WHY IS CRITICAL THINKING ESSENTIAL IN SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION AND ACADEMIC CULTURE
Academic culture is the attitudes, norms and behaviours shared by people whose duties are within an educational institution. People affected by these cultures include lecturers, students and teachers. Some values that make up an academic culture include academic integrity, communication, creativity, digital and information literacy, innovation, problem-solving and critical thinking. In an educational environment, a scholar is exposed to report that they have to learn how to manage. Information sharing needs to be carried out in a manner that is well thought to resonate and communicate. Critical thinking allows for an analysis of information in a way that enables you to evaluate the strength of the information and determine whether it needs enhancement. Their environment influences critical thinking in an individual. An academic background contributes to critical thinking through fostering social and political understanding, instilling responsibility and self-reflection, and the nature of orientation (Tsui 2000, 422). Critical thinking is significant in academic settings to allow students and lecturers alike to foster scholarly communication, research and share intellectual conversation as an aim of exchanging information. Educational institutions are admitting students from different geographical areas, and critical thinking acts as helps in performance for students from diverse backgrounds (Lun 2010, 606). Critical thinking is, therefore, significant in setting a middle ground for different perspectives. This paper seeks to evaluate the process and the importance of critical thinking in scholar communication and academic culture.
Critical thinking helps students to adapt to the nature of academic culture. Majority of institutions incorporate critical thinking into their introductory communication units to ensure students acquire essential skills of thinking from the onset of their studies. The nature of the academic environment shifts rapidly, and it can take a lot of effort to get used to. The setting extends to the professional spheres, and therefore skills earned in the educational field will be utilized in one’s professional spaces. Academic culture is characterized by the creation, development and management of knowledge. The academic literature is also diverse; filled with various individuals seeking knowledge. One activity in academic culture is group work. Critical thinking plays an essential role in teamwork by helping in exercises and assignments using critical thinking (Mazer, Stephen and Jeffrey 2008, 177). The academic culture requires one to understand how to interpret messages and come up with solutions. Therefore it is essential to employ critical thinking to come up with the best solutions. Critical thinking in an academic setting is also essential for setting and selling the right message from the knowledge gained to different audiences. One essential aspect of thinking that comes out in academic culture is public speaking. Critical thinking helps sharpen the general speaking skills and reasoning skills of different students (Thayer-Bacon 1995, 55). Excellent public speaking is essential for oral scholarly communication, and it improves the academic culture
Critical thinking is vital in scholarly communication because the excellent method of thinking allows for an exhaustive analysis of issues. Thinking in any situation is sufficient for problem-solving. However, critical thinking allows a more profound investigation into a job and highlights various perspectives of the case before finding a way forward. The process of critical thinking is vital in an academic institution because it allows for brainstorming before reaching to a conclusion. Critical thinking is also essential because it gives a balance between logic and emotions and broadens the thought perspective of any issue. Practical crucial thinking in scholarly communication and an academic culture occurs in a linear pattern in five different steps. These steps include knowledge, comprehension, application, analyzing, synthesis and action. The critical thinking process begins with acquiring knowledge, identifying a problem, finding diverse angles and analyzing their effectiveness. The final step is taking action either through adapting or executing a plan
Critical thinking is essential in scholarly communication because it provides room for ethical thought and behaviour in scholars. A classroom involves a lot of knowledge management, and individuals need to learn how to use the information provided to better their tasks, either individually or in groups. Critical thinking is vital for enhancing a teaching environment for communications through four different aspects. Critical thinking helps in identifying and criticizing assumptions (Kienzler, 2001, 321). It can be practised in analyzing theories and known assumptions in the educational spectrum and assessing the credibility of the premises. Critical thinking opens a person’s mind to various possibilities in a speck. Critical thinking also helps create various alternatives through brainstorming. This process not only increases the contribution of individuals and testing one’s knowledge, but it also allows for coming up with multiple options; hence a solution will always be found. Active listening and active involvement are also fostered by critical thinking (Kienzler, 2001, 325). By actively participating, individuals are more likely to attain ethical practices that will be beneficial for their participation in professional platforms.
Integrating critical thinking is beneficial because it blends with different disciplines such as math, language and science and helps in building skills helpful for the academic and professional culture. Critical thinking is also crucial in building skills in students, including research, observation, problem-solving and communication. The soft skills gained from critical thinking give students a competitive advantage during job hunting. A well strategized essential thinking plan allows for conceptualization and comprehension of information (Paul 2005, 27). Critical thinking is vital for planning out a comprehensive strategy on how to handle an issue to the point of success. This method can be tiresome and engaging and requires a person to go through a vigorous understanding of the necessity of the process in comparison to taking shortcuts.
