ABSTRACT
Based on empirical findings presented in previous chapters, this chapter proposes a theoretical model for critical thinking in academic writing, specifying its ontological nature and influencing factors. It first explains that students’ critical thinking performance is demonstrated in multiple dimensions in academic writing: in their written drafts, in their management of writing tasks, and in their self-direction of personal development. It then explicates cultural and individual factors shaping students’ understanding and application of critical thinking. From the cultural perspective, local institutional cultures, national intellectual traditions, and prevailing educational discourses in local and global contexts are all found to play a role in shaping students’ positioning of themselves. They feed into the frames of reference that students subconsciously use to conceptualise critical thinking and exercise critical thinking skills. Meanwhile, students’ level of academic knowledge, their goals for personal development, and their capacity for metacognitive reflection are major individual factors that influence how they respond to extrinsic cultural conditions. This chapter analyses the interplay between all those cultural and individual factors in the case of Chinese students, illustrating how they form a dynamic, open system constituting students’ exercise of their critical thinking capacities, shaping without predicting their critical thinking performance.
