Students' perceptions of learning reading english throughout incorporating the six thinking hats into the topic of addiction

4-7 Units of the study ……………………………………………………………. 9 Methodology …………………………………………………………………. 10-11 Findings ………………………………………………………………………. 12-15 Discussion and Conclusion………………………………………………………. 16-18 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………. The topic of addiction is considered very important because when it controls someone, it may control the way he thinks or behaves. Also, I believe that students would be interested to learn such a topic which will help them understand and cooperate, in a better way. Moreover, examining students’ perception of learning reading is very important since reading helps to improve the communication and language skills, in addition to different other skills. Literature Review Passive, or perhaps, typical learning is not effective for our era anymore. The development of learning skills, critical thinking, and other important skills during the learning process are mainly achieved through active learning.

During the reading process students can apply critical thinking to ensure they synthesize the information presented to them. Critical thinking is a reflective process that should be applied by teachers in the process of teaching. It leads to active participation in class activities and allows students to be introspective when dealing with situation discussed in the classroom. It also involves standards by which one is able to measure the criteria of their thinking (Akyol, 2017). The use of evidence to support claims allows one to measure whether or not an assertion is accurate. (1997) indicates that such skills are essentials for higher order problem-solving thinking, therefore, it involves the ability to use our minds to achieve our goals. Thus, in order to help students be deep thinkers, better problem-solvers, reasonable decision makers, and skilled evaluators, teachers must find ways that develops these skills in their students (Paul, R.

, & Elder, 2019). In this regard, Limbach, & Waugh (2010), state that it is essential for a teacher to identify the learning objectives that are inclined towards value addition to the students, and that require students to demonstrate a higher degree of learning through assessments and activities. Thinking Hats: The six thinking hats approach was invented by Edward de Bono in early 1980s. Each usage of the six Thinking Hats is distinguished by a different color. Serrat (2017) explained about the use of both white and red hats stating that the white hat was meant to represent information whereas the red hat represented the opportunity for expression (Dhanapal, 2014). De Bono (1999) continues about the rest claiming just as the sun shines brightly, the yellow hat symbolizes the positive points, whereas the black hat which is the negative hat, involves detecting problems and critical judgement.

Then there is the green and blue hat which focuses on creativity and manages the thinking process. Applying the Six Hats in the classroom: Each hat is focused and puts all students in the same direction of thinking. Nonetheless, they should understand that reading is an interactive process that involves inferring, learning, and comprehension of information. Good reading skills are achieved through setting specific goals during a reading session, as such, good readers have a purpose for reading. One strategy for improving comprehension is predicting, which helps the reader set a purpose for their reading (Rizvi, 2011). Research has shown that good readers use their experiences and knowledge to make predictions and formulate ideas as they read. Moreover, poor readers having reading difficulties as a result of a lack of skills such as perceiving the unity of meaning, using strategies and connecting prior knowledge to new information; hence, they experience reading difficulties (Rizvi, 2017) Units of Study This paper includes a unit of study that contains five lesson plans that highlight the use of the six thinking hats by touching on the topic of addiction.

In this lesson the students are encouraged to think outside the box; put the six thinking hats in front of them, and make a poster that refers to each hat. The information provided will be in regard to yet addiction, since the posters will be turned into a message for the mayor to emphasis the severity of addiction. Students have to connect the hat to the idea they represent while working in groups to express more ideas and be more creative. All these things help students to look at things from a different perspective and think differently. The fourth and fifth lessons are mainly for the students to practice and express their understanding about the six thinking hats. The unit of study included five lessons plans that deal with the topic of addiction and focus on the area of reading.

The units of study were designed for seventh graders students. The teaching learning process was held in a private English center in the Nazareth called Pencil. The students were seated in a classroom where they applied the tool of the six thinking hats in a teaching learning process. After the teaching-learning process was carried out in the study, students’ opinions related to teaching-learning process using six thinking hats technique were held in open-ended questions interview. Disadvantages "we had to choose specific terms and phrases which took us more time to write everything correctly”. Table 1: three levels of analysis of students' reply • Findings This research focuses on the students' perceptions of learning reading English throughout incorporating the six thinking hats into the topic of addiction.

By data analysis we have found three main categories in which each one is divided into two subcategories. The first category deals with students. It consists of two subcategories: the participation of the students in the class and their motivation. Moreover, students expressed creativity in the poster that they had to design, as a result of their motivation. They tried to use different colors and talk about different aspects in order to convey their message. In addition to what is mentioned before, the use of the tools, the six thinking hats, has helped students to think and look at things from a different perspective. Students started to think differently and analyze everything according to different criteria. They not only learnt about expressing themselves, but also actively applied it in the project.

