Challenging the notion of non-Western students’ incapability for critical thinking

In English-medium academic contexts, critical thinking or criticality is emphasized as one of the most important qualities in developing and demonstrating knowledge (Moore, 2011). Some scholars suggest that there is no clear, commonly accepted definition of the concept of critical thinking or criticality (e.g., Atkinson, 1997; Ridley, 2008). For example, Ridley (2008) notes that “it is not always straightforward to articulate what is meant by ‘being critical’” (p. 117). Nevertheless, there is an evidently overlapping idea about critical thinking: It is accountable for making evaluative, rational judgments of things, states of affairs or arguments, and attaching values to them (Davidson, 1998).