Critical Thinking, Questioning and Reasoning as Inclusive Teaching Methods for English Language Learning with Gifted Students

Abstract

Critical thinking is becoming one of the basic foundations of modern teaching and learning: it implies not only complex (meta)cognitive abilities able to forge one’s personality, but it can be applied as a key-method during English classes in both receptive and productive skills. In addition, it has been confirmed that verbally gifted students show a high ability of thinking critically: an essential ingredient that, together with a strong questioning and reasoning attitude, can enrich traditional lessons conveying innovative ideas and supported argumentations, investigating facts and theories, nurturing personal criticism. For all these reasons, critical thinking applied to inclusive language learning could be a way to raise language teaching to higher levels, giving each student the possibility of becoming a consciuous builder of her/his own knowledge, and not merely a simple receiver.