CRITICAL THINKING:

The following definitions from literature throw light on the variety of definitions of critical
thinking.
Critical thinking is a process of evaluating statement, arguments and experiences.(d'Angelo
1971)
Critical thinking is reasonably and reflectively deciding what to believe or do.(Ennis and Weir
1985)
Critical thinking is the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to
make your thinking better: clearer, more accurate, more defensible.(Paul 1992)
DAngelo (1971) defined critical thinking as evaluation process. But on the other hand Ennis and
Weir (1985) illustrates that critical thinking is a source of reflection (means) to an action (i.e.
end).Paul (1922), seems to be of the view that critical thinking is a means of improvement for
ones thinking. The final definition by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Committee on Critical thinking (2003) proves in many ways satisfactory and
comprehensive.According to this committee critical thinking like D Angelo a process of
evaluation , like Paul a process of thinking, and like Ennis and Weir a means to an end. In the
above definitions there is difference in focusbut one thing is same in these definitions that critical
thinking is a process (i.e. a meaningful and purposeful mental activity). Furthermore, it is
derived from all these definitions that critical thinking is not a name of single skill but a set of
skills. (E.g. means ones opinion).Anyhow there is no finalized list of skills but some skills are
mentioned below (based on Mayfield, 2001)
ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE:
Teaching effectiveness seen as relative scare gains has been examined in terms of simple and
partial correlations between teacher, behavior and student gains; teaching effectiveness seen as
the teacher's ability to_ Improve-the performance of the audience of the poorer students while
maintaining that of the better students has been studied in terms of regression Slopes, with
effective teachers being those who create flatter slopes' and less effective teachers those with
steeper slopes(p. 8) (Ramirez and Stromquist 1979)
"As I Was Saying to Leonard Bloomfield: A Personalized History of ESL/Writing".(Blanton
2002), In this research she discussed the methods through which we can enhance our writing
ability in second language learning. Lets connect classrooms to communities, where we all live
our lives. Experience is a powerful teacher." (p. 158)
The study is about the correction of omissions and errors in writing an assignment in foreign
language learning. These might be reduced, by the teacher or highlight mistakes for the self
correction of student. Which one method would be effective? According to the researcher, direct
correction is more preferable.(Chandler 2003)
The language level covers different aspects of L2 like culture, community, pragmatic, and
utilitarian benefits attached with it. The learner level entails distinctive features of the individual

that he/she brings to the learning process. The learning situation considers to specific motives in
the language learning classroom setting like course, teacher and group specific components. (p.
116)(Shahbaz and Liu 2012)
This study throws a light on different trends, issues and implementation of policies in second
language, in Pakistan. Main issue is that the medium of instruction in schools must be English.
This may lead Pakistan towards illiteracy rather than a literate country.(Shamim 2008)

Blanton, L. L. (2002). "As I was saying to Leonard Bloomfield: A personalized history

of ESL/writing." LL Blanton 8c B. Kroll et al., ESL composition tales: Reflections on
teaching: 135-162.
Chandler, J. (2003). "The efficacy of various kinds of error feedback for improvement
in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing." Journal of second language
writing 12(3): 267-296.
d'Angelo, E. (1971). The teaching of critical thinking, Br Gruner Pub Co.
Ennis, R. H. and E. E. Weir (1985). The Ennis-Weir critical thinking essay test: An
instrument for teaching and testing, Midwest Publications.
Paul, R. (1992). "Critical thinking: What, why, and how." New Directions for
Community Colleges 1992(77): 3-24.
Ramirez, A. G. and N. P. Stromquist (1979). "ESL methodology and student language
learning in bilingual elementary schools." TESOL Quarterly: 145-158.
Shahbaz, M. and Y. Liu (2012). "Complexity of L2 Motivation in an Asian ESL
Setting." Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didctica de las lenguas
extranjeras(18): 115-132.
Shamim, F. (2008). "Trends, issues and challenges in English language education in
Pakistan." Asia Pacific Journal of Education 28(3): 235-249.