ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.

com/

Thinking Skills in the Language Classroom

Using Blooms Taxonomy for Learning Activities
Do we often teach our students to process the information we provide critically? This is not a question for language teachers; it is a question for all educators. And all of us no matter where we teach- will agree that our students need to develop their thinking skills to be better prepared in their future working environments. Haynes (2009) suggests that

Haynes (2009) also suggests that Blooms Taxonomy can be used to cater for those cravings for thinking skills. Activities, tasks, exercises, and the like can be designed to promote critical thinking among pupils, although their language is not fully-developed. If we keep in the lookout Krashens maxim of i + 1 at its best, without leaving aside the CEF levels of language

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proficiency, language practices can be well-designed and thoughtprovoking. Blooms Taxonomy Level 1: Knowledge When working at this level of Blooms Taxonomy, teachers mostly focus students attention on the explicit information in a text. This is probably the most common type of questions prepared by language instructors. From a syntactical point of view, these questions are on the one hand- yes/no questions that can be simply answered affirmatively or negatively, -on the other hand-, teachers ask for either/or questions.
Listen to the audio track at http://www.divshare.com/download/23765461-ef6

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Does the train go to National Airport? Does the train go to Gallery Place? Does the man transfer to the Yellow Line at National Airport? Does the man have to take the Red Line or the Yellow Line? Is the woman sure about the number of stops?

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Blooms Taxonomy Level 2: Comprehension Reading Comprehension Exercise In contrast to level 1 where information is explicit, in level 2 the teacher has to have students work with implicit information and inferences. Comprehending the data within a text can allow the students to interpret facts in order to compare, contrast, illustrate, and classify information. 1 2 3 4 5 Whats the philosophers attitude towards the boatman? What does the philosopher value in life? Why does the scholar look down on the boatman? Whats the boatmans philosophy of life? What does the boatman teach in his final moments- to the philosopher
Exercises for Bloooms Taxonomy Level 2 / Prof. Jonathan Acuas docx Read the story at http://www.scribd.com/doc/126685450/The-Philosopher-and-the-Boatman

Blooms Taxonomy Level 3: Application Finding Solutions At the application level, teachers have a great range of possible activities for their students and language skills. One of these possibilities is problemsolving tasks based on a situation where the student tries to find (a) solution(s) that can satisfy the requirements of the people who are part of the problem. Of course, comprehending and knowing the situation also

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

allows the student to find a sensible solution with higher critical thinking skills.
Finding Solutions: The Chens Family Hunting for an Apartment

Situation Mr. Chen and his family are looking for a new apartment since they live in a cramped place. The Chen Family has only $1,200 to spend on rent monthly. Because they are five people, they want a 4-bedroom place, but if not, a 3-bedroom apartment is ok for them, too. Help them find a place by checking the ads in the classified section of the newspaper. They want a place that needs to be close to a school because their children are in primary school. Option 1 Option 2 # of rooms # of rooms Rent $ Rent $ Location Location Facilities Facilities Why this place? Why this place?

Exercises for Bloooms Taxonomy Level 3 / Prof. Jonathan Acuas docx

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

Blooms Taxonomy Level 4: Analysis Short Story Analysis: Younde Goes to Town At level 4 the teacher can have students work for instance- with short stories to identify the real sequencing of events in it. Another possible task is to have students, as suggested by Haynes (2009), is to have them compare characters at the beginning of the story and then at the end. Students can really analyze what really happened in a story chronologically speaking and can analyze the evolution of a characters psyche.
Short Story Analysis: Younde Goes to Town

Sequencing of events: Read the story and number the events in a chronological way. __ Younde thinks the market is bigger than his village. 1 __ Younde feels sorry for the dead man and his fortune. __ Younde prepares a trip to Accra. __ Younde asks for the owner of the sailboats. __ Younde arrives in Accra. __ Younde finds a funeral on his way back home. __ Younde is surprised by the big buildings in the city. __ Younde runs into a boy taking care of a lot of cattle. 2 3 4 Why is this misunderstanding happening? Is thre a difference in Younde if compared to the beginning and the end of the story? Why do you think Younde never realized what was happening?
Exercises for Bloooms Taxonomy Level 4 / Prof. Jonathan Acuas docx
Read the story at http://www.scribd.com/doc/127034007/Younde-Goes-to-Town

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

Blooms Taxonomy Level 5: Synthesis Giving an Opinion: Varokaa heikkoa jt According to Haynes (2009), Synthesis

By means of synthesis, the teacher can have students combine data from various types of texts to produce new information based on their opinions and understanding. Students can also come up with alternative solutions by synthetizing data and apply into new higher thinking combinations.
Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bpjR5a7IXUU

Info Synthesis: Varokaa heikkoa jt

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What can be the meaning of varokaa heikkoa jt? How would one survive without friends? What would change in the video to make it more powerful? Are there characters in the story that are not relevant? Would you eliminate any character? What may happen with you if you are careless walking on thin ice?
Exercises for Bloooms Taxonomy Level 5 / Prof. Jonathan Acuas docx

Blooms Taxonomy Level 6: Evaluations Evaluating the content of a song: The Logical Song At this point, the teacher has to be yielding opinions and judgments from his/her students. Information has to be used to provoke some more higher

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critical thinking to have students defend a position with solid arguments while using the data provided by the text.
Evaluation: The Logical Song by Supertramp

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What do you think the singer is trying to tell you about education? What dont you like about our educational system? Do you think education in our country is good? Why or why not? What part of the lyrics do you like best? Why? Why do you think the singer decided to share this song? If you could, what would you do to change our educational system? Are there songs that give similar criticism towards education? Are they better than The Logical Song? Why do you think this song was entitled The Logical Song?
Exercises for Bloooms Taxonomy Level 6 / Prof. Jonathan Acuas docx

To sum up, Blooms Taxonomy is alive in education. As language instructors is our task to fully take advantage of it to teach critical thinking skills to our students to have them be better prepared for their future professional world where critical thinking is highly valued. By choosing activities that range from level 1 to 6, we can provide students variety to really engage them in their learning and in their development of thinking processes.

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, its advisable to research and expand these areas: 1 2 3 4 5 Blooms Taxonomy in ELT Critical Thinking in Language Learning Meaningful Learning Tasks Hierarchical Thinking in ELT Learning Outcomes via Blooms Taxonomy

Professor Jonathan Acua-Solano ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica Curricular Developer at CCCN Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America For further comments or suggestions, reach me at: @jonacuso Twitter jonacuso@gmail.com Gmail

ELT article published by Prof. Jonathan Acua at http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are: 1. http://bin-02.blogspot.com/ 3. http://bin-06.blogspot.com/ 2. http://bin-04.blogspot.com/ 4. Computering Applications in Education

Frankel, I & Victoria Kimbrough (1998) Gateways 2 [Audio CD1, track 30] Produced by The Sun Group for Oxford University Press Haynes, J. (2009) Bloom's taxonomy and English language learners, published by everythingESL.net at http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/ blooms_taxonomy_language_learn_16902.php Hodgson, R. (1979) The Logical Song [by Supertramp], Audio track from the album Breakfast in America Mickwitx, C. (2006) Varokaa heikkoa jt [Video] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpjR5a7IXUU