Communicative Language Teaching in Support of Critical Thinking: The Role of in-Class Debate

Résumé

In today’s knowledge-based, globally-competitive economy, types of skills and competencies that students need to gain are different from in the past. Emphasizing both the communicative competence and the critical thinking skills is one of the most influential developments in language education. The implementation of communicative activities in EFL/ESL classroom, in particular, prepares learners to use English in the world beyond based on their own needs, interests, and opportunities; besides, it develops their critical thinking abilities and helps become effective during learning, responsible citizens and active participants in everyday life and decision makers in the job market. Hence, this paper is an attempt to explore the extent to which the incorporation of communicative activities can enhance learners’ critical thinking skills using in-class debates using action research. Data was collected through observation and focus group interviews. The study results confirmed that using in-class debate is considered a constructive learning activity as it improves learners’ critical thinking skills including argumentation, explanation, questioning, reasoning, negotiation, among other skills.