ARGUMENT 1 – BETTER UNDERSTANDING

First and foremost, critical thinking gives students better understanding about the subject. This is due to the reason that students need to have a picture or an overview about what they are going to learn in order to give them some background idea to understand what they are learning. Critical thinking means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world. Another way to describe it is reasonable, reflective, responsible, and skillful thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do. Steven (2000)

Teachers may of course directly teach critical thinking principles to the students during learning process in classroom. Teachers can present the subject matter in a way that students will be encouraged to think critically about it. This is accomplished during language learning by questioning the students in ways that require that they not only understand the material, but can analyze it and apply it to new situations. Besides, teachers can evaluate the student trough term papers. The best way to teach critical thinking is to require that students write. Writing forces students to organize their thoughts, contemplate their topic, evaluate their data in a logical fashion, and present their conclusions in a persuasive manner. Good writing is the epitome of good critical thinking. Budgen (2007)

Furthermore, a person who thinks critically can ask appropriate questions, gather relevant information, efficiently and creatively sort through this information, reason logically from this information, and come to reliable and trustworthy conclusions about the world that enable one to live and act successfully in it. Jamal Badi (2005) stressed in his book that “Asking question is one of most effective tools in learning to clarify the understanding of the student. Critical thinking helps them to think further and ask question on what and how the language learning going to take place”. (p.61)