BEYOND CRITICAL THINKING IN ACADEMIC WRITING: A DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE

JURNAL BASIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Misdi Misdi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Education ◽  
Private University ◽  
Research Proposal ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Critical Writing ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Proposal Writing

The phenomenon of critical thinking, as one aspect of learning experiences, is challenging. Yet, it reflects students’ ideas and understanding of particular matters, especially in academic writing among the English education institutions. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate how undergraduate students fashioned their understanding of being self-driven in writing research proposal relating to reading skills. The research questions drop into two big areas: 1) How is critical thinking reflected in research proposal writing, 2) What are evidences of being critical in addressing research proposal? Having three sessions of in-depth interview, fifty seven students of English department of a private university in West Java, Indonesia were involved in the reflection of their writing and reading experiences during the study. The data were collected through interview and document observation. The findings suggest that first, the critical writing is reflected by such citation and elaborative sentences as the distinctive writing features of academic writing. Second, the extended description and elaboration are made due to reading constraint. Books are mainly the sources, whereas research journal articles are still less appreciated. Thus, reading is defines as the evidence of being critical. The results of the study play significant contribution in building critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing as self-awareness manifesto among the students of English education.

scholarly journals MACRO COHERENCE LEVEL ON STUDENTS’ SCIENTIFIC PAPER

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-112
Author(s):  
Leora Grahadila Andovita ◽  
Aceng Rahmat ◽  
Hanif Pujiati
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Education ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Scientific Paper ◽  
Research Proposal ◽  
Written Text ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Proposal Writing ◽  
Proposal A ◽  
Coherence Level

Purposely contemplating at seventh semester students of English Education Study Progam, it is perceived that students exhibit a lack of skills in use of rhetoric, predominantly making errors in the use of words and phrases, directly translating words from Bahasa Indonesia to English – interlanguage error – and organizing their written text inadequately. Moreover, it is discovered that the viewpoints of the students frequently shift. To address this, this current study aims at investigating students’ macro-level coherence in their academic writing (henceforth; background of the study of a research proposal). A content analysis is applied including documents. Additionally, a descriptive analysis design is used to guide this study. There are six research proposals investigated to gain the data of this study. These proposals are taken purposively sampled from proposals submission from early 2018 intake. There are two main frameworks in this study. Firstly, the academic writing guidance book is used to analyze the rhetoric/organization of the paper. Secondly, the coherence analysis is applied to evaluate students’ coherence level. Analysis of findings shows that students encounter some problems in the coherence of English research proposal writing. Hence, it is argued that close attention should be paid to the refinement and suitable tutoring of coherence in the teaching of academic English writing

scholarly journals Enhancing Critical Writing towards Undergraduate Students in Conducting Research Proposal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moh. Yamin ◽  
Oikurema Purwati
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Research Proposal ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Critical Writing ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Descriptive Method

Critical thinking in writing for learners is needed to able to build a sense of crisis towards any issues. This capacity is required to create a framework based on reflecting, exploring, and solving some practical problems in their learning, work, and daily lives. This article aims to enhance critical writing towards undergraduate students in conducting research. The research method used is descriptive method with qualitative approach. The data used to analyze is gotten from many research articles in international journals discussing critical writing to conduct a research proposal. The research discussion and result state that learners’ capacity to be familiar with critical thinking writing is essential. It deals with brainstorming the problems of research topics, reflecting, and exploring the issues of research topics. Students should also have the capacity to write the research background, research problem, review of related literature, and research method based on the guidelines of the research proposal. The writing skill relating to the competence of organization, elaborating content, paying attention mechanics, language use, and vocabulary become the leading and supporting capital to be successful in conducting the research proposal.

scholarly journals Promoting EFL students’ critical thinking and self-voicing through CIRC technique in Academic Writing courses

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 917-934
Author(s):  
Andi Susilo ◽  
Restu Mufanti ◽  
Aris Fitriani
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Education ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Efl Students

