Language Arts and Thinking Skills

Sharon R. Berry, PhD, is a well-known speaker and author with more than 175 products to her credit. She was director of curriculum for ACSI for several years and now serves as vice-president of Christian Academic Publications and Services in Birmingham, Alabama.

Education’s ultimate goal is to produce good thinkers. As Christian educators we know that producing good thinkers has never been more important or challenging. We recognize that humans are created in the image of God, both as spiritual beings and as persons with the ability to think, discern, imagine, evaluate, plan, and direct. It is through communication that our thoughts become the basis for our actions and for influencing the actions of others. Thus we recognize an inherent link between thinking and language arts.

We also recognize the need to renew our minds in Christ and to obey the commands in Proverbs 2: "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding" (vv. 1–2).… "then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (vv. 5–6)…. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you" (vv. 9–11).

Following World War II and the atrocities of the Nazi regime, the term "critical thinking skills" found popularity in education circles. Rather than simply swallowing "truths" as presented by a powerful and articulate leader, students learned to evaluate a speaker’s beliefs, perspective, and purpose. Vincent Ruggiero explains that these skills "help us interpret complex ideas, appraise the evidence offered in support of arguments, and distinguish between reasonableness and unreasonableness." In the 1970s, the emphasis extended to strategic thinking skills with a focus on in-depth consideration, contrast to other fields of information, reformulation into a working plan, implementation, and evaluation.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, educational theorists continued to grapple with identifying and ordering the skills germane to good thinking. Interestingly, they fall into four natural categories identified in Proverbs 2:

Knowledge          accept, store up
Understanding     insight
Wisdom              discretion
Application          good path

It is helpful to look at various descriptors for each category:

Knowledge (the reception and storage of information)

• has extensive background experience, personal and vicarious
• attains much content information
• develops enriched vocabulary
• establishes patterns and relationships
• maintains internal dialogue that raises questions, identifies absurdities, seeks additional information, fits parts to wholes, etc.
• purposefully organizes and stores in memory
• easily retrieves from a rich internal store of information and experiences

Understanding (internal reasoning and manipulation of information)

• establishes a rich network of information
• develops an efficient system for organizing and scaffolding information
• uses abstract representations extensively
• dialogues internally to break complex information into manageable parts and relates these to prior knowledge
• comprehends by relating new experiences or information to what is already known
• logically analyzes information by identifying components, structure, completeness, connection to similar events, priority, sequence, cause-effect, if-then, etc.
• recognizes fallacies, inaccuracies, and gaps in information
• proposes assumptions related to similar events or experiences that lead to inferences, potential conclusions, hypotheses about outcomes, etc.
• entertains ambiguous information; enjoys playing with ideas, reformulation, creative approaches
• rehearses and reconstructs information in alternate forms

Wisdom (good judgment of information, as well as potential courses of action)

• discerns the validity of information, recognizing underlying assumptions, bias, unsupported statements, spin, extraneous details, non sequiturs, fallacies, etc.
• assesses new information on the basis of its fit with prior information
• weighs new information for its relevance to real-life priorities
• evaluates information and events on the basis of personal values, belief systems, and worldviews (for Christians, especially the relationship to Scripture)
• examines evidence on the basis of the presenter’s intent, values, belief systems, worldview
• is aware of others’ and own opinions and emotional states
• monitors and mediates the emotional effect of incoming data
• identifies and evaluates probabilities and options on the basis of prior experience
• resists premature judgment related to emotions, limited information, time pressures, etc.
• purposefully seeks information needed for effective decision making
• determines rationality of own thoughts and others’ arguments
• evaluates decision-making process for sufficient information, competing priorities, time constraints, potential outcomes
• develops and articulates a vision of future directions

Application (makes decisions and directs action on the basis of the information)

• expresses thoughtful, considered opinions
• solves practical and abstract problems of life
• brings to bear well-researched and rehearsed rationale for decisions
• determines wise courses of action
• plans and executes, using a well-organized, logical strategy
• communicates effectively
• depends on self-motivation, self-direction
• motivates others toward excellence
• regroups and redirects as necessary
• transcends to a perspective beyond self—corporate benefit, eternal values, etc.

Recent research on brain development provides valuable insight into what good teachers have always known about quality instruction. The research into executive function especially illuminates the process of strategic thinking. Following are some principles that relate to our subject.

