Exploring the Challenges Encountered by EFL Teachers in Promoting Critical Thinking Skills

It is widely recognized that developing critical thinking skills promotes higher levels of language proficiency and academic success. However, EFL teachers face several obstacles in their institutional and sociocultural context that might prevent them from implementing CT. This study explores EFL teachers’ perceptions of obstacles to their efforts in promoting critical thinking skills in classrooms and potential solutions to overcome these perceived obstacles. This exploratory study uses a constructivist approach to employ semi structured interviews with 12 EFL teachers at the higher secondary level in Bangladesh to address the research gap in understanding EFL teachers’ feedback on the obstacles to developing critical thinking in the classroom. The findings reveal several interrelated challenges, emphasizing the negative washback of the HSC examination, teachers’ authoritative roles, students’ passive learning styles, a lack of teachers’ training in developing CT and institutional discipline, and the arduous language structure of the textbook. This study also suggests that curriculum, assessments, teacher preparation, textbooks, and individual institutions should embrace an integrated thinking approach simultaneously.