Teaching and Learning ESL Writing by Critical Thinking

Diana Po Lan SHAM^1,

¹Hong Kong Chinese Institute of Engineers Ltd. Honorary Lecturer, HKUSPACE & CUHK, SCS

Cite this paper:
Diana Po Lan SHAM. Teaching and Learning ESL Writing by Critical Thinking. American Journal of Educational Research. 2016; 4(12):854-860. doi: 10.12691/education-4-12-1

Abstract

In traditional ESL writing class, the English teacher/lecturer just gives the students a topic, a paragraph or a series of diagrams and then asks the class to write the essays individually. According to the revised Bloom’s taxonomy [1], there are six levels including Remember; Understand; Apply; Analyze; Evaluate; Create. When we apply the taxonomy in teaching ESL writing and create an innovative and interactive setting, we can lead the learners to go through all the critical thinking stages. As a result, they have widened their scope with more fun after brainstorming and better learning outcomes in writing. I have adopted this method in teaching the ESL undergraduates and adult learners in various universities in Hong Kong, and Zhuhai and found it very effective. In this paper, I am going to explain and analyze how the creative and interactive ESL writing classes are structured with an example and the students’ feedback.

Keywords:
Bloom’s Taxonomy critical thinking ESL writing brainstorming creative interactive effective

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