leaving empty spaces because I don’t understand what I am supposed to write. So, in most cases, I find that I had a very different analysis of the story and as a result, my answers tend to be exponentially wrong to the actual meaning of the text.
Excerpt 2 Most of the time I overthink simple questions, because I think there's a deeper meaning to the questions, then I end up answering them incorrectly. Because I’m always looking for the figurative meaning even if the question is simple and straight forward to the text/ short story. Sometimes I answer questions or go about out of context.
Excerpt 3 The problem is that the question might be asked in a manner that is difficult for me to comprehend and this makes it to become more complicated as I wouldn’t know what is expected from me and how I should tackle the question.
How Will It Disadvantage You as a Learner If You Are Not Taught CT Skills?
This question is meant to reveal the consequences learners may encounter if they are not taught the CT skills. The purpose of this question is to gather all the disadvantages they are facing, which will assist us to come up with solutions:
Excerpt 1 Without good analysis and interpretation skills, it is less likely that I will find ways of answering higher order question or questions related to the text read but just want an opinion of yours. So as a result, I will never manage to find meaning of what I shall be reading.
Excerpt 2 I won’t be able to be opening minded, I will view the world and things as one thing and not look at other perspective. My responses to the question will be vague and not really give fact when responding to the question.
Excerpt 3 You will not be able to differentiate and judge ideas because you lack critical thinking skills. You will also take any opinion or some views instead of actually thinking about the pros and cons of the problem or questions.
What Do You Think Teachers Can Do to Help You Improve Your Thinking Ability When Learning Short Stories?
This question is meant to reveal what learners think teachers can do to assist them in improving their thinking abilities, as indicated below:
Excerpt 1 When learning short stories, teachers can stop learners as the story is still being read and ask them about their perspective relating to the end of the story. This way learners improves their forecast thinking skill as well as learning to analyse as well as interpreting ideas.
Excerpt 2 Questions that are asked to learners after they have completed reading a short story should not only be limited to the content of the story like names of characters, their relation and where they resided, they should ask questions that relate to today's world and the mindset needed to survive in it based on the moral of the story.
Excerpt 3 They can assist learners to develop interest to comprehend and enjoy the short story asking them follow up questions or give them a picture and ask them to evaluate the picture. They could also teach creative writing, encourage learners to read more, for instance, find short stories or novel for learners and allow them to read and after ask them questions about what they have read. They could also give learners quiz regularly to strengthen their thinking abilities.
Conclusion
The study on CT revealed challenges and way to overcome those challenges that cause learners to lack CT skills. This study unearthed quite a number of barriers such as learners failing to comprehend the short stories because of the bombastic words they come across when they are reading a short story and responding to open-ended questions. This leads learners to leave blank spaces, especially for questions that need them to justify, evaluate, and substantiate their responses. In addition, teachers showed that open-ended questions can assist learners to be critical thinkers when they are writing an assessment. Therefore, this study concludes that literature genres, including short stories, can play a vital role in promoting CT skills through allowing learners to be involved in the lesson and posing question that will allow them to debate or discuss their views and opinions.
The study recommends that teachers must ensure that during the lesson, they consider all the learning styles and allow the lesson to be learner-centered. Therefore, learners are encouraged to read more short stories, books, and novels so that they can be more knowledgeable about the bombastic terms that normally pose challenges in their understanding of short stories. The researcher recommends that teachers should be trained every year or reminded about how to integrate and promote CT during their lessons. Based on the limitations of the current study, it is recommended that further studies should look at how the open-ended question method can be integrated in all subjects, especially languages, to assist learners develop CT skills. The studies to be carried out in the future have to involve more schools from different quintiles in order to establish whether the use of higher order questions can be effective in the teaching of all the learners with different abilities of learning and assist learners to become critical thinkers.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
