Adapting or adopting? Critical thinking education in the East Asian cultural sphere: A systematic integrative review

Abstract

Confucian culture influences the teaching effect of critical thinking (CT). Although education systems have taken measures to revise curricula and instruction, the lack of CT among students in some countries belonging to the East Asian cultural sphere is widely criticized, and it is generally believed that their education systems fail to develop CT skills in their students. Given these challenges, this study aims to analyze how the concept, assessment and instruction of CT has been included in education in these countries using an integrative systematic review. Based on a series of inclusion criteria, 62 articles were included, and their quantitative and qualitative characteristics were analyzed. Although cultural influence has been emphasized, researchers and educators generally adopt Western definitions of the concepts of CT without questioning their transferability. With regard to assessment, researchers rarely develop local instruments, and it is more common to adopt authoritative tools developed in Western countries without adaptation and without examining their reliability and validity. With regard to instruction, researchers rarely adapt teaching strategies based on local conditions, although culture and language affect teaching efficacy. The review provides a critical analysis of the contextualization of CT in the literature and outlines new directions for interested researchers and educators in the field of CT teaching.