THE REPRESENTATION OF CRITICAL THINKING IN THE TEXTBOOK SUPER MINDS LEVEL 3

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1075.2024-0160

Abstract

This study aims to examine the extent to which critical thinking (CT) is representedin the English textbook Super Minds Level 3 which has been used to teach English to theelementary level. The textbook analysis is based on two frameworks including the analyticcategories of CT and the material evaluation checklists. More specifically, the CT frameworkConsists of categories such as clarification, perspective, prediction, reason and evidence,summary, and conclusion. Besides, the textbook was analyzed regarding aim and approaches,design and organization, language content, skills, and learners’ needs. The descriptivecontent analysis reveals that the language skills tasks in the textbook primarily emphasizereasoning and evidence, along with clarification, perspective, and prediction, while summaryand conclusion are less represented. Additionally, the material evaluation checklists,covering aspects like aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, andlearners' needs, provide supplementary insights into the CT characteristics of the textbook,though these aspects are discussed more briefly in descriptive details and mainly serve as afoundation in this study. Overall, the selected CT categories are found to be well-representedthrough the textbook evaluation, particularly in the language skills tasks, which significantlycontribute to fostering learners' critical thinking skills.