In this book, we try to provide a practical, down-to-earth guide for those who are involved in language learning and teaching. We hope that this book will be a useful reading for those who would like to incorporate higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)-enhancing techniques in their teaching practice. We set out from the position that, although it is hardly doubtful that it is at the heart of education, critical thinking is in reality often not given its due attention in pedagogy, particularly in language education. This book offers readers some practical advice on how to implement HOTS in their own practice. It has been written to take the reader through each technique with the ultimate goal of promoting HOTS step-by-step. In the introductory chapter, we present an overview of the theory behind HOTS, its definition, its relation to Bloom's Taxonomy, its two dimensions (critical thinking and reflective thinking), and the ideas of some influential thinkers in this area. The subsequent chapters present six HOTS-enhancing techniques that classroom teachers can draw from, namely graphic organizers, critical discourse analysis, argumentation, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence enhancing techniques, reflective journals, and mindfulness-based strategies. As the book draws on a wide-ranging review of literature with exercises for direct use with language learners, we hope that this provides both theoretical and practical support for the teaching process to help language learners become effective critical thinkers. The compilation of the ideas in this book took us a long time, over a decade. Something that takes such a long time requires much engagement and life experience; so did this book.

In this book, we try to provide a practical, down-to-earth guide for those who are involved in language learning and teaching. We hope that this book will be a useful reading for those who would like to incorporate higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)-enhancing techniques in their teaching practice. We set out from the position that, although it is hardly doubtful that it is at the heart of education, critical thinking is in reality often not given its due attention in pedagogy, particularly in language education. This book offers readers some practical advice on how to implement HOTS in their own practice. It has been written to take the reader through each technique with the ultimate goal of promoting HOTS step-by-step. In the introductory chapter, we present an overview of the theory behind HOTS, its definition, its relation to Bloom's Taxonomy, its two dimensions (critical thinking and reflective thinking), and the ideas of some influential thinkers in this area. The subsequent chapters present six HOTS-enhancing techniques that classroom teachers can draw from, namely graphic organizers, critical discourse analysis, argumentation, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence enhancing techniques, reflective journals, and mindfulness-based strategies. As the book draws on a wide-ranging review of literature with exercises for direct use with language learners, we hope that this provides both theoretical and practical support for the teaching process to help language learners become effective critical thinkers. The compilation of the ideas in this book took us a long time, over a decade. Something that takes such a long time requires much engagement and life experience; so did this book.

The present book has been designed in two sections. The first section presents a brief overview on critical thinking (CT). In particular, we provide you with a concise but clear introduction to CT, rationale of its teaching, its role in education, its status in L2-related studies, some online discussions and its propositions. In the second section, several techniques and strategies for promoting critical thinking in language classes are proposed. The authors of the present book selected these techniques based on the existing literature and models of critical thinking, the authors' extensive studies and publications on critical thinking, as well as their practical experience in language classes. These techniques comprise: concept mapping, critical discourse analysis, argumentation, emotion regulation practices, and reflective journals. In five chapters, we first introduce these techniques in sequence, and then we present our recommended procedure on how to integrate each of these programs into language classes. These step-by-step and accessible procedures are hoped to equip language learners with essential skills required to think critically.

The study reflected in this book aims at addressing the issues related to the reliability and validity of adoption of concept maps to assess L2 reading comprehension. The concept map version utilized in this study was select and fill-in (SAFI) to ensure objectivity and ease of scoring. In validation of the test, the endeavor was made to rigorously pretest the test through three separate pilot studies, to address validity from different angles, to investigate construct validity through think aloud procedure, and to further validate the test via a triple-comparison among three L2 reading test formats. The results substantiated that SAFI concept map can be a reliable and valid tool of L2 reading assessment which has the potential of assessing connected understanding and discourse comprehension. A significant practical implication of concept map assessment approach is that it offers the prospect of developing L2 reading tests that encourage testees' utilization of higher-order abilities, while allowing for objective scoring. The comprehensive discussion and implications presented in the book should be especially useful for L2 test developers and instructors, as well as L2 learners.