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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FOR HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Faculty of Humanities

Graduate work

Foreign languages and intercultural communication

Methods for assessing critical thinking skills in language education

Olga Blinova

Reviewer

Doctor of Philology

Vishnyakova O.D.

Moscow, 2019



Introduction

The issue of teaching critical thinking skills as part of TEFL has been discussed for decades worldwide. However, it was only recently that the Russian Ministry of Education has introduced an educational standard explicitly requiring instructors to teach study skills, including critical thinking. Thus, scholars have experienced an urgent need for research and data on practical techniques that could be used for enhancing and assessing critical thinking skills in education.

The idea of a critical approach to knowledge and information dates back to Socrates and appears in the works of different scholars through centuries. Critical thinking has long been studied as a social necessity, with the existence of a concept and no unified term to name it. It was only in the 20th century that the term `critical thinking' was introduced to the academic world by John Dewey (Dewey, 1910). One hundred years ago, Bertrand Russel claimed critical thinking to be a solution to many problems of our society (Russel, 1919), though this was still quite far from integrating critical thinking into educational processes.

The perception of critical thinking varies through time and from scholar to scholar. This work is based on the definition by C.P. Dwyer, M.J. Hogan and I. Stewart, which is as follows: “critical thinking is a metacognitive process that, through purposeful, reflective judgement, increases the chances of producing a logical conclusion to an argument or solution to a problem” (Dwyer et al., 2014). We interpret this definition in the following way: critical thinking is a deliberate process in the mind that is responsible for correct inferences and reasonable problem-solving skills.

Skills forming critical thinking as a competence also vary depending on the definition and a discipline within which the issue is discussed. This study deals with critical thinking in education, though this notion is also widely represented in works on psychology (Sternberg et al., 2006) and philosophy (Bowell, Kemp, 2002).

Current research in education is centered primarily on critical thinking skills rather than tasks aimed at their development and their integration in the curriculum. John Hughes (Hughes, 2014) provides a set of tasks for developing critical thinking in language classrooms but these tasks still need integration in the long-term educational process. What many scholars overlook is the fact that the four skills taught in second language acquisition (further referred to as SLA) - reading, listening, writing and speaking - present a sufficient basis for teaching critical thinking and making EFL classes more practically oriented. Thus, it would be useful to construct a system of tasks aimed at developing and assessing critical thinking skills through the four language skills.

As this system should integrate several skills, we suggest taking reading as the basic skill. Visual reception is the most important way of getting information for the dominating part of people, and, therefore, the same can be concluded about EFL learners. What people see with their eyes often serves as a source of data to be used for three other skills: we need to read on the topic before we speak or write on it. As for listening, it is widely known that this skill, though receptive too, is more sophisticated than reading because of limitations such as time and the number of repetitions. Therefore, we can integrate reading with all the three other language skills and with critical thinking skills in order to make the educational process more cognitively efficient.

The aim of this research is to analyse the critical thinking skills that can be taught through teaching reading, and by studying the existing critical thinking framework in Russian and British coursebooks to design a set of tasks for assessing critical thinking skills for secondary school EFL students with reading as a basis.

The following methods are used: literature review of papers on the topic of teaching critical thinking skills; content analysis of existing syllabuses. First, we estimate the paradigm of tasks currently used to enhance critical thinking in schools in Russian and British student's books for EFL secondary school classes. Further we estimate the way these tasks correspond with the needs of students to integrate language and thinking skills. The main intention is to design a set of tasks for assessing the outlined critical thinking skills in language education through teaching reading.

From the methodological point of view, the research process for this paper consists of two parts. The first part is dedicated to analyzing textual materials. First of all, we analyse theoretical literature on the topic of critical thinking, specifically in education and with a reference to teaching reading and outline exact skills which may be formed through teaching reading in EFL classrooms. Secondly, we do a content analysis of the existing paradigm of tasks aimed at forming critical thinking competence through teaching reading in Russian EFL classrooms. By analysing reading sections of coursebooks, we choose the most frequent types of tasks and outline the critical thinking skills they may form. During the process of analysis we make a list of skills which are not addressed effectively enough in order to create tasks possibly able to form and enhance these skills. The second part of the research is dedicated to designing a set of tasks aimed at enhancing critical thinking skills through teaching reading in secondary school classrooms. We provide several examples of tasks for teaching analysis, synthesis, inferencing and evaluation in secondary school EFL classrooms. These tasks are accompanied by comments on grading solutions and other options for classroom activities.

