Integrating critical thinking in efl classes: Curent practices and prospects. 2012). This empirical study aims to investigate the integration of critical thinking in EFL classes at a university of foreign languages. Document analysis (course syllabi) and semi -structured interviews (teachers) were used to collect data for this specific question. | Journal of Inquiry into Languages and Cultures ISSN 2525-2674 Vol 1, No 3, 2017 INTEGRATING CRITICAL THINKING IN EFL CLASSES: CURENT PRACTICES AND PROSPECTS Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh* University of Foreign Languages, Hue University Received: 29/09/2017; Revised: 26/10/2017; Accepted: 27/12/2017 Abstract: Critical thinking has recently been recognised as an important component of language education (Gunawardena & Petraki, 2014; Houghton & Yamada, 2012). This empirical study aims to investigate the integration of critical thinking in EFL classes at a university of foreign languages. Document analysis (course syllabi) and semi-structured interviews (teachers) were used to collect data for this specific question. The study found that critical thinking was stated as a course objective unevenly between the skill-based and content-based courses, and that the teachers faced certain constraints (., the introduction of CEFR) to integrate critical thinking in their teaching. The study findings raise the question about how much EFL curriculum orientation should be about language skills or criticality, and the opportunities for critical thinking development in EFL skill-based and content-based courses. Key words: CEFR, content, critical thinking, EFL, language 1. Introduction Teaching and learning in Vietnam have been described as employing a traditional transmission pedagogy in which teachers transmit knowledge and students passively receive and memorise it (Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 2015; Tran Thi Ly et al., 2014; MOET, 2009). Vietnamese education is largely curriculum-and-textbook oriented (Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 2015). According to Tran Thi Ly et al. (2014), knowledge imparted by the teacher and drawn solely from textbooks has been commonly viewed as incontestable. Students are conditioned to passively accept knowledge rather than being provided with opportunities to creatively and critically engage with knowledge. The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has .
