Magister En Docencia Universitaria

Developing Linguistic Competences by means of Critical Thinking in Medical Students at Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo

Adriana Cundar R.
July 2012
Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo. UNACH-Ecuador
(Chimborazo National University)
Programa de Maestría en Lingüística Aplicada al Aprendizaje de Inglés
Master’s Program in Applied Linguistics to Learning English

Abstract
Littleresearch has been done in the field of Critical Thinking applied to the teaching of English in the higher education context. This research study is to demonstrate the effects of applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to spark the acquisition of linguistic competences while focusing on Medical English in a course designed for medical students in their last level of English as a Foreign Language.Hypothetic-deductive method was the basis of the research that started with an exhaustive observation of the phenomenon relationships and implications to draw research questions that were answered after having worked for six months with the students who participated in the study. The results show that students are able to learn more than decontextualized grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and formulas but to usethe knowledge in their field to analyze, evaluate synthetize and recreate information in the target language when they are exposed to a classroom environment where higher order critical thinking is fostered. Receptive and productive skills were enhanced as a result of the appropriate use of activities that helped students to change their view of being passive recipients to active producers ofknowledge. It is the professor who is responsible for changing the paradigm of memorization and mechanization to a conception in which students are given enough opportunities to work over the information they are exposed to in class.

Keywords
Receptive Language Skills: reading and listening
Productive Language Skills: speaking and writing
Bloom’s Taxonomy: hierarchical organization ofinstructional goals
HOTS: Higher order thinking skills
LOWS: Lower order thinking skills

Modern society values professionals who demonstrate abilities to solve problems, adjust themselves to change, communicate effectively but best of all those who in addition of having the knowledge regarding their specific field are also able to think critically. This assertion is supported by the government’s plan toevaluate higher education outcomes that started two years ago by assessing students in their final undergraduate semesters. The tests measure not only knowledge in a specific field but also abilities to reason, evaluate, create, synthetize, comment, and so on. In other words, students are tested in their Critical Thinking proficiency.

College professors lean towards focusing to teach thecontent of a course by giving lectures, activities and evaluation designed to transmit and measure how much the student knows about the topic neglecting other aspects that are more important for college students like debating, criticizing or problem solving. As a consequence, efforts of both teachers and students are hampered in short, medium and long term outcomes.

English Language Teaching atUniversidad Nacional de Chimborazo (UNACH) also reflects the characteristics of this reality. Students in the bachelor’s program, must attend six levels of English; unfortunately the classes are characterized by memorization, application of grammatical rules, decontextualized vocabulary, and excessive controlled practice exercises without opportunities for application of skills; this has resulted inpositioning the language not as tool of reasoning, communication, culture and knowledge but just as another course that has to be memorized, passed and forgotten.

The description above clearly contradicts the principles of critical thinking which encourages students to reason and understand the logic of the information they are working with. In the English as a Foreign Language classroom this...