The academic value of this research lies in the contribution to the discussion of the problem of teaching and assessing critical thinking skills as part of EFL teaching. This research can be significant for EFL teachers as it demonstrates the process of designing and implementing tasks on critical thinking in SLA and presents a product which can serve as an example of integrating TEFL with teaching thinking skills. The tasks created during the research may be used in classrooms of a B1, B2 and C1 levels together with the syllabus.

critical thinking assessment student



1. Critical thinking: definitions and core components

Critical thinking is a popular concept that has a large and long background in history. It is deeply rooted in critical philosophy and appeared in the works of the philosophers of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. However, these appearances were scarce and hardly interrelated. The term itself was introduced by John Dewey (1910), who contrasted custom as a habitual state of things and thinking as the process of forming a judgement.

1.1 The history of critical thinking

It is during the last three decades that the critical thinking movement has been awakened by the need to increase the degree of consciousness in the society. Numerous events and problems of a global scale have contributed to the need to think critically on a daily basis. Two world wars within half a century, the invention of aviation and nuclear weapons, environmental problems - these are only part of the realia which require all the citizens, and not only the chosen elite, to be able to assess arguments, to handle information with a certain level of adequate skepticism and to form their own judgements rather than take for granted the ones promoted by the authorities. Education has become one of the core values and a feature of a successful person, and more people than ever in history have obtained access to higher education.

Thus, the `coming-out' of critical thinking is logically and socially predetermined and is a step towards creating the society of `skilled thinkers and innovators rather than a scattering of thinkers amid an army of intellectually unskilled, undisciplined, and uncreative followers'. The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking [Online source] URL: https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-national-council-for-excellence-in-critical-thinking/406 - 12.04.2019

The most important change in the approach to critical thinking in the past and currently, after its revival, lies in the shift from theory to practice. While philosophers (Socrates, de Montaigne, Rousseau) viewed critical thinking as a theory of perceiving knowledge critically and questioning traditional knowledge, today we view critical thinking as a practically applicable set of skills to be taught in the classroom.

The discussion of the necessity to approach judgements and knowledge critically dates back to Ancient Greece, specifically to Socrates and his methods of teaching, which are based on giving students questions rather than ready-made answers. Socratic teaching, as described by Paul and Elder (1997), is a form of a dialogue where a student starts by being a listener and responding to the teacher's questions, and then becomes a critical questioner, thus able to inquire from other people and sources of information. This process is described in Socratic teaching as an oral discussion and moves from a receptive skill - listening - to a productive skill - speaking.

Further development of the concept of questioning reality can be noticed in the works of the Renaissance. Michel de Montaigne expressed the view that scientific knowledge should be put in question rather than inherited readily. He advocated for a fair attitude to accepted wisdom. According to Montaigne, universal knowledge and understanding are more important than factual knowledge.

The first half of the 20th century was marked by the works of John Dewey (1910), who not only introduced the term “critical thinking” but also restated the idea of a clasp between custom in the perception of knowledge and thinking as well as carefully considering the information.

The notion of critical thinking is subject of many discussions in philosophy (Bowell and Kemp, Mulnix, Macke), psychology (Robert, Sternberg, Roediger) and education (Siegel, Pithers and Soden, Elder and Paul). These disciplines usually refer to it from the theoretical perspective. However, with the introduction of official educational standards which state that soft skills are on the list of the essential competences of students, there appears a need to discuss critical thinking skills in their practical application. Scales of assessing critical thinking skills for both final exams and everyday classroom use are in demand.

In the last two decades, critical thinking has experienced a revival, particularly in the educational field. T.J. Moore (2011) elaborates on the subject by calling critical thinking “a skill for higher education” (p. 11) and providing evidence from Australian and British universities which during the previous decade have put critical thinking on lists of important abilities for students. According to Geertz (1983), the introduction of critical thinking to educational process helps enhance clarity and coherence to teaching practices and thus improves the quality of learning.

The newly updated Companion Volume with New Descriptors published by Council of Europe within Common European Framework of Reference for Languages mentions the skills of reading, speaking and writing with the use of critical thinking as part of competences essential at language levels B2, C1 and C2 (pp. 63, 77, 87, 97, 117). B2 is the lowest level necessary for using English for academic purposes: listening to lectures, taking notes, submitting academic papers. This is the level that secondary school students are supposed to have in order to get the maximum score in the Unified State Exam in English. The Federal Institute of Pedagogical Assessment. Demo versions, specifications, codifications. [Online source] URL: http://fipi.ru/ege-i-gve-11/demoversii-specifikacii-kodifikatory - 04.05.2019

With the possible expected introduction of diversified versions of the State Exam: the basic and the specialized one, we can assume that the required essential level for graduating from secondary school will be approximately B1, and the level for the specialized exam will be B2+ and up to C1. With B1 level acquired after the basic exam, students can only obtain their general secondary school certificate but the result of this exam cannot be included in their points for university studies. However, this basic exam and B1 level is sufficient for graduating from school. This means that students can enter faculties where the English exam is not required and study the language there if it is included in the university programme. That is why when discussing TEFL for secondary school Russian students we need to discuss levels B1, B2 and C1.

