TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING IN A COLLEGE-LEVEL WRITING COURSE: A CRITICAL REFLECTION

Abstract

This paper challenges the widely held assumption that teaching writing inevitably equips students with critical thinking skills required to succeed in college and beyond. The paper reviews literature on the relationship between writing and the development of critical thinking  skills, and critically reflects on the author’s experiences teaching an introductory college-level argumentative writing course to demonstrate that many writing courses fail to teach critical thinking to students despite course outcomes including intentions to enhance those skills. The paper also shows that the process of enhancing critical thinking skills through written tasks remains covert and largely undocumented. By critically analyzing the author’s teaching practice, the paper proposes and documents an integrated approach to fostering critical thinking within a college-level writing course. Ultimately, the paper makes a theoretical and practical contribution to the less explored quest of clarifying the link between critical thinking and writing.