Developing Critical Thinking Skills Through a Mandatory English Course in Korean Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate whether critical thinking skills can be fostered through a college English course. Approximately eighty female Korean students taking a basic freshman mandatory reading course participated in the study. The researcher taught them critical reading skills along with other reading comprehension skills and provided them with Korean local context in the given topic. The students critically read two units of the required textbook and attended presentations of high school students with minority cultural backgrounds. The students submitted four online reports about multiculturalism, and they were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results revealed that even students with relatively low English proficiency could enhance their critical thinking skills by practicing critical reading. Also, additional information about local contexts not only compensated for a culturally limited text but also facilitated the development of critical thinking. The findings indicate that teaching critical thinking is feasible in an English language course despite limited environments. Yet, more studies are required to generalize the findings.