1.2 Defining critical thinking

As any broadly discussed term, critical thinking has no unanimous definition which could be used by all scholars even within one field of study. In this part of the paper we will discuss various definitions in order to further narrow down to the specificity of our topic.

The key issue to be clarified is the core sense of critical thinking, which Siegel (1988) claims to consist not only of skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, categorization etc., but also of tendencies to use these skills practically. Though it may seem complicated to correlate critical thinking skills, which in terms of education are soft skills, with skills outlined in language teaching, we will make an attempt to do that, based on the main trends in how critical thinking is defined.

A critical thinker, according to Siegel, is a person who is able to think critically when perceiving information, i.e. to assess presented arguments, and to produce texts and act on the basis of reasonable judgement. This approach is supported by Paul (1985) who defines critical thinking as “learning how to ask and answer questions of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation” (p. 37). This means that critical thinking goes in two directions: receptive and productive, which equals the four language skills that are usually taught to EFL students: reading, listening (receptive), writing and speaking (productive). However, Paul views critical thinking as a skill which it is possible to learn, in contrast to Siegel's view of a `critical thinker', which places critical thinking closer to the position of a personal trait, which is either present or absent. Siegel's attention is paid to being a critical thinking rather than to becoming one.

Relying on the definition that we have presented in the introduction to this paper, produced by C.P. Dwyer, M.J. Hogan and I. Stewart (Dwyer et al., 2014), we state that critical thinking is deliberate and can be taught, so it we look at is as a competence comprising several skills rather than as a character trait.



1.3 Reading as the basic skill for critical thinking

This paper is primarily focused on teaching reading, which is a receptive skill in SLA. There is a difference between reading as an L2 (second language) skill and as a general study skill in L1 (first language). This difference lies primarily in the length of texts, as in L1 there is a tendency of extensive reading, while L2 reading may often be restricted to the work with assignments up to 500 words. For instance, in B2 First exam the reading paper of the exam constitutes about 2200 words to read in total, that is for the whole of 7 reading parts Cambridge English Assessment B2 First exam format. [Online source] URL : https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/first/exam-format/ - 16.04.2019. L2 reading is mostly task-based and coursebook-centered while L1 reading tends to be less limited in the choice of sources and in the aim of reading. Most authors when speaking about critical thinking in reading refer to it in the general sense and make no difference between L1 and L2 reading. Thus, it is necessary to take these differences into consideration when reviewing literature.

According to CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors. (2018). [Online source] URL: https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989 - 29.04.2019, not only reception and production can be outlined as directions of language activity, but also interaction and mediation. This highlights the necessity of teaching English as a foreign language with the regard to the perspective of its use outside the classroom and in correlation with real life situations and purposes.

Pithers and Soden (2000) assume that critical thinking involves a number of abilities such as identifying a problem and the assumptions on which it is based, focusing on the problem, analyzing, understanding and making use of inferences, inductive and deductive logic, and judging the validity and reliability of assumptions and sources of data. These abilities mainly refer to receiving and analyzing data cognitively rather than producing judgements based on critical thinking. Thus, it can be stated that Pithers and Soden concentrate on reception and do not include production of texts or acts in the process of critical thinking. The elaboration on these activities is purely theoretical and does not suggest ways to acquire these skills.

Cottrell (2005) views critical thinking as “a cognitive activity, associated with using the mind” (p. 1) and includes mental processes such as attention, categorisation, selection, and judgement into this complex activity. According to Cottrell, critical thinking is a process that starts with receptive skills and is aimed at production, which means that reading is supposed to be valuable not only as reading per se but also as a basis for contribution to further speaking or writing, as an instrument. Unlike Pithers and Soden, Cottrell supports the two-way approach to critical thinking. Cottrell provides practical tasks to be used in order to learn or enhance critical thinking skills, though there is no primary aim for their application in EFL classrooms. The suggested activities are: categorizing text (p. 28), identifying simple arguments (p. 44), identifying reasons and conclusions (p. 45), identifying relevant and irrelevant evidence (p. 134).

