DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING THROUGH ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNING

METAJ ISUFI, Shqipe (2026) DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING THROUGH ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNING. In: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “FROM RESEARCH TO APPLICATION”, 18-19 November, 2026.

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Abstract

Critical thinking has become an important objective of contemporary language education because successful language learning requires more than the acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical structures. This paper examined the pedagogical potential of English language teaching for developing learners’ critical thinking through active, reflective, and communicative learning. A qualitative theoretical-review approach was used to synthesize relevant perspectives on critical thinking, communicative language teaching, questioning strategies, collaborative learning, problem-based tasks, and reflective classroom practice. The analysis showed that English lessons can provide a productive environment for critical thinking when learners are encouraged to interpret information, compare viewpoints, justify opinions, evaluate arguments, formulate questions, and solve meaningful problems through the target language. Particular attention was given to the teacher’s role in designing cognitively demanding tasks, facilitating dialogue, providing appropriate scaffolding, and creating a classroom climate in which learners can express and reconsider ideas. The review also indicated that authentic texts, debates, open- ended questions, project work, and collaborative activities can integrate language development with higher-order thinking when they are adapted to learners’ linguistic proficiency. However, the effectiveness of these approaches depends on purposeful task design and assessment practices that value reasoning as well as linguistic accuracy. The paper concluded that critical thinking should be integrated systematically into English language teaching as both a learning process and an educational outcome. Such integration can strengthen language competence, learner autonomy, reflective judgment, and meaningful participation in contemporary educational and social contexts.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Unnamed user with email zshi@unite.edu.mk
Date Deposited:	10 Nov 2026 10:50
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2026 10:50
URI:	http://eprints.unite.edu.mk/id/eprint/2703

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