Critical thinking is generally claimed to be an essential requirement to effective learning and productive living. In a world of rapid change and globalization, skills such as problem solving, decision making and critical thinking are believed to be particularly acute for engineering graduates. While the Moroccan public university has just started to gain interest in critical thinking development (Belghiti, 2012;El Kirat & Belghiti, 2014), the Moroccan engineering education has been fostering such skills for many years now; this has led the English Language Teaching (ELT) guidelines of the Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles (CPGE) in Morocco to clearly emphasize the explicit use of critical thinking instruction in the English courses to develop the students' critical thinking and prepare them for the social and professional life. Accordingly, this study has attempted to investigate the extent to which critical thinking skills are important in the English course in engineering preparatory classes. It has also aimed to investigate the teaching and assessment practices used in the English classes to develop the students' critical thinking skills. Adopting the mixed methods approach, the study focused on the CPGE centers in Meknes, Fez, and Kenitra. The findings of the study revealed that both CPGE students and teachers are aware of the importance of critical thinking at the professional, academic, social and personal levels. The findings also revealed that the teaching and assessment of critical thinking is done in an explicit way in the CPGE English classes.
Morocco is a multilingual society where different languages are in use. Besides the national and official languages, Moroccans also use a number of foreign languages among which are French, Spanish, and English. Over the last few years, foreign languages have acquired more space and prestige, especially in the educational system. In this respect, the Ministry of Higher Education is promoting the position of the English language through ministerial notes imposing it as a requirement at the doctoral level and for the recruitment of new university professors. With the spread of English as the international language and the language of research and science, current debate concerns also the language of instruction in science streams. The aim of the present study is to address three main research questions, namely ( The study will also analyze the official documents and discourses and the academic literature.
Children normally feel unable or less confident to express their ideas clearly, freely, and critically both orally and in writing when learning a language. Research has demonstrated that children’s early exposure to Bloom’s Taxonomy levels in stories has a “remarkable power” on them (Dickinson, et al. 2012) and helps develop their language and critical-thinking skills (Egan, 1997; Curtain & Dahlberg 2004). The aim of this research project is to investigate the role of Bloom’s Taxonomy in the development of the vocabulary and critical-thinking skills of young Moroccan English learners. The study adopts a qualitative approach and addresses two research questions, namely, (i) To what extent does Bloom’s Taxonomy contribute to the development of the children’s vocabulary and critical thinking skills? (ii) How can the children’s vocabulary and critical-thinking skills development be justified? The comparison and analysis of the children’s story reviews at the start and end of a term reveals significant improvement, among the Moroccan young learners, especially the average ones. They are able to use a wider range of more appropriate and accurate vocabulary and to make use of a more extended, analytical and relevant discourse. Hence, children’s early exposure to Bloom’s Taxonomy is highly recommended as it contributes to the development of their vocabulary and critical-thinking skills.
Children normally feel unable or less confident to express their ideas clearly, freely, and critically both orally and in writing when learning a language. Research has demonstrated that children's early exposure to Bloom's Taxonomy levels in stories has a "remarkable power" on them (Dickinson, et al. 2012) and helps develop their language and critical-thinking skills (Egan, 1997; Curtain & Dahlberg 2004). The aim of this research project is to investigate the role of Bloom's Taxonomy in the development of the vocabulary and critical-thinking skills of young Moroccan English learners. The study adopts a qualitative approach and addresses two research questions, namely, (i) To what extent does Bloom's Taxonomy contribute to the development of the children's vocabulary and critical thinking skills? (ii) How can the children's vocabulary and critical-thinking skills development be justified? The comparison and analysis of the children's story reviews at the start and end of a term reveals significant improvement, among the Moroccan young learners, especially the average ones. They are able to use a wider range of more appropriate and accurate vocabulary and to make use of a more extended, analytical and relevant discourse. Hence, children's early exposure to Bloom's Taxonomy is highly recommended as it contributes to the development of their vocabulary and critical-thinking skills.
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.