Exploring EFL Teachers' Facilitating Critical Thinking Skills in Teaching Writing to Low-Proficient Undergraduate Students in Bangladesh: A Mixed Method Approach

Critical thinking (CT) is one of the crucial skills of the 21st century. Nevertheless, in the educational sector of Bangladesh, CT is still not appropriately taught and practiced to develop learners’ expertise. This study aimed to investigate how EFL teachers facilitate critical thinking (CT) skills of the undergraduate low-proficient learners and what obstacles they faced in promoting CT skills in writing classes in Bangladesh. It integrated both quantitative and qualitative data to achieve the research goals. To conduct this study, the researchers collected data from twelve teachers from six universities in Chattogram, Bangladesh. The results show that the common challenges teachers face while facilitating CT skills are- their lack of proper knowledge and training, inadequate focus on promoting CT skills in the existing educational curriculum, lack of motivation of both students and teachers, difficulty in transitioning from a ‘teacher-centric’ to a ‘student-centric’ classroom, inconvenient classroom environment, and more focus on securing good grades. Findings also show that teachers in tertiary-level education did not pay enough attention to enhance CT and problem-solving skills. However, there are possibilities to enhance teachers' abilities to improve the CT skills of low-proficient EFL learners. The research findings will help tertiary-level EFL teachers understand the current practice of facilitating CT skills in Bangladesh and devise appropriate strategies for better action.