A DIRECT AND EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS BY THE PROCESS OF INFUSION

Abstract

Educators, employers, and governing agencies view critical thinking (CT) as one of the most desired outcomes of higher education. This study employs a qualitative phenomenological design by applying an explicit five-stage procedure to infuse preselected thinking skills to a class of 22 international students in a 14-week reading programme at a local university. Six lessons, two hours each per week on critical thinking were taught to the students by three different teachers. The total of 12 hours of instruction was based on articles selected from the National Geographic series which contained structured sections on critical thinking. Adequate time was allowed for discussion when students were encouraged to deliberate on views of the authors of the articles. The guiding questions of the instructors led to positive outcomes of the lessons, and consequently students expressed their views freely. Two more articles (lessons 7 and 8) were handed out to the students as independent tasks. This was to ensure that students could work independently and that critical thinking skills had actually been infused after the six taught lessons. The data from the two lessons, 3 samples each (selected randomly) were analysed qualitatively using the Association of American Colleges and Universities rubric instrument. Findings on their performances indicated that critical thinking skills were infused through explicit and direct instruction. The result indicated that students were able to apply critical thinking skills in reading.