Reading is also regarded as a fundamental skill by Elder and Paul (2004), who consider critical thinking as the art of close reading and state that 'to learn well, one must read well' (p.37). The same point is made by Godfrey (2013), who claims that analysis of sources essential for essay writing is part of critical thinking approach (p. 17). She further points out that as essay writing comprises a significant part of high school studies, efficient and critical reading is a primary skill to acquire for a student. Paul (2005) states that 'a critical mind improves reading by reflectively thinking about what and how it reads' (p.32), thus asserting that the basis of teaching critical thinking lies in reading.

Thus, in order to assess critical thinking skills we need to be aware of the fact that most skills comprise working with texts, which means that a test with multiple choice questions, which is from practical point of view the easiest way to assess anything, will not turn out to be the best way to assess critical thinking skills in an EFL classroom, as there is no factual knowledge a student should possess in order to have sufficiently developed critical thinking skills. To demonstrate critical thinking skills, a student needs to give extended answers, which take time and effort both from educators and from students.

Therefore, we can conclude that though critical thinking is viewed differently by many scholars, it is possible to identify its two-way nature, aimed at perceiving information and then producing it. We have also outlined the core components of critical thinking competence, which are reason, or the mind, perceiving information, processing it by using the mind, and acting on the basis of the rational judgement. The first component, reason, is an abstract notion and is unlikely to be discussed within the field of education, while all the other components can be relevant to the subject of EFL teaching. The components we concentrate on in this paper are the perception of information and its processing, as these components constitute reading as part of study skills in TEFL and can possibly be developed with the help of different tasks.



2. Critical thinking skills to be taught and assessed in EFL classrooms through teaching reading

While many scholars elaborate on critical thinking as a set of skills in SLA and TEFL, it is not yet absolutely clear from the literature which abilities and skills may be developed through teaching reading in EFL with a significant level of effectiveness. In this chapter we outline the main skills that should and can be taught as part of critical thinking to secondary school students in EFL classrooms. For this, we refer to academic sources and the skills they outline, so that they can be structured and defined as part of more generalized skills.

This paper aims to study the existing system of tasks aimed at teaching critical thinking in EFL classes through reading in Russian and British syllabuses and, on the basis of this analysis to outline a set of tasks for teaching each of the four outlined critical thinking skill and several of these skills together. In order to outline the possible gaps in the EFL syllabuses concerning critical thinking skills it is essential to discuss the variety of skills listed by numerous scholars and select the ones related to the process of reading in EFL classrooms. These skills are mainly connected with perceiving and processing textual visual information. That is why, primarily we need to pay attention to what skills we aim to assess and enhance in order to further target our tasks precisely at these skills.

2.1 Critical thinking skills and abilities: a general overview

Shihab (2011) names the following four skills for reading as critical thinking:

1) predicting on the basis of the background knowledge;

2) “acknowledging incoming information or building textual meaning from the smallest units to the largest”;

3) comparing the predictions about this text and similar ones with what the text actually is;

4) confirming or changing the preexisting knowledge.

These skills refer to the practical application of the text and to forming a judgement based on what the reader has previously known about this genre and topic and what a certain text represents. For instance, when looking at an outline of a newspaper article a student can predict that this text will feature one topic, which is reflected in the heading, and compare these predictions with reality after reading the text. The second skill is a `bottom-up' approach which starts from reading for details and moves towards the general concepts.

Pithers and Soden (2000), as has been stated above, outline such abilities as:

1) identifying a problem;

2) identifying the assumptions on which it is based;

3) focusing on the problem;

4) analysis;

5) comprehension and usage of inferences;

6) inductive and deductive logic;

7) judging whether the assumptions and data are relevant and reliable.

Contrary to Shihab, Pithers and Soden do not pay attention to the placement of the text into the general experience of the reader and do not include the interaction with the texts read previously and the influence of a certain text on the reader's mindset. It can be assumed that the first six skills are considered in syllabuses for EFL learners though the need to make judgements on the validity and relevance of data is far less frequent, as a coursebook is supposed to be a source whose authors are responsible for the texts they provide. This is an ethical issue which has to address a balance between the credibility of a syllabus, which should be a trustworthy source for students, and the need to learn to think autonomously, which is barely possible when students are never allowed to cast doubts on what they are reading.

The problem of lacking skills of assessing judgements and their credibility is very important in Russian education, as all the presented texts serve as examples of `how-to' and criticizing evidence, opinions or sources is not a common practice. The solution to this issue presumably lies in choosing authentic texts for EFL reading and carefully referencing them, which means that the authors of the syllabus are using these texts only for teaching purpose and do not insist that the assumptions and data there are of ultimate validity. In addition, the prejudice about the harmful nature of texts lacking credibility should be challenged.

