Assessing Critical Thinking in English Language Teaching: A Document Analysis of Student Book Reviews

Authors

Fahmy Imaniar UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32528/ellite.v9i2.2958

Keywords:

Academic Writing, Book Review, Critical Thinking, Document Analysis, English Language Teaching, OECD Critical Thinking Assessment Rubric

Abstract

Much like problem-solving and decision-making skills as needed in the 21^st century, critical thinking is an essential skill in English Language Teaching (ELT), as its demands students to analyze, evaluate, and articulate logical arguments. Even with its noted significance, the planning and the evaluation of critical thinking components within ELT remains difficult because of the absence of systematic assessment instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the critical thinking levels of English Language Education Department students through documents analysis of 34 first-drafted book reviews that were analyzed using the OECD Critical Thinking Assessment Rubric. The rubric assesses learners’ ability to take a personal stance, consider opposing views, provide sufficient evidence, and identify claims and limitations. The result shows that 17.6% of students had Outstanding critical thinking skills, 29.4% Flourishing, 35.3% Emergent, and 17.6% Dormant. Most students were able to formulate an argument, but justifications and consideration of other perspectives were inadequately resolved at the shallow level. The results from this study indicate the importance of providing follow-up action of students’ writing for critical thinking and defined criteria for critical thinking assessments in ELT writing classes. This investigation has added the literature on critical thinking evaluation in ELT.

References

Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Borokhovski, E., Waddington, D. I., Wade, C. A., & Persson, T. (2015). Strategies for Teaching Students to Think Critically: A Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 85(2), 275–314. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654314551063

Bintang, A. (2024). Document analysis as a tool for assessing critical thinking in academic writing. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 15(1), 45–60.

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027

Brown, S., & Race, P. (2020). Using effective assessment to promote critical thinking in higher education. Routledge.

Cheng, L. (2018). Metacognitive awareness in academic writing: A case study of book review tasks. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 35, 12–25.

Davies, M., & Barnett, R. (2015). The Palgrave handbook of critical thinking in higher education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Deardorff, D. K. (2021). Manual for developing intercultural competencies. UNESCO.

Destri, D. (2019). Critical thinking in analytical exposition texts: A study of Indonesian university students. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistic, 9(1), 123–134.

Dhari, R., & Maisarah, S. (2025). Challenges in assessing critical thinking: A systematic review. Educational Assessment Review, 18(3), 89–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9401-4

Ennis, R. H. (2018). Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: A Vision. Topoi, 37(1), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9401-4

Facione, P. A. (1990). Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction. The California Academic Press.

Facione, P. A. (2020). Critical Thinking : What It Is and Why It Counts. Insight Assessment.

Freire, P. (2020). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In The Community Performance Reader. Continuum. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003060635-5

Fung, D., To, H., & Rim, K. (2016). Cultivating critical thinking through book reviews in English classrooms. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 12(2), 45–62.

Gelder, T. van. (2005). Teaching Critical Thinking: Some Lessons From Cognitive Science. College Teaching, 53(1), 41–48. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.53.1.41-48

Halpern, D. F. (2014). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking. Psychology Press.

Halpern, D. F. (2019). Critical thinking in the age of misinformation. Educational Psychologist, 54(4), 249–261.

Hardianti, R., Jabu, B., & Salija, K. (2023). Struggles in structuring arguments: A study of critical thinking in analytical exposition texts. Indonesian Journal of ELT and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 78–92.

Hastiari, D. (2020). Assessing Student’s Critical Thinking In Essay Writing. IAIN Bengkulu.

Hyland, K. (2019). Second language writing. Cambridge University Press.

Ilyas, H. P. (2016). Assessing critical thinking in academic writing: A rubric-based approach. TEFLIN Journal, 27(2), 145–162.

Imaniar, F., Pratama, R. D., Lestari, L. A., & Munir, A. (2018). Critical Thinking in the Teaching of EFL Academic Writing. Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.

Kamimura, T. (2020). Effects of book review writing on critical thinking development. Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 10(3), 112–128.

Kemendikbud. (2020). Kerangka kurikulum merdeka belajar. Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

Kuswandaru, A., & Prasetya, B. (2024). Integrating critical thinking into Indonesian ELT: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 16(1), 89–103.

Lai, E. R. (2017). Critical thinking: A literature review. Pearson Education Research Report, 6(1), 1–40.

Li, J. (2016). Document analysis in qualitative research: A review of practices. Qualitative Research in Education, 5(2), 45–60.

Lun, V. M. C., Fischer, R., & Ward, C. (2010). Exploring cultural differences in critical thinking: Is it about my thinking style or the language I speak? Learning and Individual Differences, 20(6), 604–616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.07.001

Marin, L. M., & Halpern, D. F. (2011). Pedagogy for developing critical thinking