Phenomenological Insights Into Debate Based TBLT for Improving EFL Students’ HOTS

In rapidly evolving 21st-century EFL education, fostering higher-order thinking skills has become a critical priority, yet many classrooms continue to rely on traditional, teacher-centered practices that offer limited cognitive challenge and minimal opportunities for analytical engagement. Addressing this pedagogical gap, the present study investigates how Task-Based Language Teaching empowered through debate activities can serve as an integrative pathway for enhancing learners’ HOTS within an EFL setting. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, data were generated through in depth semi structured interviews that elicited the lecturer’s narratives about task design, classroom enactment, and perceived learning outcomes. The interview transcript was analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six phase thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in strategies, challenges, and perceived impacts. The findings reveal that carefully scaffolded debate cycles, explicit modeling of argument structures, and sustained language support help students move from surface level participation toward more analytic reasoning, improved fluency, and greater confidence. At the same time, the lecturer reports constraints related to time, uneven language proficiency, and the need for institutional support. Overall, the study demonstrates that debate based TBLT can function as a powerful pedagogical space for integrating language development with higher order thinking. The results contribute phenomenological insights into lecturer agency in shaping cognitively challenging EFL tasks and offer implications for curriculum design, teacher professional development, and policy initiatives that seek to align EFL teaching with global demands for critical, reflective, and socially responsive graduates.