Analysis of Critical Thinking Skills for

International Students in a Community College

●Mo Zhang
●University of San Diego
●May 16. 2019
Why I decided to do this research?

● Importance of critical thinking in education field

● My personal experience as a student and educator

which are related to critical thinking
Theoretical Framework--Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 2001)

Higher-level thinking
(include critical thinking)

Higher-level Questions
(“wh” questions)

Lower-level thinking

Lower-level Questions
(Yes or no questions)
Statement of Problem Identification of Gap

Americans regarded the cultivation of critical

Critical thinking is an abstract term
thinking as one of the significant objectives
that is difficult to measure if students
in higher education (Tang, 2016).

engage in it or not in the

However, international students who have observations.

different cultural backgrounds generally are

unfamiliar with critical thinking.

Literature Review

● Definition of critical thinking: Critical thinking is reflective and reasonable

thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do (Ennis, 1985).

● Teachers scaffold the building of critical thinking skills in class by:

- asking higher-level (analytical) questions (Bloom, 2001; Wang & Seepho, 2017)

- and playing facilitator and critical thinker role in classroom (Tang, 2016).
Literature Review

Four characteristics of critical thinking skills of Ennis (1985: 2011), Paul and
Elder (2011):

People who think critically:

a. are not afraid of asking questions and making mistakes when they know
new information and/or knowledge from others;
b. are willing to use other/new ways to figure out problem;
c. are willing to listen to others’ opinion and have confidence of their own
thoughts and/or knowledge;
d. know everyone’s, including themselves’, opinion is not always right.
Research Questions

(a) How do students engage in critical thinking in a

beginning-level ESL class?

(b) In what ways does the ESL teacher support her

students in developing critical thinking?

Methodology

Mixed Method Research Case Study

● Definition ● Definition Researchers hope to have a deeper

understanding of a situation and impact of these issues by using
Mixed method research is n approach of inquiry involving in-depth analysis and rich description of a single unit or system
collecting quantitative and qualitative data, interpreting data forms, that is limited by space and time(Hancock & Algozzine, 2011).
and using different designs that may involve philosophical ● Individuals:
assumptions and theoretical frameworks. (Creswell & Creswell,
2018). - Students
- Instructor
● Setting: A beginning level ESL class
in a community college in San
Diego area
 Data Collection
Student participants n=17

Participants

17 participants
(different country/ age/ English level)

1 instructor
(worked on ESL field more than 15 years)
Data Collection

Data Collection Tools

● Observation notes and Checklists(7

checklists contain 69 sample questions in
total)
Interviews
● Surveys (16 questions in Likert-scale, 17
students)
1 Teacher(7 questions)
● Interviews
Survey
4 students(selected in
random, 7 questions) Observation notes and Checklists
Data Analysis

● For RQ1 “How do students engage in critical thinking in a beginning-level ESL

class”:
-If students’ answer fit the four characteristics or not in surveys, checklists
and interviews with students.
-Theme: “student demonstration of critical thinking skills”

● For RQ2 “In what ways does the ESL teacher support her students in
developing critical thinking” :
-Interviews with the instructor, checklists and observation notes.
- Theme: “teacher scaffolds/supports critical thinking skills”
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Survey:
1. In our English class, I would like to learn by asking questions.
Never A little Sometimes Often Always
2. When I don’t understand something in English, I would like to try some other ways to understand.
Never A little Sometimes Often Always

No Yes and No Yes

Data Analysis and Interpretation
7 checklists

Teacher to student (60 questions) Student to teacher (9 questions)

16 “yes/no questions”; 44 “wh questions” 6 “yes/no questions”; 3 “wh questions”

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Interview with students

Students’ answers which fit the four Students’ answers which don’t fit the four
characteristics characteristics

(I: Are you afraid of making mistakes?) (I: Do you think teacher’s opinion is always right?)
S: No, I don’t. Because I did mistakes when I S: Yes. Because teacher teach. I don’t know.
learn, and I can learn from the mistakes. Making
mistake is very important. When I make mistake, (I: Do you think you are a people who are willing to
mistake is good for me, it’s help me a lot. ask questions in your learning?)
S: No, I don’t. I think I don’t usually ask.
(I: Do you think teacher’s opinion is always
right?)
(I: Do you think you are a people who are willing to
S: OF course not. That’s just her opinion.
ask questions in your learning?)
Maybe she is right and maybe not. But it’s
S: No, I don’t. I think I don’t usually ask.
good we say our opinion to each other.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Interview with teacher
Teacher’s opinion about if her students
ask higher-level questions or not
They (students) never ask (me questions)
until a few weeks into the class.
Sometimes (they ask “wh” questions), but not
very often.
Those (“wh questions) the ones they can
ask, but they are hard for them. So, the
simple yes or no they kinda do that, they can
handle that.
How the teacher help students in their CT development
I tried to whatever I am working on, have them to ask each
other question and tried to give them some guiding questions
to ask.
I try to give them something that will make them go deeper
than just words on the page, like ask some difficult questions
and do some activities.
Rather than the yes or no question, I tried to ask them “wh”
questions. “Why did she say that?” And that threaten them
everytime,
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Observation notes

● Activities which make students think deeper

● Make students work in group

● Ask questions
Main Findings

● Most of the 17 students have very limited critical thinking skills. Only one student’s answer fits all

points of the characteristics of critical thinking.

● The teacher in this beginning-level ESL class mainly provided two strategies to help her students

in development of critical thinking skills

- the first one is asking students higher-level questions which are “wh” questions;

- the second one is using critical activities to encourage students to think deeper and she also

build her own critical thinking skills as well.

Pedagogical implications
● Beginning level ESL students might need extra support and scaffolding in
the process of building their proficiency.

● The lower-level ESL teacher may want to pay attention to the students’

and themselves’ critical thinking developing.

Reflection
● Limitation:
- Students’ personality, culture, and English proficiency
- Five-point Likert-scale

● Personal growth
Questions