Teaching Critical Thinking Skills In Higher Education:  A Review Of The Literature

Behar‐Horenstein, Linda S.; Niu, Lian

doi:10.19030/tlc.v8i2.3554

Cited by 180 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…It is considered reliable and valid for testing CT among different academic groups (Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011;Wangensteen et al, 2010). It is composed of five subscales: inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments.…”

Section: Critical Thinking Skills Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing: Inspecting the Association among EFL Learners in China

Pei¹,

Zheng²,

Zhang³

et al. 2017

ELT

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Nurturing critical thinking (CT) has been acknowledged as a core objective of tertiary education, and drawn attention from academia of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China. The thrust of the present study was to determine the association between CT and EFL argumentative writing among Chinese undergraduates. To this end, 110 English majors across three grades at two universities were conveniently selected and given the critical thinking skills (CTS) test and EFL argumentative writing test. The results of this study indicated that undergraduate English majors in China did not possess strong CTS. Though their CTS was not found to be significantly correlated with EFL argumentative writing performance, textual analysis of typical essays showed that strong-CTS learners outperformed weak-CTS ones in relevance, clarity, logicality, profundity and flexibility of argumentative writing. The obtained results suggest a need to integrate CT into EFL writing instruction.

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Section: Critical Thinking Skills Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing: Inspecting the Association among EFL Learners in China

Pei¹,

Zheng²,

Zhang³

et al. 2017

ELT

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“…Teachers' decision about which learning strategies to implement depends strongly in the analysis of the effectiveness of CT instruction. Despite the large number of researches about teaching CT in HEI, there is little agreement regarding the conditions under which instruction could result in greater CT outcomes [34,39,40,41,42,43]. In their review of research on CT instruction effectiveness, Tiruneh, Verburgh and Elen [41] conclude that it is influenced by conditions in the instructional environment comprising the instructional variables (teaching strategies and CT instructional approaches), and to some extent by student-related variables (year level and prior academic performance).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Portuguese University Teachers About Critical Thinking Educational Practices

Morais

Silva

Cruz

et al. 2019

Communications in Computer and Information Science

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Promoting students' Critical Thinking (CT) in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) has been an essential and challenging goal in the 21 st century. This exploratory research study attempted to characterize how CT is being fostered in Portuguese HEI. Semi-structured interviews were carried-out with 5 university teachers from different domains, focusing several topics: CT notion, CT aims, CT approach, interventions, teaching strategies, learning materials, assessment methods, challenges and barriers. Results highlighted the undervalue of CT dispositions by university teachers, the lack of clarity regarding the design principles and criteria behind effective CT instruction and assessment, and the need to change institutional culture and conditions towards the support of CT educational practicesthis will also enable the long-term integration of CT across the curricula and the transferability of skills and dispositions to other contexts. In general, teachers agreed on the importance to be explicit and clear in their CT teaching practice, and on the use of authentic situations, dialogue and active learning strategies for the effective development of students' CT.We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource in one's personal and civic life. While not synonymous with good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon [3, p. 2].

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“…Moreover, it seemed that participants have developed a balance between “being critical” and “being acceptive.” In higher education, one of the key educational goals is to develop students' critical thinking and reasoning, which often refers to the ability to challenge others' or one's own ideas and thoughts (James, 1987; Walker and Finney, 1999; Behar-Horenstein and Niu, 2011; Ghanizadeh, 2017). However, being able to trust and welcome authentic experience is missing in the larger educational picture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness and Awakening: A Narrative-Oriented Inquiry of Undergraduate Students' Development of Mindful Agency in China

et al. 2017

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The article explores undergraduate students' experiences of developing mindful agency as a positive learning disposition, their perceived change as a learner, and the possible impact of mindful agency coaching on students' learning and personal growth, using a narrative research method. Seventy Chinese undergraduate students generated personal reflective journals and eight participants' journals were selected to enter into the narrative-oriented inquiry. Our analysis revealed a number of primary themes based on which we produced a meta-story. The supplements of the story were exacted for further critical cross-case discussion. The finding indicated that the multifaceted development of mindful agency involved learning methods, emotional regulation, strategic thinking, and awareness of planning, openness to experience, self-acceptance and self-esteem, and learning engagement, with enhanced sense of personal awareness and awakening. The coaching was supportive for students to foster positive self-identities and become more reflective, mindful, and self-determined.

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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills In Higher Education: A Review Of The Literature

Cited by 180 publications

References 34 publications

Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing: Inspecting the Association among EFL Learners in China

Critical Thinking and Argumentative Writing: Inspecting the Association among EFL Learners in China

Perceptions of Portuguese University Teachers About Critical Thinking Educational Practices

Awareness and Awakening: A Narrative-Oriented Inquiry of Undergraduate Students' Development of Mindful Agency in China

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