Challenges of Implementing Higher Order Thinking Tasks in Bangladeshi Secondary English Classrooms

Abstract

To make students think critically, the practice must begin during their schooling years across all subjects of study, and it can be nurtured by implementing Higher Order Thinking (HOT) tasks in classrooms. This exploratory study reports on the challenges faced by selected English teachers at the secondary level in mainstream schools in Bangladesh while implementing higher-order thinking tasks in their classrooms. In the first phase of the study, a total of 13 teachers were invited to participate in a teacher training programme that guided them on how to use techniques from the English for Today textbook in English classrooms. In the second phase, the teachers implemented these techniques in real-life classroom settings. In the final stage, the participants were interviewed by the researchers. The findings revealed that some students did not participate actively in group thinking tasks and tended to rely on rote learning of information from the text. The number of students and large class sizes were also identified as obstacles to the effective implementation of HOT tasks. The findings open up avenues for incorporating critical thinking tasks into Bangladeshi English classrooms, which are expected to contribute to preparing future citizens who can think critically.