This paper outlines a pedagogical programme that aimed at developing critical thinking skills of very young learners. More specifically, an educational programme was designed and implemented within the context of the preschool education, in a school of Larissa during the school year 2018-2019. The programme lasted for seven months and it was applied to 25 children. Following the principles of multiliteracies pedagogy, various activities were implemented towards developing critical thinking skills to children, as they are prioritized as important assets for the citizens of the 21st century. Folk stories, fairytales and games constituted the basic tools employed by the teachers throughout the programme which was carried out through three phases of implementation. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, the researchers made use of a) journals in every session of the programme and b) portfolios of each child individually. Through the qualitative analysis of the data, it was shown that the children exhibited an increased level of critical thinking while they developed creative and communicative aspects of their behavior while coming into contact with other-culture elements.
Archer, A. (2011). Clip-art or Design: Exploring the challenges of multimodal texts for Writing Centres in Higher Education. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 29 (4), 387-399.
Ajayi, L. (2011). A multiliteracies pedagogy: Exploring semiotic possibilities of a Disney video in a third grade diverse classroom. The Urban Review, 43(3), 396–413.
Bachman, L. F. (2000). Modern Language Testing at the Turn of the Century: Assuring that what we Count Counts. Language Testing, 17 (1), 1-42.
Duplass, J. A., & Ziedler, D. L. (2002). Critical thinking and logical argument. Social Education, 66(5), 10–14.
Callow, J. (2008). Show me: Principles for assessing students’ visual literacy. The Reading Teacher, 61(8), 616–626. doi:10.1598/ RT.61.8.3
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2006). From literacy to “multiliteracies”: Learning to mean in the new communications environment. English Studies in Africa, 49(1), 23–45. doi:10.1080/ 00138390608691342
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Mutliliteracies: New literacies, New learning, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4, 164-195.?
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). The things you do to know: An introduction to the pedagogy of multiliteracies. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies. Learning by Design (pp. 1-37). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Council of Europe. (2016). Living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies. Council of Europe Publishing
Gainer, J. S. (2010). Critical media literacy in middle school: Exploring the politics of representation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 53(5), 364-373.
Gillespie, C., Ford, K., Gillespie, R., & Leavell, A. (1996). Portfolio assssment: Some questions, some answers, some recommendations. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 39, 480-491.
Grabe, W., & Jiang, X. (2014). Assessing Reading. In Kunnan, A. J. (Ed.), The Companion to Language Assessment, First Edition, (pp. 1-16). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Griva, E., & Kofou, I. (2018). Alternative assessment in Language learning: Challenges and Practices. Kyriakidis Editions.
Griva, E., & Kofou, I. (2018). Language portfolio serving as a tool for developing/assessing multilingual skills and inter/multicultural competence. Current Topics in Language and Literature – An International Perspective. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Griva, E., Maroniti, K., & Stamou, A. G. (2018). ‘Linguistic Diversity on TV’: A Program for Developing Children’s Multiliteracies Skills. Journal of Language and Education, 4(3), 34-47. doi:10.17323/2411-7390-2018-4-3-34-47.
Hancock, C. R. (1994). ‘Alternative Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why?.’ ERIC Digest, 1-17.
Haydey, D. C., Kostiuk, J., & Phillips, S. (2007). Developing critical literacy for all students. TalentEd, 25(1), 19-25.
Jacobs, G. E. (2013). Designing Assessments A Multiliteracies Approach. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(8), 623–626. doi:10.1002/JAAL.189
Jewitt, C., & Kress, G. (2003). Multimodal literacy. New York: Peter Lang.
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2004). Designs for Learning. E–Learning, Volume 1, Number 1, pp.38-93.
Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., & Harvey, A. (2003). Assessing multiliteracies and the new basics. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 10 (1), 15–26.
Morgan, H., & York, K. C. (2009). Examining multiple perspectives with creative think-alouds. The Reading Teacher. 63(4), 307-311.
Murnane, R. J., & Levy, F. (1996). Teaching the New Basic Skills Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy. New York Free Press.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.
Nixon, H. (2003). New research literacies for contemporary research into literacy and new media? Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 407–413.?
O’Malley, J. M., & Pierce, V. L. (1996) Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. New York: Longman
Papadopoulos, Is., & Griva, E. (2017). Promoting critical literacy in the EFL context: implementing a project to young learners. European Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 7 (1), 107-120.
Papadopoulos, Is. (2019). Shaping the intercultural communicative profile of young foreign language students: a multidimensional analysis of their written discourse. Journal of Linguistics and Intercultural Education. 12 (1), 131-142
Papadopoulos, Is. & Tsitsanou, Ch. (2020). A melody of young learners’ intercultural voices: findings from a transnational study. Published in the Proceedings of the 3rd IECAT - "New Challenges in Education", Drama (Greece), 8-10 May 2020 (in press)
Richards, J. C. and C. Lockhart. (1994). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge University Press.
Shakirova, D. M. (2007). Technology for the shaping of college students’ and upper-grade students’ critical thinking. Russian Education & Society, 49(9), 42–52.
Schafersman, S. D. (1991). An introduction to critical thinking. Retrieved January 2, 2020, from http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html
Scriven, M., & Paul, R. (2007). Defining critical thinking. The Critical Thinking Community: Foundation for Critical Thinking. Retrieved January 2, 2008,
Stiggins, R. J. (1994). Student-centered classroom assessment. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Tempelaar, D. T. (2006). The role of metacognition in business education. Industry and Higher Education, 20(5), 291–297.
Wong, D. (2007). Beyond control and rationality: Dewey, aesthetics, motivation, and educative experiences. Teachers College Record, 109(1), 192–220.
In-Text Citation: (Papadopoulos & Bisiri, 2020)
To Cite this Article: Papadopoulos, I., & Bisiri, E. (2020). Fostering Critical Thinking Skills in Preschool Education: Designing, Implementing and Assessing a Multiliteracies-Oriented Program Based on Intercultural Tales. Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 8(1), 87–105.
Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
