Critical thinking and Chinese university students: A review of the evidence

Critical thinking and Chinese university students: A review of the evidence

• Tian, Jing Renmin University of China
• Low, Graham David University of York

Language, Culture and Curriculum, 24(1), 61-76, 2011

Routledge

2011

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FC Critical Thinking, Learning Techniques, Time
• N Students & Student Services
  • NC Charactieristics & Conditions of Students; Opinion & Attitudes of Students, Problems of Adjustment
• F Learning & Teaching
  • FE Medium of Instruction, Language of Teaching, Bi-& Multilingual Education, Problems of Bilingualism, Code-mixing & Code-switching

Critical Thinking Academic Writing Chinese Students Culture Training Nursing Students Hong Kong Argumentation Disposition Education & Educational Research Linguistics

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

Despite extensive discussion on critical thinking (CT) by Chinese students, there are still debates over the question of why Chinese higher education students, when studying abroad, lack (or rather do not demonstrate) CT skills. The main objective of this paper is to explore how far it can be established from the published research literature whether the key factor affecting Chinese university students' CT with respect to academic study in English is cultural background or previous training. The conclusion is that culture cannot be the sole explanation for Chinese students' CT performance at universities abroad. The evidence strongly suggests that, while CT elements can indeed be found in ancient Chinese culture, many other factors, especially students' previous learning experiences, are of more immediate relevance and likely to affect performance. As a result, a holistic approach is suggested. The review also suggests that there is at times a lack of clear definitions and/or explanations of the scope of the key concept - culture - in the current literature.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2010.546400]

• English

Journal Articles

• 07908318

• 10.1080/07908318.2010.546400

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/48b72cc6

2014-07-11