‘Dance with shackles on’: Navigating critical thinking in English language classrooms during COVID-19 and beyond

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has significant social, educational and psychological impacts. While teachers are key agents to promote CT at the curriculum level, little is known about how English language teachers engage with CT in the wake of COVID-19. Drawing on teacher interviews and classroom observations, the study found that the participating teachers navigated the various affordances and constraints of COVID-19 and implemented CT instruction primarily by integrating CT skills in language learning and assessment, emphasizing skepticism, fostering reflection and hope, and legitimating students’ voice in the online environment. It suggests that teachers should be conscious of the affordance and constraints of online teaching and attend to students’ emotions and life experiences at the curriculum time to transform students into critical thinkers who can agentively, responsibly and positively engage with their situated reality.

Keywords:

• Critical thinking
• COVID-19
• English language education
• online teaching

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Min Zou

Min Zou is currently a Lecturer in the School of Foreign Languages at Beijing Institute of Technology in China. She received her PhD at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019. Her research interests include critical thinking and EFL writing, and her publications have appeared in international journals such as Journal of Second Language Writing and The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher.

Zehang Chen

Zehang Chen is a Professor in applied linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Beijing Normal University. Her research interests include English language teaching, teacher education and critical thinking development. She has published widely journal articles and books in the field of applied linguistics.