Students’ views regarding the barriers to learning critical thinking

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v11i4.1797

Keywords:

critical thinking, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Auditing Students, Qualitative Research, Focus Groups

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate students’ feedback on the impediments to developing critical thinking in the classroom. Interpretative phenomenological analysis techniques were used to obtain data from postgraduate and undergraduate students of an Internal Auditing department in a South African university. The students identified several barriers to developing critical thinking in the classroom some of which are (1) the lecturers who are most times not knowledgeable in the field of critical thinking, (2) the students themselves who are simply not interested, (3) finally the educational system, according to the students who all argued that critical thinking is not ingrained in the country's educational institutions. According to the students, their lack of knowledge of critical thinking including the lecturers’ seeming insufficient knowledge of critical thinking calls for urgent intervention in the form of re-curriculation and training of lecturers. The findings of this research could have important implications for the auditing profession, as lecturers are often challenged to identify innovative ways to assist students in improving their critical thinking skills.

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Author Biographies

Ikenna Franklin Eze, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Graduate Student

Chux Gervase Iwu, University of Western Cape

Professor of Management, School of Business and Finance

Jobo Dubihlela, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Professor/HOD Internal Auditing and Financial Information Systems

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Published

2022-06-05

How to Cite

Eze, I. F., Iwu, C. G., & Dubihlela, J. (2022). Students’ views regarding the barriers to learning critical thinking . International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478), 11(4), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v11i4.1797

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Section

Teaching, Learning & Higher Education Institutions