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An example of critical analysis in essay writing

Independent learning – reflective and critical

Early theories of learning – behavioural and cognitive models – were based on the assumption that universities are teaching learners ‘objective’ knowledge. The historical pedagogy model associated with teacher-directed education has been based on students learning mainly what the teachers tell them i.e. as passive recipients of this ‘objective’ knowledge.

Their own life experiences are not seen as relevant to the learning process - implying a clear imbalance of power in the learning relationship.

One subsequent strand of adult learning theory in the West is the concept of ‘the independent learner’, which proposes the move from a dependent student self-concept to one of self-direction (Knowles 1973). Students should have time and space to learn how they learn, and so find their best ways of assimilating and writing about the new ideas they are encountering.

Knowles created the ‘andragogy’ model of self-directed learning as a deliberate counterpoint to the pedagogy model. This derives from humanistic psychology, and in particular the self-development theories of Rogers and Maslow (Rogers and Freiburg 1994, Maslow 1970). These assume an intrinsic motivation for personal growth and autonomous learning.

Brockett and Hiemstra (1991) describe an attraction of independent learning in its valuing of students’ subjective well-being, and the relation of that to self-directed learning. Candy (1991) goes further in calling for research focussed on seeing learning as a search for personal meaning rather than as a means of receiving ‘objective’ information.

This epistemological shift emphasises the need for learners to have time and space to reflect on their study experience, with less emphasis on learning directed by the teacher.

There are reported instances of individual students readily ‘self-facilitating’ their own learning (Morley 2002). Generally, however, a self-reflective and critical learning journey will be a most challenging one for many international students.

Their previous educational cultures in many parts of Asia, for example, are likely to have been predominantly didactic, with high expectations of reiterating memorised lecture and textbook learning to satisfy examination criteria.

Lillis (2001) maintains that many UK universities exclude such marginalized students from the new discourse by not explicitly teaching the writing conventions they demand of students.

In a study of undergraduate psychology students Norton et al (1996) established a mismatch between tutors’ stated expectations and the students’ perceptions of the assessment criteria. Whilst tutors were affirming the value of a deep approach to building an argument, students believed that good marks were given for other tactics related to more surface issues of knowledge description.

I believe that critical thinking is, for many HE students, one of the ‘threshold concepts’ cited by Meyer and Land (2003, p 1), i.e. requiring something of a quantum jump in their understanding, without which their learning cannot progress. The idea that meaning is contested at all is new to many international students, requiring a sudden tolerance of ambiguity that can be quite disorientating (Lillis and Turner 2001, Northedge 2003, Shahabudin 2009).

If we don’t find ways to help them develop critical thinking, they cannot rise through a hierarchy of learning needs to a higher level of questioning skills.