Some Problematic ''Channels'' In the Teaching of Critical Thinking in Current LI Composition Textboo...

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Some Problematic ''Channels'' In the Teaching of Critical Thinking in Current LI Composition Textbooks: "
Ramanathan, Vai; Kaplan, Robert B.

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	909575
Doc. No	:	LA8bn658q0
Title & Author	:	Some Problematic ''Channels'' In the Teaching of Critical Thinking in Current LI Composition Textbooks:. Implications for L2 Student-Writers [Article]\ Ramanathan, Vai; Kaplan, Robert B.
Date	:	1996
Title of Periodical	:	UCLA
Abstract	:	Advanced writing courses in manyfreshman composition programs stress the importance of teaching critical thinking skills where students—both LI and L2—are encouraged to examine and question the social world they inhabit. Derived from an analysis of 12 current freshman composition textbooks, we identify three common "channels" through which student-writers are inducted into the critical thinking practice. These three channels are: (1) using informal logic as a way of developing students' reasoning strategies, (2) developing and refining students' problem solving skills, and (3) developing students' ability to analyze hidden assumptions in 'everyday arguments. ' This study calls attention to the problematic nature ofthese "channels " and to some implications oftransferring these channels in L2 writing classrooms. We believe that critical thinking is largely a sociocognitive practice that draws significantly on shared cultural practices and norms that mainstream students have (had) access to. ESL student-writers, however, given their diverse sociocultural backgrounds, have not necessarily been socialized in ways that would make induction into critical thinking a (relatively) smooth process (Atkinson & Ramanathan, 1995). Using critical thinking textbooks (written by and large for LI students) then, in L2 writing classrooms has complex consequences. Based on our current examination and previous study (Ramanathan & Kaplan, 1996a), we propose a discipline oriented approach to teaching writing, especially for non-native student-writers.