Critical thinking and self-voicing are two demanding skills that facilitate students to produce concise, authorial academic texts. While most writing programs and research have paid much attention to improving students’ writing achievement, less attention is given to promote these two skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing classrooms. This article reports a classroom-based study investigating the use of the Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) technique to promote EFL students’ academic writing skills. It particularly examines how the CIRC technique helps to foster students’ critical and self-voicing stance in developing argumentative texts. A participatory qualitative study was employed, involving 64 undergraduate students majoring in English Education. Data were generated from the participants’ writing portfolios, observations, and the teacher’s reflections. The collected data were managed, classified, and analyzed using NVivo 12 to elicit the emerging themes. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis, the results showed that the CIRC technique helped to shape the participants’ critical thinking and self-voicing skills which were consistently demonstrated during the student-centered activities and their writing results. The participants could engage in productive writing processes, such as critical reading, note-taking, summarizing, drafting and revising composition, peer-reviewing, and other related collaborative skills. The findings indicated that the development of students’ critical thinking and self-voicing skills simultaneously affected the quality of their academic writing texts.

scholarly journals Bringing Books Back: Enhancing the Understanding of Psychotherapy in Psychology Students Through Book Club Participation

2021 ◽  
pp. 009862832110141
Author(s):  
Olga Khokhlova ◽  
Aditi Bhatia
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Book Club ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Private University ◽  
Book Clubs ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Reality Orientation

Background: The experiential and reflective nature of psychotherapeutic training is not always captured in undergraduate psychology teaching, therefore, there is a need for educational strategies that provide opportunities for deeper understanding of the therapeutic process. Objective: This article evaluates one such strategy—A Book Club, to support the understanding of psychotherapeutic practice and mental health in Psychology undergraduate students at a private university in Dubai, UAE. Method: Psychotherapy-related books were assigned as prior reading each month, which were then discussed in the group meetings facilitated by clinically experienced Psychology lecturers. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with students and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Four primary themes were generated—(1) Diversity in perspectives, (2) Autonomous learning environment, (3) Reality orientation, and (4) Sparking self-insight. The results highlight that Book Clubs are useful in fostering deeper conceptualizations of the therapeutic relationship, visualizing future careers in psychotherapy, and promoting self-awareness among students. Conclusion: Discussions centred around books can provide students with discourse opportunities that enhance students’ interpersonal skills and improve student engagement. Teaching Implication: Book clubs can be a useful platform for teachers to help students connect the knowledge that they have previously acquired in the classroom with real-life experiences of psychotherapists described in books.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy Strategies in Writing Academic Papers

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Anne Yustica Pramesti Sumarsono ◽  
Concilianus Laos Mbato
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
English Education ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
High Sense

This study explored the writing self-efficacy of English education undergraduates at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. Nowadays, many students still have not used self-efficacy in their studies. Consequently, they may encounter difficulties when working on tasks. As a result, the scores obtained are not the highest. Which may make them lack the motivation to learn. The purpose of this research was to determine the application of self-efficacy in writing works for the undergraduate course of English Education at Sanata Dharma University. The research question was: How can undergraduate students of the English Education Study Program manage self-efficacy and writing anxiety to complete the academic writing class? This research adopted qualitative methods making use of the Likert scale and interviews. The questionnaire was distributed to Sanata Dharma University’s undergraduates who had received English courses in reading literary works. The results show that undergraduates have a high sense of self-efficacy, can complete academic writing on time, and we are motivated by their internal and surrounding environments.

scholarly journals Educational Turning Point in Albania: No More Mechanic Parrots but Critical Thinkers

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Mirela Dubali Alhasani
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Educational Transformation ◽  
Critical Writing ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Shed Light

<p>Since 2004 Albanian academics have been making efforts to establish the best Western practices of academic writing associated with critical thinking and writing skills for university students. In this article, I will shed light upon the special challenges and peculiarities the establishment of Academic Writing discipline has encountered in Albania over the years of educational transformation in the broad framework of democratic political transition. I argue that the socio-political indoctrination of the society during five decades of communist dictatorship has delayed the cultivation of critical thinking, reading and, consequently, critical writing skills for academic and occupational opportunities. Moreover, the research will not be limited only to causal factors of delay, instead, it will pave the way to recommendations that accelerate the successful acquisition and possession of such crucial academic writing skills for Albanian university graduates and academia in general.</p><p>First, I provide literature on definition of critical thinking and its improvement through writing courses; next I depict the typical political indoctrination of students during communist dictatorship tracing the legacy of mechanic reading and the huge lack of critical discourse even among the academic staffs themselves; later on I discuss the contemporary academic focus being placed upon the need of critical academic writing to prepare independent thinkers successful to face the democratic transition. Finally, and most importantly, I offer substantial suggestions and recommendations how to implement successfully the Western Academic writing tradition in the higher education curricula by taking into consideration Albania’s educational legacy.</p>

