Prospects for Raising Critical Thinking Competency through Project-Based Learning in EFL Classroom

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed a drastic change in technology and rapid communication. Therefore, rapid changes in the process of education have been evident; as technology has been used by students to solve complex issues and challenges through authentic tasks and learning activities which can reflect their real life rather than classroom-based tasks. This can enable them to play diverse roles and promote their thinking skills along with creative, judgmental, and critical thinking skills, social communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation. Hence, increasing students’ critical thinking abilities can be promoted through cooperative learning in which students can create concrete results to represent what they have learned. This study would like to be a part of investigating the role of using project-based instruction in raising students’ critical thinking skills in an EFL classroom. To further up the study, the researcher has opted for a classroom observation which aimed at assessing the level of students’ ability to perform tasks through solving problems, analyzing, inferring, and evaluating.  The findings would like to affirm that students who have been directed through project groups have been exposed to a favorable learning environment which enabled them to think critically by reflecting on their own learning and draw on personal knowledge autonomously.