Promoting Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Skills Through Teacher’s Feedback in an EFL Classroom

Abstract

Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) has been mandated in the 2013 Curriculum in Indonesia. Despite a growing number of studies on how HOTS and the 2013 Curriculum are interrelated, only a few studies on how students particularly in a lower level of education have reported their classroom experience with HOTS especially with the help teacher's feedback. Therefore, this study aims at revealing how to promote students' higher-order thinking skills through teacher's feedback. A qualitative research was employed to investigate the phenomenon and one English teacher, and 31 students were involved as participants who were observed and interviewed. The findings showed that teacher implemented four models when assisting students in increasing their HOTS: (1) discussing students' reasoning; (2) providing feedback which functions as scaffolding; (3) offering feedback to students' responses with praise along with "what" questions; and (4) giving suggestions for the students' improvement transformed into challenges.