Thinking Skills in the Language Classroom

Bloom's Taxonomy, Critical Thinking Skills, EFL/ESL Activities, ELL, ELT, Language Learning, Reflective Teaching 0 comments

Thinking Skills in the Language Classroom

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy for Learning Activities

Do we often teach our students to process the information we provide critically? This is not a question for language teachers; it is a question for all educators. And all of us –no matter where we teach- will agree that our students need to develop their thinking skills to be better prepared in their future working environments. Haynes (2009) suggests that …

Bloom's taxonomy and English language learners via kwout

Haynes (2009) also suggests that Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used to cater for those cravings for thinking skills. Activities, tasks, exercises, and the like can be designed to promote critical thinking among pupils, although their language is not fully-developed. If we keep in the lookout Krashen’s maxim of i + 1 at its best, without leaving aside the CEF levels of language proficiency, language practices can be well-designed and thought-provoking.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 1: Knowledge
Sample Listening Exercise

When working at this level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, teachers mostly focus students’ attention on the explicit information in a text. This is probably the most common type of questions prepared by language instructors. From a syntactical point of view, these questions are –on the one hand- yes/no questions that can be simply answered affirmatively or negatively, -on the other hand-, teachers ask for either/or questions.

1	Does the train go to National Airport?
2	Does the train go to Gallery Place?
3	Does the man transfer to the Yellow Line at National Airport?
4	Does the man have to take the Red Line or the Yellow Line?
5	Is the woman sure about the number of stops?

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 2: Comprehension

Reading Comprehension Exercise

In contrast to level 1 where information is explicit, in level 2 the teacher has to have students work with implicit information and inferences. Comprehending the data within a text can allow the students to interpret facts in order to compare, contrast, illustrate, and classify information.

1	What’s the philosopher’s attitude towards the boatman?
2	What does the philosopher value in life?
3	Why does the scholar look down on the boatman?
4	What’s the boatman’s philosophy of life?
5	What does the boatman teach –in his final moments- to the philosopher?
Exercises for Blooom’s Taxonomy Level 2 / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx

The Philosopher and the Boatman by Jonathan Acuña

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 3: Application

Finding Solutions

At the application level, teachers have a great range of possible activities for their students and language skills. One of these possibilities is problem-solving tasks based on a situation where the student tries to find (a) solution(s) that can satisfy the requirements of the people who are part of the “problem.” Of course, comprehending and knowing the situation also allows the student to find a sensible solution with higher critical thinking skills.

Finding Solutions: The Chen’s Family Hunting for an Apartment

Situation

Mr. Chen and his family are looking for a new apartment since they live in a cramped place. The Chen Family has only $1,200 to spend on rent monthly. Because they are five people, they want a 4-bedroom place, but if not, a 3-bedroom apartment is ok for them, too. Help them find a place by checking the ads in the classified section of the newspaper.

They want a place that needs to be close to a school because their children are in primary school.

Option 1	Option 2
# of rooms	# of rooms
Rent $	Rent $
Location	Location
Facilities	Facilities
Why this place?	Why this place?

Exercises for Blooom’s Taxonomy Level 3 / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 4: Analysis

Short Story Analysis: Younde Goes to Town

At level 4 the teacher can have students work –for instance- with short stories to identify the real sequencing of events in it. Another possible task is to have students, as suggested by Haynes (2009), is to have them compare characters at the beginning of the story and then at the end. Students can really analyze what really happened in a story chronologically speaking and can analyze the evolution of a character’s psyche.

Short Story Analysis: Younde Goes to Town
1	Sequencing of events: Read the story and number the events in a chronological way.
__	Younde thinks the market is bigger than his village.
__	Younde feels sorry for the dead man and his fortune.
__	Younde prepares a trip to Accra.
__	Younde asks for the owner of the sailboats.
__	Younde arrives in Accra.
__	Younde finds a funeral on his way back home.
__	Younde is surprised by the big buildings in the city.
__	Younde runs into a boy taking care of a lot of cattle.
2	Why is this misunderstanding happening?
3	Is there a difference in Younde if compared to the beginning and the end of the story?
4	Why do you think Younde never realized what was happening?
Exercises for Blooom’s Taxonomy Level 4 / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx

Younde Goes to Town by Jonathan Acuña

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 5: Synthesis

Giving an Opinion: Varokaa heikkoa jäätä

According to Haynes (2009), “Synthesis …

Bloom's taxonomy and English language learners via kwout

By means of synthesis, the teacher can have students combine data from various types of texts to produce new information based on their opinions and understanding. Students can also come up with “alternative” solutions by synthetizing data and apply into new higher thinking combinations.

Info Synthesis: Varokaa heikkoa jäätä
1	What can be the meaning of varokaa heikkoa jäätä?
2	How would one “survive” without friends?
3	What would change in the video to make it more “powerful?”
4	Are there characters in the story that are not relevant? Would you eliminate any character?
5	What may happen with you if you are careless walking on thin ice?
Exercises for Blooom’s Taxonomy Level 5 / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 6: Evaluations

Evaluating the content of a song: The Logical Song

At this point, the teacher has to be yielding opinions and judgments from his/her students. Information has to be used to provoke some more higher critical thinking to have students defend a position with solid arguments while using the data provided by the text.

Evaluation: The Logical Song by Supertramp
1	What do you think the singer is trying to tell you about education?
2	What don’t you like about our educational system?
3	Do you think education in our country is good? Why or why not?
4	What part of the lyrics do you like best? Why?
5	Why do you think the singer decided to share this song?
6	If you could, what would you do to change our educational system?
7	Are there songs that give similar criticism towards education? Are they better than “The Logical Song?”
8	Why do you think this song was entitled “The Logical Song?”
Exercises for Blooom’s Taxonomy Level 6 / Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s docx

To sum up, Bloom’s Taxonomy is alive in education. As language instructors is our task to fully take advantage of it to teach critical thinking skills to our students to have them be better prepared for their future professional world where critical thinking is highly valued. By choosing activities that range from level 1 to 6, we can provide students variety to really engage them in their learning and in their development of thinking processes.

ETo fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Bloom’s Taxonomy in ELT
2	Critical Thinking in Language Learning
3	Meaningful Learning Tasks
4	Hierarchical Thinking in ELT
5	Learning Outcomes via Bloom’s Taxonomy