Build success beyond the classroom: Critical thinking and assessment

Christina Cavage
A group of children stood at a table with their teacher watching her write something down on paper
Reading time: 4 minutes

There are some common myths related to critical thinking and assessment. Many people believe that it’s impossible to assess critical thinking, especially in classes where language is limited. However, it can be done! Here, the key to success is crafting tasks and rubrics that allow you to separate language skills and cognitive skills. After all, a low language level doesn’t necessarily reflect your student’s ability to think critically.

So, how can we measure how a student knows rather than just what they know?

How to measure critical thinking

Well, we first have to consider two types of assessment—formal and informal. Formal assessments tend to happen at the end of a task, lesson or skill-building activity and usually focus on the work the student has produced. Then, we have informal assessments. Those are the assessments that involve on-the-spot interactions. These types of assessments play a crucial role in measuring critical thinking.

Tips for teaching and assessing critical thinking
Play
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree Pearson can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

Formal assessment

There is a common misconception that assessment should only focus on the final work that your students produce. The final ‘product’ is undeniably important and often an ideal measure of linguistic abilities. But the process of producing the final work is where you can see your students’ critical thinking skills in action.

When designing rubrics to measure both language and critical thinking, make sure that you only focus on one at a time—either language or critical thinking. Keeping these different skills in mind will help you to differentiate language skills and critical thinking skills, and evaluate them separately, when it comes to formal assessment.

When measuring language skills, use Bloom’s early or foundational cognitive domains as a model:

If we measure these items, we are really measuring language skills. For example, with a reading activity, we might ask the following questions:

  • Who is the story about?
  • Where does the story take place?
  • What is the main idea of the story?

Can they understand the overall organization and the key vocabulary? These types of questions assess a student’s linguistic ability.

Then, when it comes to critical thinking, the more advanced levels of Bloom’s cognitive domains provide a useful guide:

These types of questions assess a student’s metacognition or critical thinking:

  • Which character is most important to the story?
  • Why?
  • Do you agree or disagree with the character’s actions?
  • Why or why not?

The clear separation of language and critical thinking in assessment will help you to get a measure of each student’s progress in both skills.

Informal assessment

What about those informal assessments? It can be harder to delineate critical thinking and language skills clearly in an on-the-spot assessment.

For example, if you’ve assigned group work, consider keeping a checklist of how students interact with one another. Some checklist items can be:

  • Who made an inference?
  • Who supplied reasoning for another student’s idea?
  • Who made a comparison?
  • Who drew a conclusion?

You can also ask your students to keep a checklist and post these questions on an electronic bulletin board. Like self-assessment, these peer-to-peer assessments can get students reflecting and noticing.

Rubrics can also be useful in informal assessment. Let’s say you’ve asked students to prepare or write an essay. To measure critical thinking, you can look at each student’s ideation process when they’ve been working on their essays:

  • Is a student looking at all possible topics?
  • What are the factors that make a student select the option they did?
  • Are they demonstrating an awareness of other ideas?

The answers to these questions will tell you whether or not your students are thinking critically.

Just like with any other skills, the assessment of critical thinking needs to happen both formally and informally. We need to consider both the process and the final product. And in doing so, we need to carefully design rubrics that differentiate language skills and metacognition.

Learn about our English courses

More blogs from Pearson

  • A man working on a laptop in a library smiling
    Are remote English tests lower standard?
    By Alice Bazzi
    Reading time: 2 minutes

    As digital testing becomes more widespread, a common perception still persists: that remote testing or at-home tests are somehow lower in quality than traditional test center exams. For institutions and governments, this raises an important question: does the delivery format impact the standard of assessment? 

    The reality is, the quality of the test is defined by design, scoring and security, not by location. 

    PTE Express is built on the same core principles as established English proficiency tests, including rigorous test development, validated content and standardized scoring processes. The academic integrity of the test remains consistent regardless of whether it is taken in a test center or from home. 

    In many ways, remote testing introduces additional layers of oversight. PTE Express incorporates advanced features such as biometric identity verification, AI-enabled monitoring and fraud detection algorithms to ensure that each test session meets strict security standards. These systems provide continuous monitoring and create detailed audit trails, offering institutions greater transparency into how tests are conducted and validated. 

    For US institutions evaluating large volumes of international applicants, this ensures that remote scores can be trusted to meet the same standards as in-person testing without limiting access based on geography.

    Governments also benefit from scalable, secure testing solutions that support broader participation while maintaining compliance and integrity. Agents, in turn, can confidently recommend remote testing options knowing they deliver both accessibility and credibility. 

    The bottom line 

    Remote testing is not a lower standard, but it is an evolution of English testing delivery. PTE Express demonstrates that it is possible to maintain high-quality, secure and globally consistent assessment in a fully online format. 

  • A group of teenagers talking together in a library
    How to encourage your teenage students to become independent learners
    By Nicola Pope
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Learning is a lifelong activity regardless of age, position or ambition. Many teachers embody this philosophy themselves, and would like nothing more than for their teenage students to develop strategies to become independent learners. But teachers often feel frustrated when their students rely on them too much or show a lack of motivation and focus in the classroom.

