The language deficit: A comparison of the critical thinking skills of Asian students in first and second language contexts (original) (raw)
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English Language Teaching, 2019
Critical thinking is one of the core objectives of talent training in higher education. Meanwhile, the cultivation of critical thinking skills in foreign language teaching has become more and more urgent, and it has also been written into the national standards for the training of foreign language talents. A good critical thinking includes both a skill dimension (Critical Thinking Skills) and a disposition dimension (Critical Thinking Dispositions). Critical Thinking Skills include interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation. This study intends to explore the current situation of the critical thinking skills of undergraduates in foreign language majors (English and Japanese) in a Normal University, and then attempts to find out the similarities and differences in critical thinking skills between English majors and Japanese majors after years of study at college. The results show that a clear difference exists between English majors and Japanese m...
Asian Students, Critical Thinking and English as an Academic Lingua Franca
2011
Abstract : A number of scholars such as Kutlieh and Egege (2003), Atkinson (1997) and Fox (1994) have argued that critical thinking is incompatible with Asian cultural attitudes. Others have disagreed, arguing from different perspectives that critical thinking is not the preserve of Western culture and that the comparative lack of ‘critical’ quality in the academic work of Asian international students in universities where English is the medium of instruction is due to the difficulties of study in the context of edge of knowledge discourse in a second, third or fourth language (Kumaravadivelu, 2003; Paton, 2005; and Lun, 2009). In this context interviews were undertaken with both postgraduate and undergraduate students in three major universities in China and one in India to find their perceptions of critical thinking and English as an academic lingua franca. Their responses are discussed from the perspective of history and philosophy of science.
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Critical thinking (CT) skills are generally considered to be vital to success at university, but Asian students are sometimes perceived as lacking these skills. This research explores the effect that thinking in a second language has on CT performance. To assess this, two groups of students were tested on a split-test
Do Japanese students lack critical thinking? Misconception addressed
Power and Education , 2022
In recent years, content integrated language education has taken center stage in Japanese university English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) settings. The emphasis on content has created an opportunity for students to demonstrate analytical thinking, assessment, inference, and problem-solving skills through oral communication activities in English (L2). However, the opportunity may be perceived as a challenge by students, who were exposed to teacher-centered pedagogy during their pre-tertiary language education and raised with cultural values that conflict with the expectations. Therefore, some students may remain disengaged or give short answers when they are asked to demonstrate critical thinking. Students’ lack of response is often misconstrued as the absence of critical thinking, leading to a misconception among language educators. The present article attempts to offer insights into the challenges facing Japanese EFL students when they attempt to demonstrate critical thinking and emphasizes the role of language teachers’ intercultural competence in understanding the challenges students experience and proposes learner autonomy as a critical step towards overcoming this challenge.
Reframing the debate on Asian students and critical thinking: Implications for Western universities
Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, 2017
This paper examines the widespread contention that, as a result of their cultural and educational backgrounds, students from Asia lack the critical thinking skills required when they study abroad at Western universities. It scrutinises this view from two perspectives. First, it problematises the use of Asia as a monolithic entity, arguing that the stereotyping of Asian students as uncritical is an act of Othering that fails to recognise the cultural and social diversity of such a large group of people. Second, it looks at studies of the critical thinking skills of Asian students to determine whether there is empirical evidence that they do indeed lack these fundamental cognitive abilities. From a comprehensive review of the literature, it finds that most of the specific skills and dispositions included within the umbrella of critical thinking can be found in equal or greater measure in the traditions, cultures and education systems of many Asian countries. Much of the supposed paucity of critical thinking amongst international Asian students can be explained by the fact that they are carrying out their studies in a foreign language, which has been shown to have a significantly negative impact on academic performance.
2018
This study examined whether language structure or language proficiency might affect students’ critical thinking performance. Previous research has claimed that many non-Western students struggle with the demands of demonstrating critical thought. Two language-related causes have been suggested: one concerning structural limitations in the non-Western students’ first language, and the other concerning their second language proficiency. In Study 1 described here, reports written by 110 Japanese university students, who had received instruction in academic discourse for critical evaluation (which is one aspect of critical thinking), were analyzed for use of evaluative statements. No disadvantage was found for use of the Japanese language, which is considered as having a more indirect structure that may make critical evaluation more difficult. Measurements of language proficiency in English and Japanese, however, were found to correlate with production of evaluative statements in those ...
Second Language Students' Critical Thinking Performance in Argumentative Writing
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 2023
Critical thinking (CT) is interconnected with argumentation, so argumentative writing serves as a crucial medium for demonstrating CT. The present study aimed to examine second language (L2) writers' CT performance in argumentative writing and to explore how high-achieving L2 students differ from their low-achieving counterparts in terms of CT performance. In this study, a sample of 33 higher-level and 32 lower-level L2 students from a Chinese university wrote an L2 argumentative essay on computers within 40 minutes. The CT performance in four major parts of each essay, i.e., position(s), explanations, evidence, and conclusion, was assessed according to four CT criteria: Unambiguity, Fair-mindedness, Substance, and Consistency. Findings suggest that (1) the performance of evidence and Substance was not satisfactory, (2) no significant differences were reflected in the performance of overall L2 CT, Unambiguity, Substance, and Consistency between the participants of varied L2 levels, and (3) the higher-level L2 students significantly outperformed their lower-level counterparts in terms of conclusion and Fairmindedness. Important implications of these findings are discussed.
The Relationship between Critical Thinking and Language Proficiency of Malaysian Undergraduates
EDU-COM International Conference, 2008
In the present information era, university students are expected to be able to think critically so that they will be able to keep up with the changes brought about by new technological innovations and have better chances of employability. Since language is an important tool for acquiring knowledge at the tertiary level, it is therefore important to gain insight into the nature of the critical thinking ability of undergraduates and its possible link to their language proficiency. This study examined the critical thinking ability of Malaysian undergraduates and its relationship to language proficiency. The Bahasa Malaysia version of the Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) Level X was administered to 280 undergraduates. Results indicated that the critical thinking ability of the undergraduates was much lower than that of their American counterparts. Nevertheless, significant correlations were found between their critical thinking ability and English language proficiency as measured by two national level tests. Implications for teaching and future research are discussed in this paper.