Critical thinking helps in academic research. Scholarly communication occurs either orally or written and needs to be drafted in a manner that is comprehensive and follows academic standards. Critical thinking plays a role in shaping scholarly communication by helping to identify the logical applications and analysis of research papers, essays and thesis papers (Pally 2001, 279). Without critical thinking, a writer can’t come up with a logically argued paper based on evidence. There is an understanding of how to use elements of thought such as points of view, concepts, interpretation, assumptions and implications. A paper that follows a well-flowed line of dreams is a guarantee of better scholarly communication. The same way, a presentation that supports a good flow of ideas is important for scholarly communication.
Critical thinking is also crucial because it breaks the spell of prioritizing memorizing in learning. Memorizing is not learning because using cramming to learn is only applicable for a short term period and doesn’t help in conceptualizing concepts and applying them to life (Massey 2015, 20). Learning involves a lot of thinking for long term benefits. Students in fields such as medicine and engineering highly rely on critical thinking to conceptualize and not cram information. Conceptualization is vital because when dealing with disciplines that require hands-on experience, and where lives are at stake, cramming fails a person. Critical thinking also opens room for a person to know. It is easy to bring about social change when people in academic institutions learn of the essential elements of communication and apply them to their daily lives. Critical thinking also helps distinguish facts and opinions because of proper research and analysis.
To enhance the culture of critical thinking in academic settings, different tactics assist in developing these skills. Critical thinking is enhanced by classroom assessment tests or continuous assessment tests. The tests can occur through beautiful papers, reflections and opinion papers. Critical thinking is also increased by cooperative learning that happens through group discussions. Collaborative learning fosters an environment where peers can support each other with feedback and get help from the lecturer. It is also crucial in enhancing skills in shared responsibility. Another factor considered is writing assignments where there are lab reports, research papers and analytical papers that allow learners to think and communicate clearly. Writing assignments can be assigned to teams or individuals. Finally, it is through the use of experiments, collecting data, dialogues and debates in the classroom (Cortez, Derek, & Preiss 2013, 5). Discussions can either be written or spontaneous
In conclusion, critical thinking is very important for communication and academic culture at large. Critical thinking involves problem identification, analysis of solutions and taking action. It helps a scholar to separate emotional from logical thinking during knowledge gathering. Critical thinking is not only useful for the academic culture but the professional field. The skills individuals are equipped with critical thinking, such as public speaking and reasoning, can be helpful in the work environment. Critical thinking plays an essential role in developing an individual to adapt to the nature of academic culture. The essential quality of thought is broad, and it is impossible to exhaust its essence in scholarly communication in the academic literature. Still, it has a role in ensuring effective communications and execution of logical and well-thought decisions.
References
Cortez, Derek, B. M. Gayle, and R. Preiss. “Safe spaces, difficult dialogues, and critical thinking.” International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 7, no. 2 (2013): 1-8.
Kienzler, Donna. “Ethics, critical thinking, and professional communication pedagogy.” Technical communication quarterly 10, no. 3 (2001): 319-339.
Lun, Vivian Miu-Chi, Ronald Fischer, and Colleen Ward. “Exploring cultural differences in critical thinking: Is it about my thinking style or the language I speak?.” Learning and Individual differences 20, no. 6 (2010): 604-616.
Massey, Dixie D. “Reading history: Moving from memorizing facts to critical thinking.” In Improving reading comprehension of middle and high school students, pp. 19-47. Springer, Cham, 2015.
Mazer, Joseph P., Stephen K. Hunt, and Jeffrey H. Kuznekoff. “Revising general education: Assessing a critical thinking instructional model in the basic communication course.” The Journal of General Education (2008): 173-199.
Pally, Marcia. “Skills development in’sustained’content-based curricula: Case studies in analytical/critical thinking and academic writing.” Language and Education 15, no. 4 (2001): 279-305.
Paul, Richard. “The state of critical thinking today.” New directions for community colleges 2005, no. 130, (2005): 27-38.
Thayer-Bacon, Barbara. “Constructive thinking: Personal voice.” Journal of Thought 30, no. 1 (1995): 55-70.
Tsui, Lisa. “Effects of campus culture on students’ critical thinking.” The Review of Higher Education 23, no. 4 (2000): 421-441.