Abstract
Little research has been done to examine the development of thinking skills in the context of second language learning and teaching. This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical and creative thinking in ESL students.
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Acknowledgements
This chapter is based on work funded by the Quality Education Fund (Project Number: 2014/0080) in Hong Kong. I thank my co-investigators Bob Adamson and Laurance Splitter.
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Lam, CM. (2023). Education for the Future: Cultivating Thinking Through Thinking About Thinking. In: Hong, C., Ma, W.W.K. (eds) Applied Degree Education and the Shape of Things to Come. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9315-2_17
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