Reinvestigating the Determinants of Lifelong Learning: Can Pedagogy for Critical Thinking Contribute to Developing Lifelong Learners?

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to investigate practically the determining factor(s) affecting the students’ inclination to become lifelong learners and further to verify the potential effect of pedagogy for critical thinking to play a significant role in this respect. Participants in the study were 80 freshman English majors, found mostly through the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) questionnaire to be amotivated as learners. Primarily, significant variables, identified in the literature to affect the students’ inclination to grow as lifelong learners, were specified. The criteria were applied in practice to investigate their relative contribution in making a group of amotivated freshman English majors motivated as lifelong learners. Various instruments and materials from questionnaires to student writings were used to collect data concerning the identified variables so as to identify through both quantitative and qualitative analyses the most determining one(s) in educating lifelong learners. The results suggested critical thinking as the most consequential variable involved. Implications of the study for pedagogy in higher education were discussed and questions were raised for future studies to take into account.

Value of Critical Thinking in the Labour Market: Variations in Employers’ and Employees’ Views

“…Critical thinking is recognised as being one of the most important factors that have a positive impact on lifelong learning (Homayounzadeh 2015;Green 2016;Wei 2020). In today's labour market situation, lifelong learning is particularly relevant in the context of employee retraining (World Economic Forum 2020), with the aim of enabling individuals to remain active in the ever-changing labour market environment and creating more inclusive and sustainable economies and societies where no one is left behind.…”

The Effects of Lifelong Learning Tendencies on Critical Thinking and Computational Thinking Skills

“…Critical thinking is not an innate feature, but a system that can be taught, explained and easily applied [11,12]. Homayounzadeh (2015) has revealed that critical thinking in the higher education process is one of the most important determinants in the development of lifelong learning [14]. Green (2015) states that the acquisition of critical thinking skills will have a positive effect on lifelong learning [15].…”