Abstract

We believe that our required university course ELIT200 Critical Reading and Writing, which is taught and presented in English – the official language of IUS, helps to develop our students’ critical thinking/reading/writing skills which seem to be underdeveloped due to their previous education experiences at the primary and secondary level. This is a freshman course thus the techniques used are supposed to develop their skills and enable them to critically and analytically examine all audio-visual-reading materials that they come across during their university studies. Furthermore, upon completing our university course, they are equipped to write proper argumentative essays as well as engage in academic debates and discussions on current topics most of which are quite controversial (discrimination, the impacts of social media, artificial intelligence, to name a few). The assessment is also organized and planned in a way that it supports and evaluates the improvement of their critical thinking skills (reading assignments, video assignments, writing an argumentative essay, preparing a speech/presentation as well as summative assessment components such as one mid-term exam and one final exam).

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