INTEGRATING 21st CENTURY SKILLS: CREATIVE THINKING, COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

This study aims to describe how teachers incorporate 21st century skills, including creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking into their lesson plans, explore the integration of these skills into English language teaching, and identify the challenges teachers face when integrating those skills in the classroom. This research was conducted at an Islamic Junior High School in Surakarta. The researchers used a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. The research instrument was information obtained through observations and interviews, as well as lesson plan guides made by teachers. The subjects of this study were one English teacher and two representatives of grade XI students. To analyze the data, four stages were employed: data collection, data reduction, data presentation, conclusion drawing, and verification. The results showed that 1) teachers had incorporated 21st century skills into the lesson plans they made. 2) Teachers have integrated 21st-century skills in the classroom well. 3) there are some challenges experienced by teachers when integrating 21st century skills in the classroom, such as the lack of motivation to learn English in students and the lack or limitations of school facilities to support success in integrating 21st century skills (creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking) in EFL classes.