Constructing Critical Thinking Scenarios in Online Legal English Classes

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26817/16925777.1339

Keywords:

Legal English, Critical thinking, Online English Teaching, Online English Learning, prior knowledge

Abstract

This paper reports a qualitative research on constructing critical thinking scenarios in online legal English classes at a private university in Colombia. This study aimed to enhance law students’ critical thinking skills development in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom through virtual tools by   implementing a descriptive case analysis. Data were gathered through a journal, a survey and a focus group. It was demonstrated that when students are trained in critical thinking, they learn to develop specific abilities such as reasoning, making proposals, identifying and solving problems, making inferences, making decisions according to their prior knowledge and the context needs. Furthermore, the strategies contributed to improving students' communication skills in the foreign language.

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Author Biographies

Eliana Edith Roberto Florez, Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia

was born in Tunja, Boyacá – Colombia. She holds a MA in Language Teaching. She has worked in education for more than sixteen years. Currently, she is a full-time teacher at Universidad Santo Tomás in Tunja. She has been supporting the teaching process of English as a foreign language since 2005. Besides, she is a research teacher who has been working in different areas such as virtual tools as a complement of face-to-face classes, the way that students are involved in writing research articles in English collaboratively, teachers and students’ stereotypes about the teaching and learning of English and a project related to the way to increase critical thinking awareness through the use of task-based learning approach. Besides, she has published different articles in indexed magazines and academic speaker in national and international congresses. Her goal is to help students’ learning process of English as a foreign language according to their academic needs in order to understand social aspects around the world. She belongs to “Expedicionarios Humanistas” research group from USTA – Tunja and she is “Investigador Junior” in Minciencias

Gladis Leonor Arias-Rodríguez, Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia

holds an M.A. in Language Teaching from Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC), M.A. in Pedagogy at Universidad Santo Tomas (USTA) and currently candiadate to Master in Spanish and Latin American Literature (UNIR). She has investigated ELT, literature, curriculum and online education. She is full time teacher and researcher at USTA in the “Expedicionarios Humanistas”

Yomaira Angélica Herreño-Contreras, Universidad Santo Tomás, Colombia

The author has a B.A. in Modern Languages from Universidad Surcolombiana (Colombia) and a M.A. in Comparative Literature and Literary Translation from Universidad Pompeu Fabra (Spain). She is a Ph.D candidate in Comparative Literature (University of Auckland). Currently, she is an English professor and researcher at Universidad Santo Tomás (Villavicencio, Colombia), and an article reviewer for some scholarly journals in Colombia and abroad. She has published two books and some articles in research journals, as well as translations in literary reviews. She has participated as a lecturer in various conferences worldwide. She is interested in literary translation,prose poetry, comparative literature, tefl, esp, hots, m-learning and problematizing pedagogy

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Published

2022-06-30

How to Cite

Roberto Florez, E. E., Arias-Rodríguez, G. L. ., & Herreño-Contreras, Y. A. . (2022). Constructing Critical Thinking Scenarios in Online Legal English Classes. GIST – Education and Learning Research Journal, 24, 119–140. https://doi.org/10.26817/16925777.1339

Issue

Vol. 24 (2022): GiST Education and Learning Research Journal, No 24

Section

Research Articles

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