Critically evaluate the Ballard and Clanchy text. Is it true that an international student must learn a new way of thinking and writing when they come to study in a UK-type academic environment?
Recently, a considerable number of people have studied to different countries such as the UK, the USA and Australia. However, there are some problems resembling lack of critical thinking, the ability to analyse and the aptitude to question when students are taught abroad. This is because these educational experts have claimed that an international learner should find out a new method of thinking and writing while they study in an English academic environment. In this essay, I will summarise the theory of Ballard and Clanchy’s and then further discussed the evaluation of their points.
Firstly, it is generally believed that students from different countries may have a variety of purposes which may lead to various consequences to their thoughts and styles of learning. For instance, a student from Japan, who had excellent academic performance in Japanese Educational system could not adjust appropriately concerning learning in the first semester. Furthermore, he misunderstood the purpose from the lecturer which was to comparing, analyzing and evaluating between the views. Also, his critical analysis to the theory about Friedman and Samuelson was not pointed out. According to Ballard & Clanchy, Japanese can not think critically because they are not expected to do so in their education system. It is worthwhile to mention that many lecturers of universities encourage students to evaluate the theory of scholars and critical skills are taught. Nevertheless, there have been some learners who are confused about critical thinking although they might have critical lessons before. In my opinion, Japanese educational system is similar to the Taiwanese one. Hence, in Japan, critical skills must be taught as well. As a result, Ballard & Clanchy’s explanation regarding Japanese student may be incorrect. Moreover, an academic theory can not be proved by only one evidence as the Japanese student.
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