Introducing Critical Thinking Courses to College Students of English: Why and How?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to offer a rationale for introducing critical thinking instruction to college students of English. The paper began with the assumption that education,  as it is at present, in the Arabic World [Yemen and  Saudi Arabia included] was still dominantly traditional. It did not prepare learners to cope with increasing demands and  pressing challenges of the modern age, which requires that an individual is fully prepared  and well equipped with different personal,  mental and social  skills among which the critical thinking abilities. Then the paper proceeded to give some background of the concept  of critical thinking and its history. Next, the paper proceded to offered a justification (a rationale) for the idea behind the need to propose critical thinking  instruction. The  paper concluded by presenting a rough outline for a course in critical thinking that can be adopted to be taught to students at college level precisely for the students of the English as a trial.