Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) are part of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013- 2025, which was implemented into the school system to spark a new trend in the way young Malaysians learn and acquire knowledge. The aim of the study was to obtain greater insights into the teaching pedagogies of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. This study underlies various types of information and communication technologies (ICT) usages in the classes, examine ESL teachers’ challenges in integrating ICT in their classes for promoting HOTS and determines the types of higher-order thinking (HOT) activities that are being conducted in classes. A purposive sampling method was used to select 40 participants who then responded to a questionnaire. The respondents comprised ESL teachers from selected secondary schools in Penang. This study found that ESL teachers lacked pedagogical knowledge of HOT especially in ICT and experience various ICT challenges in their pedagogical practices. This study is pertinent as it highlights a need for the Education Ministry to take serious measures in ascertaining experts in particular fields of pedagogical knowledge and provide training for the teachers to be capable of infusing thinking skills into content instruction.