Cottrell (2005, p. 2) lists the following skills and abilities as part of critical thinking:

1) Identifying other people's positions, arguments and conclusions;

2) Evaluating the evidence for alternative points of view;

3) Weighing up opposing arguments and evidence fairly;

4) Being able to read between the lines;

5) Recognizing techniques used to make some positions more appealing than others;

6) Reflecting on issues in a structured way, bringing logic and insight to bear;

7) Drawing conclusions about whether arguments are valid and justifiable, based on good evidence and sensible assumptions;

8) Presenting a point of view in a structured, clear, well-reasoned way that convinces others.

This list also mostly refers to processing information while reading, except for the last point given. Cottrel mostly relies on the idea that assumptions may not only be right and wrong, but rather may belong to different people and sometimes be the opposite of one another. Cottrell, as well as Pithers and Soden, does not make a link with previous reader's experience and focuses primarily on the process of reading itself. However, there is a post-reading stage in the skill of presenting a point of view in a convincing way, which gives a hint on using reading as a mediating skill for further writing.

The approaches and skills suggested by Pithers and Soden, and Cottrell differ in the fact that Pithers and Soden view the text as a unit of information where a problem is raised while Cottrell refers to a text as a two-way flow of information or possibly a process where several people participate and have authorship. In the position of Pithers and Soden, a problem is the subject matter of the text and what the reader should primarily deal with is the clash of positions, their relation to each other, their accord or discord. Cottrell, however, focuses on opinions and judgements, which can as well be contrasting within the same text, but they represent the speakers rather than the problem that is discussed.

2.2 Four critical thinking skills to assess and enhance through teaching reading

Having studied these three groups of skills presented by Shihab, Pithers and Soden and Cottrell, we can outline four generalized groups of skills which can be used to assess the level of critical thinking skills through reading skills. The first group is based on the ability to go from the general to the particular, to dissect structure and components of a generalized notion. This group of skills will further be referred to in this paper as analysis. The second group is comprised of a set of skills that include going from the particular to the general and to combine parts of a whole. This group of skills is titled synthesis. The third group of skills refers to the ability to reach a conclusion based on evidence of the text, which we call inferencing. The fourth group of skills comprises such skills as the ability to assess the validity and credibility of data and is named evaluation in this paper.

The skills as they have been outlined by the scholars are further grouped into four columns: analysis, synthesis, inferencing and evaluation, on the basis of the more generalized thinking skills of which they all presumably represent a part and are presented according to this grouping in Table 1.



Table 1

Analysis	Synthesis	Inferencing	Evaluation
predicting on the basis of the background knowledge (Shihab, 2011);	acknowledging incoming information or building textual meaning from the smallest units to the largest (Shihab, 2011);	comprehension and usage of inferences (Pithers and Soden, 2000);	confirming or changing the preexisting knowledge (Shihab, 2011);
identifying a problem (Pithers and Soden, 2000);	comparing the predictions about this text and similar ones with what the text actually is (Shihab, 2011);	being able to read between the lines (Cottrell, 2005);	judging whether the assumptions and data are relevant and reliable (Pithers and Soden, 2000);
identifying the assumptions on which [the problem] is based (Pithers and Soden, 2000);	inductive logic (Pithers and Soden, 2000).	recognizing techniques used to make some positions more appealing than others (Cottrell, 2005).	evaluating the evidence for alternative points of view (Cottrell, 2005);
analysis (Pithers and Soden, 2000);			reflecting on issues in a structured way, bringing logic and insight to bear (Cottrell, 2005);
deductive logic (Pithers and Soden, 2000);			drawing conclusions about whether arguments are valid and justifiable, based on good evidence and sensible assumptions (Cottrell, 2005).
weighing up opposing arguments and evidence fairly (Cottrell, 2005).

Therefore, in the next part of our research we analyse reading sections of EFL coursebooks for secondary school students and assess the extent to which these four skills are addressed there.

2.3 Critical thinking skills and types of tasks in TEFL: problems of correlation

The link between skills and ways to develop them through EFL teaching is not directly visible because of a number of factors that contribute to the successful development of critical thinking skills. Among these factors we can name types of tasks, which can be supposed to form certain skills more effectively than other skills. It is also important that the content of tasks address the mentioned skills and not only the basic knowledge of vocabulary units or grammar rules. In addition, the way the task is formulated can influence the degree of its effectiveness, as the same text can be accompanied by absolutely different tasks and, as a consequence, during classroom practice lead to different results.

For instance, the task formulated in the following way requires the student to identify a problem of every text and the assumptions on which it is based:

Read the set of texts and briefly note down the main idea of each of them in your own words.

