A Sociocultural Study on English Learners' Critical Thinking Skills and Competence

Introduction

In a world surrounded by challenges and crises, as future citizens, learners need to foster and develop critical thinking, enabling them to act and contribute to society efficiently, showing commitment and respect for nature, equity, and justice. Globalization and the spread of new technologies as a powerful means of transmitting information make scholars question the term 'information' as an organized collection of data to allow comprehension and contribute to new knowledge. Reliable information lies in an analytic reflection to have diverse alternatives, make decisions, and solve problems. Today, learners are overloaded with countless pieces of information that are not entirely reliable. It is not always straightforward for them to discern between trustworthy or biased information. This burden of information requires the capacity to evaluate amongst valid sources of information and seek evidence to draw reasonable conclusions and make fair judgments and decisions. Raising awareness of the importance of developing an analytic strategy to face this challenge is vital for young people.

Aliakbari & Sadeghdaghighi (2011) assert that thinking critically needs to be developed as other processes of learning. An education of quality needs to endow learners with the intellectual tools to seize, catalogue and codify the amount of input received through mass media, social networks, news, and even populist movements that generate bias towards individual values to influence ideas and behaviors. On the grounds that learners must overcome the current or future crises, education is now, to a more considerable extent, the most effective instrument to struggle against falseness and inaccuracies.

Information means knowledge and cognition within education, but this knowledge must be learned parallel to reflective, analytical, and critical concerns (Freire, 1990). Educational systems are then called for encompassing academic requirements, including critical thinking competence through pedagogical designs to engage learners to learn and work with motivation (Bowen, 2003). In this sense, a second language (L2) or foreign language (FL) learning context may be an excellent space to provide the opportunity to develop this competence. Learning an L2 implies multiple directionalities since the target language operates in diversified linguistic and sociocultural dimensions. In addition, literature in the L2 becomes a relevant source of intercultural competence and offers endless motivational resources that encourage students' intellectual curiosity, personal accomplishment, or self-confidence. These factors help learners grow academically and personally, giving rise to a renewed learning context and a more optimal and pleasant place for apprentices and teachers (Fernández et al., 2012).

This chapter presents a sociocultural instructional model (Polly et al., 2017) and the pedagogical activities designed and implemented to foster and encourage L2 learners' critical thinking. This instructional model's main aim was to enhance learners' reflective and analytical attitudes, which become vital in times of crisis, enabling them to react to biased information and reduce their vulnerability. L2 active methodologies were applied to achieve this objective, by using literature and cinema to engage students' inquisitiveness and challenge learners' thinking skills. This study specifically sought to find a response to the following research questions:

• •

  What goal orientations, strategies, and techniques serve to upgrade engagement towards critical thinking in Baccalaureate learners?

• •

  Which strategies are the most highly regarded to develop critical thinking skills by Baccalaureate learners?

• •

  How can teachers guide learners' critical thinking within a sociocultural educational context?

The initial qualitative findings obtained in the action-research study are presented in this chapter as a guide for future research in sociolinguistic and cultural studies oriented to raise the quality of education.