INTEGRATING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS INTO EFL LESSONS FOR GRADES 5–9 THROUGH THE “GUESS WHAT!” COURSEBOOKS

Abstract

The development of critical thinking is increasingly recognised as an essential goal of modern education, particularly within English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction. However, in many lower secondary classrooms, especially in grades 5–9, critical thinking skills are not systematically integrated into everyday lessons and often remain secondary to language accuracy and basic comprehension. Although widely used EFL coursebooks contain tasks with cognitive potential, these opportunities are not always fully realised in classroom practice.

This study aims to explore how critical thinking skills can be integrated into EFL lessons for grades 5–9 through the pedagogical use of the “Guess What!” coursebooks. The study adopts a qualitative, framework-based approach grounded in coursebook content analysis and pedagogical reasoning. The analysis focuses on aligning recurring lesson stages—pre-task, while-task, and post-task—with targeted cognitive processes such as predicting, analysing, inferring, evaluating, and justifying ideas.

The findings suggest that critical thinking can be developed systematically by organising existing coursebook tasks through purposeful lesson staging and teacher scaffolding. The proposed framework ensures developmental progression across grades 5–9 and demonstrates how higher-order thinking can be embedded into regular EFL lessons without the need for additional materials. The study offers practical implications for EFL teachers working in local educational contexts and contributes to more effective coursebook-based instruction.