However, depending on the content of the texts, this task may have different levels of effectiveness for teaching critical thinking skills. To begin with, the main idea may be formulated clearly in the text, which means that the student needs to find the sentence with the main idea and to know only the right vocabulary and grammar to paraphrase it. If the idea is not formulated explicitly, this task will also require the application of inductive logic. In addition, the texts may be united by a common topic, which will facilitate the search for the main idea, or they may not, which will make the student focus on the problem of every passage separately.

Another example illustrates how a task usually used to teach reading may be efficient in developing critical thinking skills through reading:

Read these extracts from students' essays (1-3) and match them to the teacher's comments (a-c). Explain your choice.

This task requires the student to identify positions, arguments and conclusions as well as to assess alternative points of view and identify implicit ideas. However, these skills will be activated only by the texts with the appropriate content. Thus, the example essays should be of a type which the student is acquainted with. The texts of the teacher's comments should concern the ideas and arguments mentioned or missing in the essays and the structure of these essays. If the teacher's comments include only a list of language inaccuracies, none of the critical thinking skills will be developed in this task.

According to Shirkhani and Fahim (2011), assessment practices play an important role in addressing the issue of enhancing critical thinking skills. This approach, the authors claim, can integrate language skills with thinking skills and be effective in the creation and development of a language teaching programme. The following strategies are suggested (Shirkhani and Fahim, 2011, p. 114):

· Using ongoing assessment, so that the teacher can test a larger variety of skills;

· Encouraging students to cooperate and not to compete by using critetion-referenced assessment instead of norm-referenced;

· Including activities corresponding with the general aims of the course in a good balance with precisely targeted activities;

· Using feedback for assessing as well as for stating future learning objectives;

· Working on the assessment criteria together with students so that they can better understand the existing criteria and contribute to the learning process.

These strategies demonstrate that the notion of assessment in EFL classrooms is far broader than end-of-semester and final exams and tests. Assessment is an integral part of every step of teaching process as every activity requires a sort of feedback. In addition, the idea of cooperation is a reflection of a concept presented in CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors. (2018). [Online source] URL: https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989 - 29.04.2019, which has already been discussed above: English serves as a lingua franca for most speakers of this language, and its main function is the ability to communicate with people from various cultural and social backgrounds and to maintain relationships for pragmatic purposes.



3. Content analysis of reading sections of coursebooks

In this part of the paper we analyse two coursebooks for EFL classrooms, aimed at secondary school students and at levels B1-B2. The first book is Starlight 11 Student's book (Baranova et al, 2011), which is used in the last year of Russian schools. The second book is Complete First for Schools Student's book (Thomas and Thomas, 2014), which is part of the British syllabus for preparing teenagers for B2 First for Schools Cambridge English exam.

3.1 Starlight 11: types of tasks and critical thinking skills in reading

In the reading sections of a coursebook Starlight 11 used in Russian schools for the students of the last school year we find numerous tasks on reading. There are tasks aimed at reading per se and those which include reading as a mediating skill for other skills, e.g. speaking or writing. Every unit is featured by at least one text for reading, and the types of the tasks are as follows:

· Multiple choice tasks;

· Multiple matching with extra options;

· Sets of texts with multiple matching questions;

· Sentence transformations;

· Note making;

· Transformation of linear texts to non-linear texts;

· Transformation of non-linear texts to linear texts.

Multiple choice tasks are generally aimed at identifying opinions and aims or finding factual information. Multiple matching is usually the task where short paragraphs need to be correlated with titles, which requires the ability to identify the topic of the text or the main problem discussed there. Sentence transformations vary in the level of difficulty and sometimes aim purely at the knowledge of grammar while in other cases they require cognitive abilities. It cannot be said, though, that this type of task presents any importance for teaching critical thinking skills through teaching reading. Note-making is mostly used as a post-reading task and has various amounts of prompts, some of which require a search for factual information while others are aimed at the ability to identify and paraphrase positions and arguments. Work with linear and non-linear texts usually includes narrative or factual texts, though with other types of texts it could require analysis, synthesis and referencing skills.

These tasks can be claimed to form the following critical thinking skills: identifying a problem, which is part of skills of analysis; being able to read between the lines, which belongs to inferencing skills; judging whether the assumptions and data are relevant and reliable, drawing conclusions about whether arguments are valid and justifiable, which belong to evaluation skills. Referring to Table 1, we can say that these are only a few of the skills that could be formed. This means that the tasks presented in Starlight 11 do not completely fulfill the potential of addressing critical thinking skills.

