This paper explores class design for the growth of Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Japanese-language class. Throughout three semesters of practicum in graduate school, the main goal was set by the curriculum on improvements of oral proficiency. On top of the main goal, the author has been curious about how to operate a class to provoke thinking skills in language classrooms while having the main goal in mind. This paper will examine two cases of setbacks, which the author has faced while provoking to think in second-language towards language learners. The first breakdown was on setting appropriate levels of tasks, which happened during the Fall semester in an applied practice class. The second breakdown was observed during culture class in the Spring semester, related to task content while provoking thinking. This paper reviews researches on 1) setting appropriate levels of topics and tasks, 2) 4C, especially on Cognition, within Content and Language Integrated Learning, 3) Class design, activities, and questions from teacher to students to provoke student’s ability to think, 4) How to analyze In-class interaction. The paper will use these as a framework for analysis and will provide improved class plans for the growth of students' thinking skills.

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This action research paper discusses the teacher’s tendency of asking questions to get utterances from beginner Japanese learners. During the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 teaching practicums, students produced few utterances in response to my questions during class. To discover the problems with this approach, I reviewed recorded videos of the Spring practicum and analyzed my question types and interactions with learners. I discovered that I asked questions and set scenes without considering learners’ level, and my follow-up support was insufficient for the learners who answered questions. In this paper, I delve into the solutions of the problems to get more utterances of beginner Japanese learners.

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