Developing critical thinking: experiences of Chinese international students in a Post-1992 university in England

Critical thinking is a key attribute for students in British higher education, but there has been little research on how Chinese students develop critical thinking during their studies at British universities. Based on interviews with sixteen Chinese students at a university in England, this paper reports their experiences of developing critical thinking during their one-year Master’s programmes. Developing critical thinking was not always an easy task for these students. In addition to cultural background, other factors that played important roles in influencing how these students developed critical thinking included the teachers’ questioning approaches, group discussions in the classes, English language proficiency, and the criteria for assessing critical thinking in writing practices. The findings suggest that it is time to shift the ‘deficit’ conceptualization in which Chinese students are seen as lacking critical thinking and reexamine the ways that lecturers can facilitate the development of critical thinking of these students.