Critical Thinking in an Academic Speaking Class for EFL Students

Bich-Phuong Thi NGUYEN

Asian Journal of English Language Teaching ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1) : 95-108.

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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1) : 95-108. DOI: 10.65961/AJELT-2020-1-005
Teaching in Focus

Critical Thinking in an Academic Speaking Class for EFL Students

  • Bich-Phuong Thi NGUYEN
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Abstract

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 class- room is expected to be beneficial to English language teachers to employ inno- vative methods in their classrooms for the purpose of optimizing the effective- ness of learning.

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Bich-Phuong Thi NGUYEN. (2020). Critical Thinking in an Academic Speaking Class for EFL Students.Asian Journal of English Language Teaching , 29(1): 95-108. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2020-1-005

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