Evidencias del proceso de re-construcción de la solución Episodio 3.

2006; Appel & Lantolf, 1994), several researchers from the Omani context highlight the need to develop critical thinking in Omani learners within EFL teaching at university level

(Tuzlukova, Al Busaidi, & Burns, 2017; AlKhoudary, 2015; Thakur & Al-Mahrooqi, 2015; Al-Issa, 2014; Mehta & Al-Mahrouqi, 2014; Emenyeonu, 2012). Collectively, these

researchers examine a range of theoretical constructs in relation to developing critical

thinking within EFL education, including; the effectiveness of explicit instruction, the role of learner-centred teaching approaches, and achieving the national socio-cultural aims as well as individual personal goals (as academic success), leading to job performance. In addition to these on-going academic debates, a symposium on developing critical thinking has also been held in the College of Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University (Oman Times, 2017 April). These endeavours also evince that the focus on developing critical thinking in the education sphere of Oman has begun only recently.

Among these significant contributions, Mehta & Al-Mahrouqi (2014) examine

developing critical thinking in EFL learners in writing through classroom instruction. They also focus on the transfer of critical thinking skills from reading to writing among students. In their findings, Mehta & Al-Mahrouqi (2015) reveal that contextualisation of thinking

promotes the critical aspects of thinking. Providing evidence, students exemplify how the critical aspects that they uncovered during their discussions have been transferred to their writing. Affirming their stance, the authors suggest the need to focus on fostering critical thinking through practical classroom teaching and assignments rather than awaiting new developments in methodologies to teach critical thinking. Clearly, Mehta & Al-Mahrooqi’s study supports that critical thinking is teachable through (a) explicit instruction, (b) can be

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reinforced by reflection and teacher-peer discussion (as expressing one’s view), and (c) the process of writing (including multiple drafts). This study also shows that teacher-peer

discussions have scaffolded students, enhancing their understandings. Mehta & Al-Mahrooqi highlight how constructivist learning environments (CLEs) facilitate knowledge construction, driving students to think critically.

Furthermore, AlKhoudary (2015) also investigates how critical thinking promotes students’ writing at a university college in Oman. The findings of the study reveal that the context of Oman still favours the traditional teaching practices especially, in higher education. AlKhoudary is concerned that because teacher-centred practices are less likely to focus on promoting student-teacher interaction or student-student interaction, affecting the exploration of schemata in a writing class; teacher-centred practices can hinder effective writing.

Consequently, AlKhoudary suggests that teachers should make an effort to integrate critical thinking into EFL writing. Moreover, consistent with Ennis’ (1998) idea, AlKhoudary rationalises that integrated reading and writing provide the context, enabling thinking about something ‘critically’. The study concludes that (a) engaging students in critical thinking has contributed to enhance students’ writing, empowering them and that (b) teachers need to provoke students’ intellectual abilities, communicative skills (as social interaction in the writing class), and critical thinking to enable effective writing. These conclusions exemplify that the implementation of learner-centred teaching approaches that activate prior knowledge through student-teacher interaction and higher thinking abilities are central to developing critical thinking in EFL education.

Among the other prominent studies, Al-Issa (2014) discusses how Omani EFL teachers play a vital role in influencing the development of critical teaching and learning in the Omani context. Similarly, a study by Tuzlukova et al. (2017), conducted at the LC at SQU reveals that EFL teachers prefer to align with teaching methods that involve communicative

approaches, in the belief that communication (social interaction) promotes critical thinking. These EFL teachers (the research participants) identify the need to develop critical thinking in Omani learners to increase their employability. Consistent with the expert views (Paul, 1990; Ennis, 1998), Tuzlukova et al. (2017) highlight that language teachers need to understand what critical thinking means in order to engage their learners in meaningful activities that drive their students to think critically.

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Regarding the challenges of teaching critical thinking, Mehta & Al-Mahrouqi (2014) assert that fostering critical thinking can be challenging in the Omani context where EFL classrooms comprise mixed-ability learners. Since SQU, as the national university, welcomes students from the nine regions of Oman, EFL classrooms at SQU comprise a wide student ability range. One of the effective solutions to address the issue of mixed ability learning can be the implementation of learner-centred approaches to EFL teaching, because less capable peers can be scaffolded by the more capable peers in CLEs using diverse scaffolding techniques.

This brief discussion on the findings of the context-specific research sheds light on the current situation of the EFL teaching in the context of Oman. These findings contribute to raising awareness of the need to fostering critical thinking as well as the academic

approaches towards fostering critical thinking in education in Oman. In short, constructivist principles of knowledge and learning influence to transform EFL teaching approaches into modes of teaching that centre learners and the processes of constructing knowledge rather than teaching practices that view knowledge as subjective, developmental, and context-

bound. While there is focus on skills development within EFL teaching as the development of language is interrelated to thinking which is the development of mind; EFL teaching practices that incorporate constructivist teaching principles informed by CHAT, afford the

development of meaningful learning, fostering thinking. The above discussed constructivist stances seem to emphasise that constructivist teaching promotes, not limiting to,

• empowering students, encouraging them to become accountable for their learning; • active participation in learning and constructing knowledge;

• modes of learning that relate to peer and student-teacher inquiry rather than teacher voice;

• learning stimulated by the physical form of the learning environment facilitating interaction leading to collaborative construction of knowledge; and

• teacher role as the facilitator, shifting from the teacher-dominated classes into learner- friendly atmospheres, shifting the power dynamics in student-teacher relationships at the same time.