Abstract:
The goal of the study was to formulate and evaluate a teaching model, which marries the covering of content and the fostering of critical thinking skills in the German Landeskunde class at the University of Zimbabwe. A study carried out in 2016 revealed that students learning German as a foreign language at the University of Zimbabwe require training in critical thinking performance and suggested that the Landeskunde lessons be oriented in a way that challenges students to think critically about the class content. In addition, very few studies have focused on developing models that stipulate practical steps on how critical thinking skills can be taught alongside course content and none have looked at developing such a model for the German Landeskunde class in particular. The study, therefore, set out to address the above mentioned problems. The teaching model was formulated on the basis of available literature on critical thinking and a study carried out at the beginning of the research in October 2019, which determined the critical thinking performance of students studying German Landeskunde at the aforementioned institution at the time of the study. Methods used for data collection were essays and presentations. The data was analysed using the holistic critical thinking scoring rubric. After its formulation the model was then implemented in the Landeskunde class for the period of a semester, from March to June 2020. A post-test was then carried out, to investigate the critical thinking performance of the students after intervention. Results of the study carried out prior the intervention and those of the post-intervention phase were compared to determine the effectiveness of the model. The study revealed that the teaching model had great potential in improving the critical thinking performance of students studying German landeskunde at the University of Zimbabwe.