For example, one student said: "I think that by collaborating in group activities, students can get to understand each other more". Other student reported that: "working in groups, increases students' social interaction. It makes students communicate and work with each other". This eventually helps in the learning process so that students can benefit more from learning. Physical climate: The small number of students and the way the students were seated raised the students' interaction to the lesson. One student claimed that: "six thinking hats make the lesson more interesting and enjoyable". Other student said that: "Six thinking hats has a positive impact on teaching, I think it should be adopted in every lesson". Disadvantages: According to the interviews, some students claimed that this technique consumed a lot of time since it demands lots of working from students and also teachers.

For example, one student said that: "This method consumed a lot of time. It needs the teacher to be patient and demands lots of order". Main Findings The main goal of this study is to investigate students' perceptions of learning reading English throughout incorporating the six thinking hats into the topic of addiction. By analyzing the data of this research, many of positive aspects have been presented with regard to the use of the six thinking hats tool in learning reading in English. The interviews have shown that students have a positive attitude towards the six thinking hats method. Therefore, according to the findings, it can be concluded that students stand for the idea of learning reading in English using the six thinking hats method because it can improve learning and teaching process.

Additionally, students support learning English using the six thinking hats because it leads to a higher level of critical thinking, encourages communication, gives chances to work collaboratively, and allows learners to participate without fear. However, Students claim that the tool consumes a lot of time since it needs a lot of hard work. Therefore, the six thinking hats tool also has negative aspects, but these aspects do not change the students' positive perceptions of the tool. "It takes time in the beginning to discuss a subject from six different aspects. However, as the students adjust to the thinking process they begin to think more quickly. Conclusion: As a teacher, I think the six thinking hats tool has to be used in every class; especially when teaching a new topic which relates to the students because it does not only focus on the learned topic itself, but also on the personality of the students.

 Creative Education, 6(04), 455. Akyol, H. , Çakıroğlu, A. , & Kuruyer, H. G. , Tabitha, K. , & Ling, W. Six Thinking Hats: A Study to Understand the Reasons and Extent of their Application in the English Language Classroom.  Journal of English Language and Literature, 1(3), 82-92. Hmelo, C.  Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 3. McCormick, N. J. , Clark, L. M.  A guide for educators to critical thinking competency standards: Standards, principles, performance indicators, and outcomes with a critical thinking master rubric. Rowman & Littlefield. Rizvi, A. A. , Bilal, M. , & Gholami, R. Critical thinking: An influential factor in developing English reading comprehension performance.  Advances in Asian Social Science, 2(1), 401-410. APPENDIX 1 UNITS OF STUDY Lesson Plan no. 1 Process Description Topic Addiction Objectives SWBAT • brainstorm the term addiction: students should say what comes to their minds when they hear this word • express themselves and share information about addiction.

Assessment Grammar, the use of English, accuracy, and the use of the new lexical words. Lesson Plan 2 Process Description Topic Six thinking hats – addiction Objectives SWBAT • improve communication through the use of the six thinking hats. • apply the six thinking hats on a written text. • express themselves freely. Thinking Process & Thinking strategy • Creative thinking • Looking at things from different perspectives. • match the sentence to the hat that refers to it (in pairs). Educational material (written & computerized) worksheets. Product A worksheet that includes a short sentences and a matching exercise; students will match each hat to its sentence according to the sentence Assessment 4-6 hats have to be matched correctly. Lesson plan 3 Process Description Topic addiction and six thinking hats Objectives SWBAT • express themselves and share information about their opinion about the topic • improve communication through the use of the six thinking hats.

• apply the six thinking hats on a poster. • brainstorm a list of words, phrases and expressions that describe them when they are wearing the hat. Thinking Process & Thinking strategy • Creative thinking. • Looking at things from different perspective. • Being in the shoes of others. Subject Matter Content • Looking for information through a given issue. Please describe the atmosphere while learning English in this way. How has learning helped you develop your English. Explain. What do you think about this learning method? How do you feel about it? How is it different from traditional learning? Elaborate. What would you do differently, or add to the learning of this unit? Explain. My personal feeling as an interviewer. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTER-JUDGE AGREEMENT Students Classroom Climate Six Thinking Hats Motivation participation Physical climate Social Climate Advantages Disadvantages 1 "six thinking hats encouraged me to think more creatively".

• V 2 "It helped me to look at things from different perspectives. " • V 3 "The small number of students made the lesson more understandable". • V 4 "This way of thinking does not disturb me since it is always in change". • V 15 "I think that by working collaboratively, pupils can get to know each other more". • V 16 working collaboratively gives the opportunity to open a debate and discuss different things with new friends". • V 17 "It doesn't look as a traditional way of thinking". • V 18 "This method made me think more logically". • V 19 "In the lessons that we have learnt, I felt that I am more motivated and more confident". • V 30 "It helped me in understanding different types of emotions". V • 31 "This method helps me to stay in the given task".