This project was carried out at Teresita Montes School in Armenia, Quindío. The learners from Eleventh A-B (A2) grade were chosen to take part in this project. This is a mixed group of 32 boys and girls whose ages range between 15 and 18 years old. Based on an English proficiency test implemented at the beginning of the year, the learners were classified into level A2.
The main objective of this project was to design seven lesson plans to promote critical thinking skills taking into account the methodologies of Task Based Learning, Problem Based Learning and Project Based Learning. Additionally, the contributions of Penny Ur on critical thinking in language teaching and Bloom´s Taxonomy were also taken into consideration throughout this project.
ACTION STAGE
At the first stage of this project, the learners had the possibility to analyze, reflect and discuss about the content of some news articles regarding social and environmental issues which have taken place not only in Colombia, but also in other countries worldwide. For instance, the learners had the possibility to talk about human rights (lesson plan 1 and 2), climate issues and fake news (lesson plan 3), digital citizens and bullying ( lesson plan 4), the inappropriate use of social networks (lesson plan 5), design of a newspaper article (lesson plan 6), mining industry in Colombia (lesson plan 7).
After having analyzed the articles, the learners had the opportunity to put into practice their writing and oral competences through the design of an opinion essay, the design of a newspaper, short discussions in pairs and the participation in a debate. For the written tasks the learners applied some writing strategies such as planning, drafting, checking and editing until they elaborated their final versions of their writings.
Finally, the language focus was incorporated where the learners identified and put into practice the appropriate linguistic elements they had to take into account in their written and oral production.
EVALUATION
In order to conclude the action stage two instruments were administered which are learners' letters and self-assessment in order to evaluate the impact of this project. After having analyzed and interpreted all the data gathered from these instruments, it was found that the project had very positive results. For instance, in the letters, most learners expressed positive comments and they manifested that despite the fact it was a complex process since all the tasks required a mental effort, it was interesting because they learned to express better their arguments, elaborate more structured texts and defend their points of view orally. (See the results)
