Nurturing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills by Using Social Media Based on E-Portfolio

Abstract

Integrating critical thinking and problem solving in daily
classroom activities is vital for students as learning critical thinking
leads  students  to  develop  other  skills,  such  as  a  higher  level  of
concentration,  deeper  analytical  abilities,  and  improved  thought
processing. Meanwhile, portfolio is part of an alternative assessment
needed  in  assessing  both  learning  process  and  learning  product.  It
can  either  include  a  record  of  students’  achievement  or  simply
document  their  best  work  (Nunes,  2004: 327).  Integration  of
technology  and  education  has  made  traditional  paper-based
portfolios  turn  to  digital  portfolios  which  are  much  more  userfriendly  and  appealing  to  students,  particularly  those  who  are
attracted to use social media in their daily lives. This paper aims to
find  out  how  e-portfolio  helps  nurture  students’  critical  thinking
skills.  To  achieve  the  objective,  an  action  research  involving
planning,  acting,  observing  and  reflecting  is  conducted  in  preintermediate English for teen class. In addition, students’ perception
of using e-portfolio during their learning is also investigated.