Doctoral Research Forum - Mubina Rauf - Critical Thinking and Academic Writing: A Case of Pakistani University Students

Critical Thinking and Academic Writing: A Case of Pakistani University Students

Presenter: Mubina Rauf

Date and Time: Friday January 29, 2021. 11 am

The potential significance of critical thinking (CT) in higher education combined with the lack of rigorous research highlighted the need to further investigate the role of CT in university students’ academic writing. Working within the interpretive paradigm in the Pakistani university context, the current phenomenological case study is an attempt to fill this gap. Multiple methods were applied to collect data to investigate evidence of CT in official documents and students’ academic writing samples. Interviews were conducted to find the stakeholders’ understanding of CT.

Results indicate that although students’ and teachers’ understanding of CT is vague and the concepts related to CT not as clear, there are examples of manifestation of CT in the official documents and students’ academic writing samples that were analyzed. The study has significant implications. The text analysis suggests change in teaching strategies with emphasis on CT using a developmental approach and using strategies to build self-efficacy among students.

The presenter:

Mubina Rauf is a lecturer in Imam Abdurrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. She holds a master’s degree in English literature and Cambridge DELTA qualification. At present, she is an EdD TESOL candidate at the University of Exeter, UK. Her teaching career spans over more than 15 years of teaching EFL/ESL, specifically exam classes. She has also worked as an assessment coordinator in one of the largest EFL programs in Saudi Arabia. Her research interests include non-native English teacher training and development, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis and EAP for Asian students in their local context.