Examining Teachers’ Practices in Fostering Critical Thinking: A Case Study at Dian Didaktika Senior High School & 47 Jakarta Senior High School

anita dewi ekawati, s.s., m.pd.; hamzah puadi ilyas, ph.d.; dr. syaadiah arifin, m.pd.;

Focusing on critical thinking has been the objective of the 2013 Curriculum and students are required to possess critical thinking skill as it is preparing them to study at higher educational level. It is possible to foster critical thinking as a part of teaching activities since the implementation of critical thinking in non western countries such as Malaysia and Singapore have been successful. Thus, in order to make sure teachers are able to foster critical thinking in classroom setting, it is much better to understand teachers’ practices in fostering critical thinking this can be done by examining teaching
and learning activities. This thesis therefore aimed at examining teachers’ practices in fostering critical thinking. Two research questions were formulated namely (1) What are teachers’ perception on critical thinking?, and (2) what are the teachers’ teaching practices in fostering critical thinking?. 4 English teachers were involved in this study. Interview and observation were used in order to obtain data related to teachers’ teaching practices and perception on critical thinking. The data obtained from observation was
analyzed through analytical analysis and the interview was analyzed through thematic analysis. This study can be concluded that teachers teaching at both public and private school posses quite comprehensive understanding on critical thinking. Teachers were also able to categorize Bloom taxonomy cognitive skills starting from lower order thinking skills to higher order thinking skills. In addition, the teacher also believed that their students are good critical thinker as they asserted that they students have an ability to analyze and evaluate text comprehensively. In addition to teachers’ teaching practices
in fostering critical thinking, teachers have conducted teaching activities by employing questions to lead students to think critically for instance by asking students to evaluate a reading text with a question “How would you explain why this particular decision was made?”. Unfortunately, the teachers were unable to provide questions and activities that lead to Bloom taxonomy highest cognitive level which is creating. This might be because teachers were confronted with various challenges. This study implicates on teachers’ practices to foster critical thinking in their classroom setting. It can promote teachers who are struggling in fostering critical thinking in their classroom setting. Hence, school parties should consider critical thinking to be embedded as a part of school curriculum. In addition, providing sufficient teachers training to foster critical thinking should be considered.