CRITICAL THINKING ASPECT OF DEBATING IN DEVELOPING
SPEAKING SKILLS
Tursunbayeva X.A., Yunyayeva X.A.
North Kazakhstan State University named after M. Kozybayev, Petropavlovsk
Modern open society with accelerated processes of globalization and informatization requires peoplepossessing critical thinking skills, i.e. the ability to acquire knowledge and use it to solve difficult tasks.
The educational system faces challenges of the educational process, in which each student should be provided withthe conditions to reveal the contradictions, search and test the hypotheses and find original ways of achieving thegoals.
We can find many definitions of critical thinking in contemporary literature. Richard Paul defines it as the mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them [1: 5]. Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
Using critical thinking in teaching makes classes better. Firstly, classes which involve elements of critical thought tend to be generally more interesting and engaging. Consider for example, two possible discussion topics related to the unit on the environment. Secondly, using issues that encourage critical thinking helps to give the classroom a more meaningful and cohesive environment. Students who feel that they are working together will be more likely to attend classes and will be more involved while they are there.
Thus, critical thinking is setup plus knowledge plus thinking skills. The first and foremost component of critical thinking is the very process of forming a new critical outlook.
Teaching critical thinking is based on the taxonomy of educational objectives developed by Benjamin Samuel Bloom (February 21, 1913 – September 13, 1999) who was an American educational psychologist. He directed a research team which conducted a major investigation into the development of exceptional talent whose results are relevant to the question of eminence, exceptional achievement, and greatness [2: 4]. In 1956, Bloom edited the first volume of Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals, which outlined a classification of learning objectives that has come to be known as Bloom’s Taxonomy and remains a foundational and essential element within the educational community as evidenced in the 1981 survey Significant writings that have influenced the curriculum: 1906-1981, by H.G. Shane and the 1994 yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education.
Taxonomy in general is the practice and science (study) of classification of things or concepts, including the principles that underlie such classification. Bloom identified six categories of educational goals which are given in the Table 1 [3: 23]:
Table 1 – Bloom`s Taxonomy of educational objectives
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
recognizing recalling
interpreting exemplifying
classifying
summarizing inferring comparing explaining executing implementing
differentiating organizing
attributing
checking critiquing
generating planning
producing
The last three levels of taxonomy (analyzing, evaluating, creating) are referred by scientists to critical thinking or, as Matt Thomas and Anthony Manzo name it, Higher-Order Thinking [4: 2].
The last level of taxonomy (creating) is responsible for production phase, which in our case is the development of speaking skills.
In junior school (1-4 grades) critical thinking skills are not developed in active way. We can only observe the simple process of playing. Children are only the beginners of learning foreign language: e.g., they can brainstorm, cluster and try to categorize. In the secondary school level (5-8 grades) there prevails such kind of work as the role-playing. Role plays may be done as a whole class or in small groups. The instructor begins by describing a context and a situation within that context. Students are either given roles or allowed to choose them. Students are given some time to prepare, and then they enter their roles and act out the situation. Some instructors add student observers to the situations. These observers do not act out a role in the situation, but they observe and analyze the performances of the actors and provide feedback both to the actors and to the instructor and class. Role plays may be used even in fields which do not involve human beings directly: e.g., students may play the roles of cells, molecules, economic forces, and abstract philosophies in addition to historical figures, characters in a novel, etc.
The objectives of role plays are:
To increase student awareness of the interrelation of knowledge and the subtle complexities of a situation.
To include affective learning as well as cognitive understanding.
To expand personal experience by simulating a situation.
Role-playing is also used to make students’ thinking critical.
In the senior school (9-11 grades) appears such type of work as debate. This technique can be used with either large or small groups. In either case, it is often best to begin with a brief class discussion of the issues involved in the debate topic. This provides a context for the debate, a sense of the sub-issues involved, and a range of class feelings on the issues. At this time the instructor should also make clear the rules of the debate, including time allotted to each side and rules for speaking.
Here the objectives are as follows:
To encourage students to organize their thoughts in a critical or argumentative way that takes into account the complexity of issues and the existence of alternative and opposing views.
To increase students’ public speaking and presentation skills, including the ability to think quickly on one’s feet.
Class debate can also be used to develop students’ research skills and give them a chance to become experts on a particular subject.
Games that include debating create an atmosphere for the development of critical thinking skills. When children can defend their position they engage in critical thinking and deep reasoning.
Debate forces students to think about the multiple sides of an issue and it also makes them interact not just with the details of the given topic, but also with one another. Moreover, debates are versatile in the range of topics possible and the format that the debates may follow.
Debates in science and technology classes can help the students explore topics that affect society. In addition, debates boost the analytical problem solving, communication, presentation and the ability to form teams. Generally, debates take many formats. The most common classroom debate is traditional debate. The debate process as a rule starts with the central resolution. Such a resolution is a declarative statement that the team will either support or oppose. The affirmative team supports the resolution, and the negative team opposes it. The students built a case for the resolution (the case brief) in which they try to prove or disprove the resolution through evidence. The debate process involves planning and considerable time spent by students while preparing for the formal debates. Students need to understand the debate process and terminology. Debate in the technology classroom can yield great learning for the student. Debate as a teaching strategy allows active learning on the student’s part; it also enables the students to demonstrate different levels of critical thinking. Students learn through the process of preparing, performing, listening, and discussing the debates. Debate can be challenging in the technology classroom. Students may reject a different teaching strategy used to learn critical thinking. But, as experience shows, most students are highly satisfied with the debate process and feel that the debates increase their critical-thinking skills.
Additionally, we assume that debate in the classroom is effective in helping students learn a subject and demonstrate the ability to speak critically.Let us prove it with the help of Bloom`s Taxonomy.
The first level is remembering. At this level the learner is expected to recall facts and repeat information. This is a level of rote learning in which the learner answers basic who, what, when and where questions or learn the new vocabulary on the topic of debates.
The second level is understanding. At this level the learner is simply asked to understand what has been presented and ask questions for better understanding of the topic of debates.
The next level is applying. Here the student is asked to use information in new ways by speaking what he or she knows, but is still employing lower order thinking skills. He or she might draw illustrations.
Then analyzing follows.The student begins to utilize higher order critical thinking skills in his or her learning. When analyzing, the student determines the relationship between parts, uses information to develop cause and effect relationships between events, and is led to speak on the reasons why events behave in the ways they do.
The further step in higher order thinking on Bloom’s hierarchy is evaluating. The student is asked to use his knowledge and understanding about a subject to analyze and assess information and then go a step beyond by explaining why he or she thinks this is true.
The highest level on Bloom’s taxonomy is creating, which employs the most complex level of thinking. When creating, the student utilizes all other levels to create a completely new thought or idea and to speak about it.
Thereby, debating is an effective method to engage students in critical thinking skills and develop their speaking skills. Also it can be modified to accommodate many situations. Debating has benefits that exceed critical thinking and aids in academic achievement. The debate process can be useful in gaining disciplinary knowledge and helping students with analyzing and presenting arguments. Furthermore, debate as a teaching tool, has a place in pedagogical methods because it allows students to enhance critical thinking through investigating arguments, engaging in research, gathering information, performing analysis, assessing arguments, questioning assumptions, and demonstrating interpersonal skills.
References:
1. Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008.
https://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/sections/active.html
2. Bloom, B. S. (ed). (1985). Developing Talent in Young People. New York: Ballantine Books.
3. Bloom’s Taxonomy.
URL: http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/RevisedBlooms1.html
4. Thomas M., Manzo A. Higher-Order Thinking Strategies for the classroom. URL: http.://members.aol.com/MattT10574/htm