Teaching and enhancement of critical thinking skills for undergraduate students in a computational fluid dynamics course

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao F Tian
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Writing ◽  
Online Test ◽  
Teaching Modules ◽  
Test Module

This paper reports the recent development and implementation of three teaching modules in order to teach and enhance the students’ critical thinking skills in a level IV undergraduate/postgraduate course ‘Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for Engineering Applications’. These teaching modules include a lecture module, an online test module and a CFD project module. The lecture module introduces the importance of critical thinking skills by an example case, critical thinking definition and processes, and the application of critical thinking skills in formulation of CFD problems. In the online test module, seven online tests have been developed to enhance the students’ understanding of the contents of lectures and practical sessions. Meanwhile, students apply their critical thinking skills to work out some of the tests. In the project module, a student-driven CFD project is designed to help students to apply CFD techniques and critical thinking skills in engineering problems. In the project, students choose their own project topic and problems. They use CFD skills learned in the course and critical thinking skills to critically analyse their problems, identify the important parameters and review results. They apply the critical writing skills to finalise a project report. To the best knowledge of the author, this systematical integration of teaching and enhancement of critical thinking skills in computational fluid dynamics course is innovative. Feedback from students is quite positive shown by an anonymous survey in 2014.

scholarly journals The effects of teaching critical thinking on students’ argumentative essay

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
A’am Rifaldi Khunaifi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Education ◽  
T Test ◽  
Test Calculation ◽  
Paired Sample ◽  
Department Of State ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sample Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental

<p>This study is directed to find out whether teaching critical thinking affects the writing ability of argumentative essay. This research employed quasi experimental design as it was intended to measure the effects of the strategy on the students’ ability in writing argumentative essay. The samples of the study were the students of class A and B enrolled in the seventh semester of the English Education Department of State Islamic College of Palangka Raya. To collect the data needed, it was used test as the instrument; it was Academic Writing for IELTS Test. The data were processed and analyzed by using SPSS 19.0 statistic technique of independent t-test and paired-sample t-test, and the analized data were concluded. From the result of the test, the independent t-test calculation in posttest scores in both groups shows that the significance value is higher than level of significance (0.194 &gt; 0.05). It indicates that there is no significant difference between experimental and control groups. Moreover, the paired t-test calculation shows the result of paired sample test (0.000 &lt; 0.05) in which there is a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores in experimental group after having treatments.</p><p><strong></strong><em><br /></em></p>

scholarly journals Exploring Academic Writing Needs of Indonesian EFL Undergraduate Students

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratnawati ◽  
Didih Faridah ◽  
Syafiul Anam ◽  
Pratiwi Retnaningdyah
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Private University ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Need Analysis ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
General Skills ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The University

Academic writing is noteworthy competence to be accomplished for English as a foreign language (EFL) students to fulfill their academic needs at the university. To do so, Indonesian tertiary universities accommodate and foster this competence using academic writing course. The study, therefore, sought to look into: 1. what undergraduate EFL students’ perceptions of the importance of academic writing to their current study and future career, 2. what the students’ perceptions of the difficulties of academic writing, 3. what the students’ attitudes towards their previous and future academic writing courses. The present study investigates students’ needs emerging in academic writing during classroom practices to gain insightful and profound perspectives for forthcoming needs of the course. Data were collected through a five scaled questionnaire of need analysis distributed to thirty-four EFL students from a private university, and a focus group interview involving nine participants. Results indicate 61% (Mdifficulties=3.05) of students faced difficulties in both general skills and language problems of academic writing and a new course was expected to provide moves/steps for writing the sections in a research article. The present study then suggests that e-database resources are needed for academic papers models and references hence its efficiency and flexibility in prospective academic writing.

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