    Let’s look at how to start a project that holds your students’ attention. We’ll also go into how you can help your students practise and develop a range of English language skills at the same time.

    The benefits of starting a project that interests your students

    Group projects are motivating because they give students a common objective to work towards. The need to work as part of a team teaches teens collaboration skills such as accountability. When learners decide on roles within their groups it soon becomes apparent just how important it is for them to be responsible and do their part.

    Project work also often encourages students to push themselves beyond their comfort zones as they try and test new skills. This is often true when learners are required to present on a topic or learn how to do something practical (like using PowerPoint or Google Slides for presentation design).

    In addition, projects can test a variety of English language and 21st-century skills such as:

    • Critical thinking skills (for planning and development of ideas)
    • Topic/subject-specific vocabulary
    • Reading and listening comprehension (for researching)
    • Speaking skills (for group work)
    • Creative skills (for project development and production)
    • Presenting skills (for the final delivery of the project)

    Furthermore, when projects take place over several classes, students often eventually get into a routine and seek less direction from the teacher. They know what needs to be done and get on with it in their groups. Of course, you will still need to monitor and offer guidance throughout the project.

    The key elements of an independent learning project

    Find a meaningful subject matter

    First, you’ll need to start with a topic that engages your students. To discover this, put students in groups (online in breakout rooms or in the classroom) and have them work together and mind map some local, national or global problems they would like to solve.

    For example:

    • The local theater has closed down and they want to set up a new drama club.
    • There is a lot of pollution in the capital city and they want to help reduce it.
    • The rainforest is being deforested and they want to create awareness.

    After they have a good-sized list, instruct each group to pick something they would like to learn more about. Alternatively, if your students are unlikely to find interesting problems to solve themselves, provide them with several short, level-appropriate reading materials about topics you think will catch their attention. That way they can learn about local or international issues and choose a project focus.

    Balancing guidance and instruction

    A vital goal of this project-based approach is to encourage students to be independent. That does not mean they should have no boundaries or objectives, however.

    You’ll need to set deadlines, tell them what you expect of them and explain how they should present their projects at the end. And depending on their levels, your students will also need a certain amount of scaffolding. You can do this using a set of questions. For example:

    1. What is the main problem you want to solve?
    2. Who does it affect?
    3. Why is it important to change?
    4. What steps could you take to solve the issue?
    5. Who could help you do this?
    6. How could we do this as a group?
    7. How can we present the issue to make people care about it?

    These questions can form the basis of the project, which can last from one to several weeks, depending on their age, level and time constraints. Adapt the questions to suit your students and the specific needs of their projects.

    Facilitating teamwork

    Encourage students to work together to plan, research and present their ideas. Set days or classes by which certain project elements must be completed. This helps ensure that the students make progress and encourages them to ask you questions if they are stuck.

    Decide whether you want to give set times during your classes to work on the project, or whether you want to dedicate entire classes to their work. Also, think about how much work should be completed in your student's own time. Their workload, level of English and access to technology will all impact your decision.

    For example:

    • Class one: Define the problem you want to solve. Consider what you need to find out, decide on individual roles and develop an action plan. Show the teacher your progress.
    • Class two: Research your project questions and share what you find with the group. Is there anything else you need to know? Show the teacher your progress.
    • Class three: Come up with a presentation outline and begin to work on it.
    • Homework: Each work on your individual presentation section.
    • Class four: Show the teacher your progress. Practise your presentations.
    • Class five: Practise and then deliver your presentations.

    You may wish to allow students the freedom to choose how they would like to present it. Give instructions on how long you expect the presentation to be. If working remotely, collaboration tools such as Google Docs, Padlet and Trello are excellent for facilitating teamwork.

    Here are some ways you might ask them to present:

    • A poster and presentation
    • An online presentation (e.g. using PowerPoint)
    • A website (on paper or online)
    • A video presentation
    • A theatrical production
    • A podcast episode

    Keep in mind that the objective is to help them research, present and deliver a project in English. Check in regularly on progress and provide feedback and help whenever needed.

    While it’s important to monitor and guide them in English as they work, it’s also crucial to let students make their own decisions.

  • A woman reading papers while sat by a laptop
    Do English test results ever show the full picture?
    By Alice Bazzi
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    For admissions teams, English test results are more than just a number. They are a key indicator of whether a student is ready to succeed in an academic environment. But a common concern remains: can a test truly reflect a candidate's full language ability?

    The answer lies in how the assessment is designed.  

    PTE Express moves beyond traditional testing approaches by focusing on integrated, real-world language skills. Instead of evaluating skills in isolation, it measures how candidates use multiple skills together, reflecting the way English is applied in university settings.

    For example, test candidates may be required to listen to information and respond in writing, or read content and communicate their understanding verbally. These tasks reflect real academic activities, such as attending lectures, participating in discussions and completing written assignments.