Event

A Systematic Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking through Debate in an ESP Context

Saturday, December 8th, 2012, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Speaker: Dave Rear (Shibaura Institute of Technology)

The development of critical thinking skills has become a key goal for educators in both first and second language contexts. This presentation will demonstrate how critical thinking can be taught in a systematic and explicit manner through the medium of debate. It builds on a combination of two approaches:

1. taxonomies of critical thinking skills as developed by Facione (1990), Ennis (1987) and others;
2. step-by-step problem-solving techniques recommended in business contexts.

The course takes students through a six-stage process, showing them how to define the nature of a problem, gather and organize appropriate data, evaluate the worth of that data, analyze the data to draw conclusions, express those conclusions clearly, and finally appraise performance for future improvement. This presentation will show how this approach can be used effectively in an ESP context with learners of relatively low English abilities.

Organization: JACET English for Specific Purposes SIG (Japan Association of College English Teachers) Kanto (JACET ESP SIG Kanto)

Cost: 500 yen

Venue: Tokai University, Takanawa Campus, Rm 1204 (maps: Japanese; English)

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact JACET ESP SIG Kanto

Reiko Fujita

Shinichi Hashimoto