Reframing the debate on Asian students and critical thinking: Implications for Western universities (original) (raw)
Related papers
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.
Learning and Individual Differences, 2010
Critical thinking is deemed as an ideal in academic settings, but cultural differences in critical thinking performance between Asian and Western students have been reported in the international education literature. We examined explanations for the observed differences in critical thinking between Asian and New Zealand (NZ) European students, and tested hypotheses derived from research in international education and cultural psychology. The results showed that NZ European students performed better on two objective measures of critical thinking skills than Asian students. English proficiency, but not dialectical thinking style, could at least partially if not fully explain these differences. This finding holds with both selfreport (Study 1) and objectively measured (Study 2a) English proficiency. The results also indicated that Asian students tended to rely more on dialectical thinking to solve critical thinking problems than their Western counterparts. In a follow-up data analysis, students' critical thinking was found to predict their academic performance after controlling for the effects of English proficiency and general intellectual ability, but the relationship does not vary as a function of students' cultural backgrounds or cultural adoption (Study 2b). Altogether, these findings contribute to our understanding of the influence of culture on critical thinking in international education.
Fostering Critical Thinking Skills in European and Asian Higher Education Institutions
MIER Journal of Educational Studies Trends & Practices, 2021
There is a demand for transformation in higher education. Undergraduates need to be taught critical thinking, an essential skill that should be central to the mission of all educational institutions. Critical thinking is a key focus of academic interest among researchers in the field of pedagogy and methodology. Despite this, there is still a lack of sufficient information on approaches, methods, techniques, and means of incorporating critical thinking skills in the classroom environment at the tertiary education level. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the hands-on experiences of some European and Asian universities in promoting critical thinking education using a range of academic models. The review shows that critical thinking has already been integrated into many major tertiary education programmes in both European and Asian universities. Further, majority of the academic models implemented are transferable and flexible. The results confirm that i...
Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education
With a growing number of Asian students attending Western universities, the difficulties they seem to face in adapting to a new academic environment has provoked much discussion amongst educators, particularly with regard to the critical thinking (CT) skills. Many educators have claimed that, as a result of their cultural and educational backgrounds, Asian students lack the CT skills essential for academic tasks such as essay writing and debates. Other researchers, however, have argued this is due simply to the disadvantages of carrying out studies in a foreign language. In fact, there have been surprisingly few studies directly comparing Asian students' CT skills in their first compared to their second languages. Those that have been done have tended to employ standardised CT tests which, in their discrete, short-answer format, do not accurately reflect the tasks students carry out in university courses. In this study, therefore, two classes of Japanese university students, all with TOEFL scores high enough to enter Western universities, were asked to carry out an oral and written debate, one class in Japanese and the other in English. Evaluations of their performances by independent raters revealed stark differences between the two classes in their ability to construct and deconstruct arguments, find logical inconsistencies and express themselves clearly and persuasively.
Critical Thinking and International Students: A Marriage of Necessity
The internationalisation of Australian universities presents a double challenge for student support services -to provide academic support programs which address perceived culturally-based academic differences and to provide support programs which are culturally sensitive, inclusive and which contribute to the success of international students. Critical thinking is a paradigmatic case. Universities insist that critical thinking is a requirement of quality academic work while academics bemoan the lack of a critical approach to study by international students in general, and Asian students in particular. The challenge for transition programs is how to incorporate critical thinking within their framework without adopting either a deficit or assimilationist approach. In the following paper, we discuss the difficulties inherent in this challenge and present one approach that seeks to address them. A number of international students were interviewed for feedback on it effectiveness.
British Educational Research Journal, 2016
Academic staff working within Western Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), have a responsibility to encourage the continuous critique of knowledge and values, expressed both within the curriculum that they deliver and within society more widely (Wals and Jickling, 2002). Critical thinking is often regarded as the hallmark of a good education (Walker and Finney, 2006). Atkinson (1997) however raised concerns, that such practices may possess an exclusive (and reductive) character, fraught with cultural issues. Consequently, international students may be at a disadvantage in understanding the underpinning principles of critical thinking. This paper draws upon data from a small case study sample of international Masters level students, as a means to examine and refine notions of critical thinking in relation to practices within one UK University. We suggest that these data indicate that it is time to re-evaluate and reconsider the ways in which we understand and promote critical thinking within academic work.
To what extent do culture-related factors influenceuniversity students’ critical thinking use?
2013
This study sought to elucidate some aspects of the relationship between culture and critical thinking by examining whether a number of culture-related factors might relate to university students’ reported use of critical thinking. The participants were 363 undergraduate university students from Kyoto and Okinawa in Japan, and Auckland in New Zealand. They completed a questionnaire that assessed critical thinking use and the following factors: study self-efficacy, regulatory mode (assessment/locomotion), and self-construal (independence/interdependence). Critical thinking use was found to correlate with study self-efficacy, locomotion, assessment, and independent self-construal. The Auckland students scored higher than both Japanese student groups in those factors, except for assessment (in which the groups did not differ). In contrast, the Okinawa students scored higher than the other two groups in interdependent self-construal. No differences were found between the groups on reported critical thinking use. A model, which produced an acceptable fit to the data, is proposed in which self-construal influences regulatory mode and study self-efficacy, and these in turn influence critical thinking. Together, these findings suggest that culture-related factors (self-construal, regulatory mode, self-efficacy) do influence students’ critical thinking use, but that differences in those factors need not necessarily equate to locational group differences in critical thinking use.
The Journal of General Education, 2000
Edward M. Glaser (1941), one of the authors of perhaps the most well-known critical thinking assessment inventory (The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal), claimed that engaging in critical thinking is vital. Critical thinking allows citizens to form intelligent judgments on public issues so that they can contribute to the solutions of social problems in a democratic way. Sharing Aristotle's view of thinking, Glaser (1985) further stated that logical thinking without ethical orientation and moral purpose would have little value in terms of contributing to a superior level of education in society. In a rapidly changing modern society such as our own, people's lifestyles and values are constantly replaced with something new. Scientific inventions, technological development, and the globalization of the world economy all seem to contribute to these changes. We live in such a dynamic society and are faced with so many moral challenges in dealing with a diversity of ideas and values that attempting to be a critical thinker now seems much more challenging and vital than ever before. The question is, "Can we help our students become critical thinkers so that they can survive in this era of rapid changes and make contributions, not just to their own community, but to the whole global society?" If the answer is yes, what can we do to prepare students to become effective leaders in the future? In this paper, I propose a way to enhance college students' critical thinking, a requirement for surviving the era of rapid social changes and globalization. While various definitions exist, my definition of critical thinking is consistent with the recently developed broader definition of the concept, which emerged as the expert consensus of the 1990