Unlocking Logical Fallacies: A Key to Building Critical Thinking Skills in Adolescents

The purpose of this clinical focus article is to present an innovative language intervention program for adolescents that attempts to build critical thinking skills by addressing logical fallacies. Fourteen logical fallacies that often occur in spoken and written discourse are defined and discussed. These include the hasty generalization , the false dichotomy , equivocation , circular reasoning , the anecdote , the appeal to hypocrisy , the slippery slope , the appeal to ridicule , the red herring , the bandwagon , the false cause , the omission of evidence , the appeal to authority , and ad hominem . The consequences of passively accepting biased, illogical, and inaccurate statements are highlighted, and ways to address these concerns are explained. Given their expertise in spoken and written language development and disorders, speech-language pathologists, collaborating with classroom teachers, are well suited to teach adolescents with developmental language disorder or weak language skills how to unlock—or deconstruct—logical fallacies to reveal their hidden meaning. All of this can be achieved while addressing students' basic competencies in speaking, listening, reading, and writing—skills that are essential for well-informed and self-reliant thinking. In addition to helping students manage their own lives more successfully and to communicate more effectively, instruction in critical thinking by unlocking logical fallacies may help to increase levels of social justice in our institutions and daily interactions over time.