Thus, it is possible to conclude at the current stage of our research that only a few of critical thinking skills are addressed in Starlight 11, considering the types of tasks for reading from Student's book. The gap lies mostly in the sphere of skills of synthesis though analysis, inferencing and evaluation would also benefit from enhancing and a more thorough work. The most valuable contribution can be made by tasks which in their application can be targeted at several skills simultaneously and integrate the assessment and enhancement of numerous competences through mediation of reading.

3.2 Reading tasks and critical thinking in Complete First for Schools

According to CEFR language levels Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). [Online source] https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions - 30.04.2019, B2 is the level of English that the students of secondary schools in Russia are expected to demonstrate at the State Final Exam. The exam of an equal level in the system of Cambridge Assessment English is B2 First or B2 for Schools Cambridge Assessment English. [Online source] http://www.cambridgeenglish.org.ru/ 30.04.2019 (the exam for Schools requires the demonstration of the same competences as B2 First but the topics are adapted to the interests and experience of teenagers).

As an example coursebook we analyse Complete First for Schools Student's book (Thomas B., Thomas A., 2015), as this book is published by Cambridge University Press and recommended by Cambridge Assessment English for B2 students of 11-17 years of age, which includes the target audience we aim at in this paper. Secondary school students are usually 15-17 years old in Russia. In the book every unit is featured by a cluster of tasks aimed at teaching and assessing reading with a reference to the exam format. During the analysis we have outlined the following types of tasks:

· Finding the main idea of the text;

· Highlighting key words in statements, questions and longer texts;

· Multiple matching tasks with extra options;

· Multiple choice questions (understanding required information);

· Modified and non-modified open cloze texts;

· Sets of texts for multiple matching;

· Sentence transformations;

· Analyzing teacher's comments to candidate writing.

Comparing this list with a similar list made based on Starlight 11, we can see that multiple choice and multiple matching tasks, as well as sentence transformations are used in both the Russian and the British coursebooks. However, Complete First for Schools also focuses on key words and main ideas, which are tasks with no ready-made answers and require the integration of language skills with thinking skills. It must be noted that the ability to find the key words and reject extra information as well as to find the essence of the text by formulating the main idea are skills to be taught both in L1 and in L2 as these are cognitive competences essential outside the classroom.

As well as note-making in Starlight 11, in Complete First for Schools we can see a task which connects reading to writing: analyzing comments to writing is an integrated activity, as it either requires a student to produce a piece of writing before receiving a comment, or to produce it after reading a comment to a model answer, taking into consideration the information from the model answer and the comment written as feedback.

3.3 The potential for teaching critical thinking skills in Starlight 11 and Complete First for Schools

Assessing the potential of Complete First for Schools for enhancing critical thinking skills we can say that the types of tasks, similarly to the tasks from Starlight 11, have the aim of forming the skills of inferencing, evaluating and synthesis and are partly aimed at forming analytical skills. However, a contribution to classroom practices for the full realization of the potential for forming, enhancing and assessing critical thinking skills would be beneficial.

In this part of the paper we have analysed reading sections of two EFL coursebooks aimed at secondary school students of approximately B2 level and outlined the main task types, correlating them with critical thinking skills they may potentially help to form and assess. It has been found out that there are tasks integrating reading with other language skills, such as writing, listening and speaking. These tasks have a certain potential of forming critical thinking skills, though they are not targeted directly at these skills. In the next part of the paper, we suggest techniques and tasks that can help assess and enhance critical thinking skills using language skills as an instrument in EFL classrooms.



4. Tasks for assessing critical thinking skills

It has already been noted that when discussing tasks aimed at critical thinking skills in EFL classrooms we need to consider the type of tasks, their content and the way the tasks are formulated. This is the reason why in this paper we provide not only types or descriptions of tasks but also the examples with instructions for classroom application.

4.1 The role of ongoing assessment in teaching critical thinking

In this paper we view assessment in EFL classrooms as an ongoing process which takes place constantly during classroom practice. There is place for feedback or assessing progress and contributions during every lesson. In addition, mistake correction can be regarded as assessment, because it is a kind of criteria-referenced feedback which is aimed at improving skills and competences.

In fact, it is impossible to imagine a teaching process without assessment. The primary reason for that is the fact that in order to start the formation of a skill or a competence, a teacher needs to be aware of the initial students' level of this skill or competence. Identifying the starting point, or pretesting, is the first step for correct group placement as well. When working with language skills - reading, listening, writing and speaking - a teacher needs to know what degree of scaffolding he or she needs to provide. This is especially true for teaching new groups, though it is a well-known fact that students never know one hundred per cent of words and constructions they meet in a language.