1. Neurons grow when stimulated by incoming information based on experience. The patterns of stimulation create a networking among neurons. Brains are thus wired in response to experiences. Thus, every brain is modifiable and unique.
2. The brain organizes information on the basis of patterns—similarities, associations, differences, sequences, classifications, scaffolding, logic, etc.
3. Generally, information is stored in memory on the basis of similarity but retrieved on the basis of difference.
4. Information is stored both via language and visual experience. Therefore, interactive language and graphic organizers are vital to the learning process.
5. The brain has a tremendous "need to know." Therefore, creating a tension between what is already known and what is desired serves to motivate learning.
6. The brain has an emotional center at its core that subconsciously filters all incoming stimuli on the basis of physical and emotional danger. Any perceived threat causes the brain to downshift to an emotional, habitual reaction rather than engaging the higher cognitive structures. Good teachers must stay alert to the emotional climate of their classrooms.
7. The emotional center is directly connected to the long-term memory structures of the brain where values and belief systems determine an individual’s worldview, against which all information and potential actions are evaluated. Distortion of this core self hampers the development of higher cognitive structures in the executive function of the brain.
8. The mature executive function of the brain is characterized by effective, efficient thinking that has transitioned from:
   1. external events to mental events
   2. the temporal now to the anticipated future
   3. being controlled by others to self-control
   4. immediate to delayed gratification
   5. self-focus to a focus on the good of others

Perhaps these principles have produced an "aha" experience as you made the connection between what good thinking skills are and how the brain functions, especially in the frontal cortex responsible for executive function. The work of Russell Barkley indicates that some highlights of the systems involved in the executive center of the brain help us understand how to nurture their development.

Behavior inhibition We must have an internal wisdom, desire, and control that direct us in preventing undesired behaviors, interrupting unproductive behaviors, and sustaining positive behaviors. In summary, this system establishes self-control and self-direction.

Nonverbal working memory Apart from specific words, this system helps us re-sense past experiences, both personal and vicarious (through books and videos). These accumulated experiences form a backdrop for considering responses and outcomes as we look at anticipated future options. We can envision desired outcomes and direct our behavior toward achieving our purpose. The result is known as a "considered response."

Internalization of speech Nonverbal working memory and internalization of speech tap into both brain hemispheres and their related memory systems to produce integrated thought. Self-talk helps us access memory, structure logical thought patterns, mediate emotions, plan and organize potential courses of action, and rehearse for actual performance.

Internalization of emotion and motivation The emotional responses of the brain either enable learning or sabotage it. Christian teachers have long understood the connection between head and heart in enhancing education. This system helps us identify and understand the influence of emotions, diffuse negative ones, and discern and mediate negative emotions in others.

Cognitive window of time The relation between an event and a person’s response creates an event sequence. The principle is simple: we do not prepare a response until the event is within our time horizon. Called the "three-little-pigs strategy," it means we will dance until the wolf is at the door. It explains why some students put off reading a book until the Sunday night before the report is due on Monday. Wisdom entails understanding the impact of time constraints and managing time in relation to a desired course of action.

Direction to perform The executive function of the brain is responsible for good decision-making, planning, organizing, and implementing. It is responsible for evaluating the procedure for the outcome and thought processes. It monitors and answers questions such as What happened? What could have been done better? What if X had happened? What will we do next time?

It must be obvious by now that good thinking skills are intricately embedded in the executive function of the brain. Can these skills be taught? With the plethora of available programs for teaching thinking skills, none has successfully taught the skills in isolation. The key seems to be the infusion of thinking skills into every school subject—in fact, every experience. The more stimulation the brain has, the more efficient it can become. That brings us to the connection between language arts and thinking skills—the application part of this article.

No other school subject offers a more natural opportunity for developing thinking skills. As you can observe in some of the samples related to literature instruction, you have the opportunity to focus on the following, at a minimum:

• enriched, experiential reservoir of knowledge
• platform for meshing students’ personal experiences with those of others
• instruction in language structure, vocabulary, reading, speaking, and writing—all creating a broad knowledge base that students can access
• safe environment to explore and mediate emotions
• opportunities for understanding relationships, sequencing, making inferences, drawing conclusions
• evaluations of author intent, perspective, plot, moral integrity of the characters, choices, and consequences
• extensive questions particularly focused in higher order thinking such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
• transcendence to related fields of knowledge through comparisons and contrasts
• extensions into personal considerations and applications

As stated earlier, the ultimate goal of education is to produce good thinkers—wise discerners who make considered responses. This goal is a reflection of "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Resources

Barkley, Russell. "Executive Function and Attention Deficit," notes from lecture at Harvard, 1999.

Berry, Sharon R., ed. Across the Centuries: Teaching Units for Timeless Children’s Literature from a Christian Perspective. Nashville, Tennessee: LifeWay Christian School Resources, 1999 (volumes available from kindergarten through high school).

Jenson, Eric. Brain-Based Learning. Del Mar, California: Turning Point Publishing,1996.

Ruggiero, Vincent. A Guide to Critical Thinking. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing, 1990, 14.

Sousa, David. How the Brain Learns. Reston, Virginia: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1995

Language Arts and Thinking Skills 5.3