Critical Thinking for ESL

7/27/2019 Critical Thinking for ESL

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Critical ThinkingKeep Questioning p1

probing questions for critical thinking p2

look for the main point p3

create a chart p5

basic forms of reasoning p6

inductive reasoning p7

abductive reasoning p8

look for bias p9

Progress checklist p13

English for Academic Purposes

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Eekta Resource Library P2Critical Thinking

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PROBING QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

What is th main point?

Dos th matial mak sns?

What vidnc suppots th validity o th main point?

How solid o accuat is th vidnc?

Dos it hold up to scutiny, act-chcking and ason?

Is th any bias?

Is th main point tu?


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LOOK FOR THE mAIN POINT

Much o what you citically analys in you studis will b txt

matials psntd in pint om and on th Intnt.

You will otn com acoss a sction calld an abstract or an

introuction.This is a short suary which ientifes the

ain point an outlines the reasoning o the text. Somtims

th is no abstact o intoduction, so thn you will hav to ad

th nti aticl.


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Example o a fow chart

Mainpoint

Suppotingvidnc

Suppotingvidnc

Suppotingvidnc

Example o a web chart

Suppotingvidnc

Suppotingvidnc

Suppotingvidnc

Suppotingvidnc

Main point

CREATE A CHART


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INdUCTIvE REASONING

Whn using inductiv asoning, you xamin th vidnc

psntd and possibl bias to dtmin i th conclusion is tu.

Th stock makt has had v staight months o incass,

tho th countys conomy is stngthning is an xampl o

inductiv asoning bcaus th stock makt is an indicato o th

countys conomy and v staight months o incass points to

th conomy bcoming stong.

Howv, inuctie reasoning is best when there is a large

boy o eience to support the clai. On o two pics o

suppoting data wont always hold up und scutiny.


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ABdUCTIvE REASONING

Abuctie reasoning iners a possible outcoe or

correlation an sets up a hypothesis or later analysis.

Inhntly, abductiv asoning can poduc sults that a

incoct and so conclusions can only b mad valid by chcking

thm though ith inductiv o dductiv asoning.

Abductiv asoning has valu in stablishing a pmis, a

pdiction o a gnalisd statmnt that can b povd o

dispovd at a lat tim.


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LOOK FOR BIAS

It is also impotant to look o bias in a statmnt o an aticl.

Bias is when the author allows his or her personal iews,

experiences an / or preuices to oershaow the acts

presente. Bias is had to avoid, but impotant to dtct and

citically analys.

Whil ading biasd matial can hlp you om an opinion, you

want to mak su you daw you own conclusions basd on th

stngth o th acts and vidnc povidd.

Consid th souc.

Find out somthing about th autho, thi backgound and

what oganisation thy a aliatd with.

Look o a slant in th witing.

Otn, vidnc psntd can hav a slant. In oth wods, it

can b caully slctd to suppot th authos psonal blis

o th blis o th oganisation h o sh blongs to.

Look o motiv wods that sk to psuad th ad towad

th authos point o viw.

Ths a usually wods such as vil, nomal, abnomal,

unai, antastic, tc. By using such wods, th autho tis to

shap you viw instad o allowing you to shap it yousl.


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LOOK FOR BIAS

Onc you hav applid a asoning tchniqu and lookd o faws

and bias, you can valuat th quality o th vidnc psntd.

Th a sval actos you will want to consid.

Chck to s how old th aticl is.

Nw inomation coms out all th tim and an old aticl

can b outdatd.

It is also good to idntiy th typ o publication.

Is it a popula souc such as a nwspap o magazin,

o is it a possional o acadmic jounal?

In most cass, th jounal will hav stict ditoial citia o

a balancd psntation o acts and could b considd

mo cdibl.


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LOOK FOR BIAS

Writers oten use statistics to bolster their arguent.

Whn statistical inomation is usd to daw a conclusion, it is

calld quantitativ sach.

Wits can slct statistics to mak gnalisations and psuad

ath than o balancd and complt vidnc to allow th

ad to dcid o thmslvs.

Th suvy mthods usd to tak th statistics should b

xamind.Suvys might not ully psnt th goup bing suvyd o

thy might not ask nough popl to gt a ull ading o th

situation.

Also, somtims suvy qustions can b wittn in such a way

as to poduc a ctain answ.

At that, look at th mthod th suvy usd to gath its

opinions.

Popl a mo likly to povid tuthul answs i thy giv

thm anonymously and in witing ath than ac to ac.


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LOOK FOR BIAS

Finally, chck to s i th matial you a viwing has any

ncs, ootnots o ndnots which idntiy th souc oth contnt o povid additional inomation.

An aticl with many ncs is likly to b mo accuat than

on that has non. Look at th publications mntiond in th

aticl to chck i thy a om cdibl soucs.

You can also coss-chck acts om soucs you tust to

conm th accuacy o th pic you a viwing.

Its a good ida to viw sval soucs whn looking at

citical dtails o positions takn by th autho that suppot th

main point.

This is pobably most cucial whn looking at inomation on th

Intnt. Bcaus Intnt aticls a not always act-chckd

and can b biasd, you will nd to b caul in you slctions.


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PROGRESS CHECKLISTLEARNING OBjECTIvES

Now you should be able to:

Understand the importance of critical thinking

Create a ow chart or web chart to organise information

Differentiate between deductive, inductive and abductive reasoning

Seek out and identify bias in a statement or article

Evaluate the quality of evidence in a statement or article

Examine statistics and survey methods used

Critical Thinking


Eekta Resource LibraryP13

Assss you own pogss.

A GeNerALLY ABLe TO

B PArTIALLY ABLe TO

C NOT YeT ABLe TO


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