How does critical thinking in English help in the workplace?

 “Critical thinking is a term used by educators to describe forms of learning, thought, and analysis that go beyond the memorization and recall of information and facts. In its most basic expression, critical thinking occurs when students are analyzing, evaluating, interpreting, or synthesizing information and applying creative thought to form an argument, solve a problem, or reach a conclusion.”

Nowadays enhancing critical thinking in learners is considered one of the foreign language teachers’ tasks due to its high position in foreign language courses. There are various factors affecting language learners’ critical thinking skills. Among these factors is the assessment methods used. 

How effective is critical thinking in the English learning process?

Critical thinking is associated with quality thinking and, if sufficiently developed, provides learners with a more skillful way of communicating with other people, acquiring new knowledge, and dealing with ideas, beliefs, and attitudes. In all these areas language plays a crucial role. When a foreign language is taught/learned, even the survival language level may require more thinking of how to communicate in a foreign language. This is because languages are culturally determined (see David Chrystal’s book The Stories of English, 2004). And as cultures differ, so do languages. Traditions and mentality reflect in the language, its vocabulary, grammar structures, modality, etc. When learning the target language, students need to accept these cultural differences not as a deviation from the natural way associated, as they may think, with their mother tongue but as a fully natural, though different, way of verbal expression within a different cultural domain. Practicing thinking critically when trying to identify similarities and differences in how one and the same cliché is put in words in another language makes the learning process more enjoyable and culturally enriching even at the beginning level. Moreover, the English language took the role of the lingua franca and is used globally by non-native speakers of English for intercultural communication. Critical thinking skills are indispensable when practicing such intellectual traits as empathy and tolerance thus getting ready for communication in multicultural contexts.

What are the consequences of being assigned a critical thinking task when learning a language?

When a language tuition regularly delivers critical thinking tasks, the students benefit in a variety of ways. “Firstly, if language learners can take charge of their own thinking, they can monitor and evaluate their own ways of learning more successfully. Second, critical thinking expands the learning experience of the learners and makes the language more meaningful for them. Thirdly, critical thinking has a high degree of correlation with the learners’ achievements. Different studies have confirmed the role of critical thinking in improving ESL writing ability; language proficiency; and oral communication ability.” 

Critical thinking in the workplace

Critical thinking is important because it helps individuals and teams more effectively diagnose problems and identify possible solutions that aren't entirely obvious at first. In addition, critical thinking can help resolve conflicts in the workplace. However, even though in higher education there has been a concerted effort to focus on critical thinking as a measurable outcome, employers are not seeing the results. In fact, only 28% of employers rated 4-year graduates as having “Excellent” critical thinking skills. So, the burden and expense of training/developing those skills rests on the employers. Ask any executive about the importance of critical thinking, and you will hear nothing but support and admiration for this essential skill. Most (69%) will even tell you about how they assess critical thinking skills in the selection process.

With globalization and the increased speed of business, employees at every level are facing an increasingly complex flow of information. Work settings are changing rapidly, and employees are moving into new roles, often with limited direction. Employees can no longer rely on others to make key decisions. They often must make them on their own, and quickly. And the decisions have to be good ones. If they fall short, there may be no time to recover.

Good decisions require focusing on the most relevant information, asking the right questions, and separating reliable facts from false assumptions – all elements of critical thinking. And yet too few employees possess these essential skills.

What can be done? Once organizations understand the role of critical thinking in everyday decision making, they can begin to take steps to develop that skill in their leaders and employees. Research conducted in recent years by Pearson, as well as by a variety of independent academics, has shown that people who score well on critical thinking assessment are also rated by their supervisors as having:

●     Good analysis and problem-solving skills

●     Good judgment and decision making

●     Good overall job performance

●     The ability to evaluate the quality of information presented

●     Creativity

How much did you understand?

True or false?

1. If you are a critical thinker you accept all arguments and conclusions you are exposed to without questioning them.
2. Developing your critical thinking skill plays a key role in the English learning process.
3. Critical thinking provides learners with a more skillful way of communicating with other people, acquiring new knowledge, and dealing with ideas, beliefs, and attitudes.
4. People who score well on critical thinking assessment are also rated by their supervisors as not having the time or energy to be able to subject “every” proposition you encounter with logical deductions.
5. For executives, critical thinking is not an essential skill.

Answers: 1)F, 2)T, 3) T, 4)F, 5)F

Activity created by Comfy Languages Team

Article adapted from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811026759

https://eltajournal.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/VII-Developing-Critical-Thinking-in-the-English-Language-classroom.pdf

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/why-critical-thinking-skills-are-important-in-the-workplace/