Challenging perceptions about critical thinking: researching the nature and development of criticality through the eyes of Algerian doctoral students in the UK

This research explores the perceptions of Algerian doctoral students in a UK university in relation to their understanding and development of critical thinking. Criticality is defined differently by different scholars (e.g. McPeck, 1981; Ennis, 1985; Lipman, 2003), and has been considered by some authors (e.g. Ramanathan and Kaplan, 1996; Atkinson, 1997) a Western practice. International students have also been stereotyped by some Western teachers as non-critical thinkers due to their culture, based on the behaviours they demonstrate in the classroom and assignments (Nisbah, 2012 and Fell and Lukianova, 2015). Despite the plethora of research investigating the conceptualisation of critical thinking and its position within non-Western and especially East Asian students, it is still crucial to explore its meaning from various perspectives in order to generate an inclusive definition. This study deals with the Algerian students’ perspective of looking at criticality, a perspective which has not been extensively addressed in the literature. To carry out the study, I employed a qualitative research approach with a total of eleven participants. I conducted fourteen semi-structured interviews including some follow-up interviews to gather data, and I used thematic analysis to analyse them.

The findings reveal a more complex understanding of Algerian students’ practice of critical thinking than the deficit model from which non-Western students have been approached. They propose a two-sided view of critical thinking i.e. process and product, for which I employ Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance as a useful construct for interpreting this view. The participants believe that they possess the competence to think critically, and they may for cultural reasons or one’s individual’s background, be reluctant to express or show explicitly their performance of criticality in certain contexts, which does not necessarily signify a lack in critical thinking skills. The findings demonstrate that the participants develop criticality gradually throughout their lives and achieve high levels especially when taking independent control of their learning and thinking, as well as detaching from the control of their family and society’s thinking. This method of developing themselves as critical thinkers is explained in terms of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. The participants’ struggle to develop criticality is found in the lack of sufficient opportunities that allow them to express their critical thinking competence in more concrete ways.

This research challenges the view that criticality is a Western concept and questions the stereotypes about international students’ deficiency in critical thinking skills. It calls for taking a distinct approach that values the differences in the way these students conceptualise and exercise their criticality.