Researching the ESL Classroom: Promoting Critical Thinking and Speaking Skills Through Role-Plays – A Study Among Tertiary Level Learners in the STEM Context Through Action Research

STEM (SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS) education combines Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math [3] help students to become more creative problem solvers. The goal of improving students' speaking skills and critical thinking skills through role play in the STEM environment improves their creativity through problem solving skills. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of these abilities through action research [21]. Similarly, role-playing exercises involve critical thinking abilities to analyse, interpret, evaluate, summarise, and synthesise information and require a variety of higher mental processes that raise students' problem-solving abilities [20]. Student use these skills to develop strong analytical, cognitive, and communicative abilities to meet the needs of the work sector. This study intends to show the way action research is applied in the classroom by motivating the teacher and students to document their understanding as their own practise and prepare them for the circumstances they face in the real world. It accomplishes this by practising the communication and critical thinking abilities to use. It exemplifies the need of activity-based classroom research, which is successfully implemented in the English language learning classroom for 34 first-year students majoring in B.E. Electrical and Communication Engineering. It also comprises documentation of the issue's identification, the planning and execution of the intervention, the execution of the role plays, and the analysis of the role plays to identify areas for future development. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to evaluate students' critical thinking and speaking abilities using the Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect cycle of action research.