Critical thinking in the EFL classroom: A qualitative study on the definition of critical thinking, and the use of graphic novels in the EFL classroom to develop critical thinking skills

Abstract

Abstract in English This thesis investigates how critical thinking is defined and how working with graphic novels in the EFL classroom can develop critical thinking skills. This thesis investigates what aspects that are involved in the process of thinking critically, and what is important to focus on to develop critical thinking. Critical thinking became a part of the Core curriculum in 2020, which says that teaching and training “shall give the pupils understanding of critical and scientific thinking” and “must create an understanding that the methodologies for examining the real world must be adapted to what we want to study and that the choice of methodology influences what we see.” (Kunnskapsdirektoratet, 2017). Previous research shows that teachers mostly teach critical thinking with argumentation and source criticism, and it is mostly done in Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, and Religion, but not in the English subject. To get a better understanding of the term critical thinking, I have done a thematic analysis of two papers, one written by John Dewey (1910), where he writes about thought and reflective thinking. The second is written by Robert Ennis (1985), where he writes about the definition of critical thinking. The results are discussed with a focus on answering the first research question of this thesis. There is a separate discussion chapter that focuses on answering the second research question. In the same chapter, there is an application on how to potentially use The Giver: Graphic Novel (Russell, 2019) in the English classroom. The application focuses on how to ask students questions to start a classroom dialog to get longer and more meaningful answers. It also focuses on group activities, where they must reflect and justify their answers. Some activities challenge pupils to stand in ethical dilemmas where they might have to argue for a point of view that they do not support. The conclusion to the first research question is that the term reflection is extremely important to be able to think critically. Searching for evidence, gaining knowledge, and being open minded to changing your beliefs are all important to thinking critically. However, critical thinking is hard to define in a short thesis like this, so there is a need for more research in this area. In the second research question, the conclusion is that critical thinking skills can be developed in the English subject. The type of questions we ask pupils, activities we give, and getting pupils aware of their knowledge, play a part in developing critical thinking skills.