Critical Thinking (Paperback)

Table of Contents Preface * Acknowledgements * List of Figures * List of Tables * Part 1 From Research to Implications * Introduction - What is Critical Thinking? * A. Common Questions about Critical Thinking in English Language Teaching * A.1 I’m a language teacher. Why should I be concerned about teaching critical thinking? * A.2 Isn’t critical thinking something best taught in the students’ first language? * A.3 My students are so unmotivated. How could ever I get them to study critical thinking? * A.4 Isn’t critical thinking something that students pick up on their own as part of getting a good education? * A.5 Aren’t we just forcing our students to adopt Western styles of thinking? * A.6 Do you really need a book on critical thinking in ELT? * B. A Closer Look at Critical Thinking * B.1 Argumentation * B.2 Logical Fallacies * B.3 Externalizing Critical Thinking Through Problem-Solving * C. Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to second language learners * D. Implications * Part 2 From Implications to Applications * Introduction * Section 1: The Critical Thinking Cycle * A. Developing Dispositions Activity 1: Prove it! * Activity 2: Supporting opinions: The ‘why’ game * Activity 3: Challenging beliefs * Activity 4: Create a profile: Understanding biases * Activity 5: Bias in news headlines * B. Receiving Activity 6: Paying attention * Activity 7: Show me you’re listening: Body language * Activity 8: Show me you’re listening II: Backchanneling * Activity 9: Picture what I’m saying * Activity 10: Listen. Don’t interrupt! * C. Reasoning Activity 11: Categorize it! * Activity 12: Rank it! * Activity 13: Persuade me! * Activity 14: Spot the problem! * Activity 15: Sloppy sophistry * D. Responding Activity 16: Reflecting * Activity 17: Summarize this * Activity 18: Critical conversations * Activity 19: Correct me! * Activity 20: The critical thinking cycle: A review * Section 2: Logical Fallacies * A. Logical fallacies: An introduction * Activity 21: Introduction to logical fallacies * B. Logical fallacies: Faulty conclusions * Non Sequitur Activity 22: Does it follow? * Activity 23: Spot the non sequitur * Activity 24: Non sequiturs in politics * Probability Fallacy Activity 25: How probably? * Activity 26: Drawing the conclusion * Activity 27: Fearmongering with probability * Begging the question Activity 28: Which is the better reason? * Activity 29: Don’t beg the question! * Activity 30: To beg or raise the question * Post Hoc Fallacy Activity 31: Does A cause B? * Activity 32: Fallacious connections * Activity 33: Correlation not causation * Hasty generalization Activity 34: All students in this class… * Activity 35: Don’t be hasty! * Activity 36: Everyday generalizations * Single Cause Fallacy Activity 37: Many causes * Activity 38: A popular restaurant * Activity 39: How many causes? * False Equivalence Activity 40: Comparing apples to oranges * Activity 41: They’re not the same * Activity 42: Wronger than wrong * Sunk Cost Fallacy Activity 43: What should they do? * Activity 44: Is it a good decision? * Activity 45: What would you do? * C. Logical fallacies: Questionable reasons * Ad Hominem Activity 46: Don’t attack me! * Activity 47: Attack the argument! * Activity 48: Guilt by association * Red Herring Activity 49: Avoiding the question * Activity 50: Don’t distract me! * Activity 51: Red herrings in politics * Circular Reasoning * Activity 52: Don’t go round in circles * Activity 53: You gotta do what you gotta do! * Activity 54: Is circular reasoning begging the question? * Straw Man * Activity 55: Don’t exaggerate! * Activity 56: Family arguments * Activity 57: Countering a straw man argument * Either/Or Activity 58: The third option * Activity 59: Either A or B but what about C? * Activity 60: It’s not so black and white! * Stacking the Deck Activity 61: Half the picture * Activity 62: The full picture * Activity 63: Fair play or stacking the deck? * Equivocation Activity 64: Homonyms * Activity 65: Changing the meaning * Activity 66: Equivocation in politics * Appeal to Emotion Activity 67: How does it make you feel? * Activity 68: Be afraid, be very afraid * Activity 69: So many emotions * D. Logical fallacies: Mistaken assumptions * Gambler’s Fallacy Activity 70: Heads or tails? * Activity 71: Monte Carlo * Activity 72: What would you do (Part 2)? * Logical Paradox Activity 73: Is it a contradiction? * Activity 74: The Abilene Paradox * Activity 75: What’s the paradox? * Unwarranted Assumptions Activity 76: Is it warranted? * Activity 77: This morning’s assumptions * Activity 78: What have the Romans ever done for us? * Genetic Fallacy Activity 79: Which is the better reason? (Part 2) * Activity 80: Who said it? * Activity 81: Origins * Common Belief Fallacy Activity 82: True or false * Activity 83: Accept or reject * Activity 84: The things we believed * Slippery Slope Fallacy Activity 85: Negative chains * Activity 86: Can I have a chocolate? * Activity 87: Countering slippery slope arguments * Ignorance Fallacy Activity 88: Evidence of no evidence? * Activity 89: No evidence is no evidence! * Activity 90: No evidence is evidence! * Naturalistic Fallacy Activity 91: Is it good for us? * Activity 92: What is to what ought to be! * Activity 93: That’s just the way it is! * Part 3 From Application to Implementation * Introduction * A. Creating a Critical Thinking Course * A.1 Making your own CT course * A.2 Negotiating a CT course * B. Using the activities to supplement a course * C. Implementing Critical Thinking Activities into your Classroom * C.1 Using the CT cycle activities as an introduction * C.2 Using activity 21 as a needs analysis * C.3 Using the logical fallacy activities * C.4 Returning to the CT cycle * C.5 Reflecting on learning * C.6 Keeping a CT diary * D. Going Beyond the Activities in the Book * D.1 Researching CT * D.2 Finding more fallacies * D.3 Creating your own CT activities * E. A final note * Part 4 From Implementation to Research * Introduction * A. Integrating Methodologies * A.1 Action Research * A.2 Mixed Methods Research * A.3 Putting it Together * B. The ‘PEAR’ Approach * B.1 Progressive Exploratory Action Research * B.2 Progressive Explanatory Action Research * C. Final Caveats and Suggestions * D. Making a Contribution * E. Concluding Thoughts * References *