Teacher Trainees’ Role in Implementing Higher Order Thinking Skills in The ESL Classroom.

Language Learning

This study explored how teacher trainees implement higher order thinking skills (HOTS) among their pupils in the ESL classroom during their practicum. The trainees used four different platforms; questioning technique, group activities, individual activities and lesson plans to encourage HOTS with varying results. The participants of this qualitative case study consisted of four teacher trainees who were in their final phase of their practicum. Data were collected through three main instruments; classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Results of this study revealed that (a) a change in the questioning technique cause a change in thinking level of the pupils, (b) group activities made pupils to be active and responded at a higher thinking level, (c) well-planned individual activities encouraged pupils to think at a higher level, and, (d) thinking level was found to be closely related to lesson planning. HOTS in this study was identified based on verbs and the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy Besides, pupils’ proficiency level and teachers attitude also contributed to the findings of this study.

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