They encounter vocabulary and grammar they cannot use actively before they study it; so the students are always exposed to the material before it is presented and explained to them directly. The same is true for language skills: a student may have an experience of answering multiple choice questions or producing a descriptive monologue, for instance, before they study the strategies for this task. This phenomenon is based on the difference between language as an instrument and language as the object of study.

Furthermore, having accomplished a lesson, a teacher needs to know how successful it was in order to be able to decide whether it is possible to follow the previously planned sequence of lessons or to alter it and to what extent the alterations are required. That is why, it is essential to assess the progress the students have made after they have been taught even a small bit of the material.

End-of-year, end-of-semester, end-of-module and other final kinds of assessment also have their place in TEFL as it is essential to formally measure the results of a learning programme within the whole educational process a student goes through. These kinds of control allow instructors to measure the general level of language and communicative competences but often cannot be targeted at all the skills and knowledge acquired during the learning process.

As far as assessing critical thinking skills in EFL is concerned, it requires ongoing assessment during the teaching process, as the place of critical thinking skills in EFL teaching is important but not explicit. This means that critical thinking skills can be tested through other skills and activities connected with them. It is obvious that here language will serve as a medium, an instrument for assessing a different object of control: critical thinking skills. During ongoing assessment, it is possible to integrate activities which demonstrate students' advancement at critical thinking more explicitly than it can be done during final assessment.

4.2 Debate, media analysis, problem solving and student assessment: integrated techniques for assessing critical thinking

Rezaei, Derakhshan and Bagherkazemi (2011) suggest a list of four techinques aimed at forming critical thinking skills: debate, media analysis, problem-solving tasks, and self-assessment and peer assessment assignments. These techniques can be useful as they integrate language skills with thinking skills and are possible to apply in everyday classroom practices.

Debates are a long and complex process and set of multiple activities: collecting information on the topic from valid sources, systematizing the collected information into arguments, presenting it in the required order in the process of debates, responding to the arguments of the opposing team. To debate successfully, students need to have a sufficient level of critical thinking as every step of debates and preparation require synthesis, analysis, inferencing and evaluation skills.

Media analysis activities have reading and listening as a basis for getting the information for analysis: to analyse media we need to read or watch them first of all. Also these activities require writing and speaking as instruments for the process of analysis and for presenting the results of the activity. Exposure to the media is familiar to the students in their L1, which means that media analysis classroom experience is practically oriented and integrates language skills with thinking skills, thus providing a possibility of reaching several teaching goals simultaneously.

Problem-solving tasks are often based on modelling real-life situations where the main aim for students is to suggest a solution after using thinking and language skills. In problem-solving the main benefit is that the students are encouraged to participate by the situation they are put in and are learning without visible effort. At elementary language levels going to the train station and buying tickets can be a problem-solving task, while at intermediate and advanced levels students may need to plan the budget for a company, organize a party or another event. The situation should either be familiar enough to require no contextual explanations or explained so clearly as to cause no problems for students understanding their roles. Language skills in problem-solving tasks play the role of an instrument, a mediator in the communication process. Communicative competence and thinking skills are far more important, as students need to be able to work with evidence, opinions and arguments and act on their basis, in order to make their final decision.

Self-assessment and peer-assessment techniques are related to what has already been mentioned in the work of Shirkhani and Fahim (2011). While Shirkhani and Fahim refer to the importance of student participation in creating the assessment criteria, Rezaei, Derakhshan and Bagherkazemi go further and suppose that students can assess their own work and the work of their classmates. This technique can prove to be useful, if applied correctly. To begin with, students should know that their main aim is to learn and not to get a better mark than others. This will keep them away from the temptation of cheating. In addition, students need to be familiar the criteria-referenced system of assessment, and be cognitively able to assess different components of the work separately, in no relation to one another. The easiest way to integrate self-assessment and peer-assessment into classroom practices is to provide ready-made checklists for tasks, with the criteria that students will be able to assess, such as: the number of words in an essay, the appropriate paragraphing, how easy to read and understand the paper is, the use of different grammar tenses, the use of formal/informal register. To teach students to value learning and cooperation rather than the competition for top marks, we can first provide students with example answers to assess, so that they have no visible reference to an author. When the students are ready to assess critically, they can start to do the same for their classmates' papers as well as their own.

These techniques are very broad and may presumably serve the assessment and formation of critical thinking skills in the long term, as none of them is easy to learn during one lesson, especially if the students are not familiar with these techniques from their L1 experience. If adapted to the level of students' competences and integrated into classroom practices wisely, these techniques can well serve the purpose of ongoing assessment of language, communication and thinking skills.

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