IJEP International Journal of Education and Philology IJEP 2671-3535 2671-3543 Balkan University Press 10.69648/BFSI1617 476 Research Article Critical Thinking in the Language Classroom – An Important 21st Century Skill Todorovska Renata International Balkan University 28 06 2024 5 1 39 48 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Developing students’ critical thinking is of vital importance in language teaching for various reasons, such as developing abilities that encourage students to think more deeply, conduct in-depth analyses, as well as enhancing their educational experience. Application of critical thinking in language classrooms makes language learning more engaging since this skill is one of the very important skills in the twenty-first century, and it encompasses a wide variety of abilities that students develop through practice. Furthermore, teachers who encourage the development of this skill in the process of teaching prepare their students for the global society which is demanding nowadays. Hence, the purpose of this research is to emphasize the significance of developing this vital skill, to find out about teachers’ perspective, and its implementation in the classroom. The data were gathered through a survey which obtained information from 59 English language teachers. As the results from the data gathered show, we can conclude that teachers understand the value of critical thinking in language learning.

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