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EVWDFW Criticalthinking has been acknowledged as one of thekey competencies
essential forall studentsin the21st century.Prociencyin thiscrucial skillsignicantly
inuenceshowwellstudentspreparefortheircareersinthecompetitiveglobalenvironment
ofthetourismindustry.Thatiswhy,attheFacultyofTourism,HanoiOpenUniversity,we
recognizethegreatimportanceoffosteringthisskillamongourstudents.Weconsistently
incorporaterelevantcriticalthinkingactivitiesintoourlessonsonvarioussubjectsinour
training program. As the faculty’s English lecturers, the researchers have noticed many
benetsofthisintegrationinourEnglishclassrooms.However,understandingourstudents’
perceptionsof these advantages should help conrm the expectedoutcomes.As a result,
we decided toapply critical thinking activities throughout14 English lessons with clear
objectives, thentracked downour students’ perceptions ofthe benetsof this integration
viaasurveyattheendofthecourse.Theresultsunderscoredthatithelpedthemnotonly
improvetheirEnglishprociencybutalsoenhancetheirsoftskills.
.HRGVcriticalthinking,tourismindustry,integration,survey,Englishprociency,softskills.
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specic benets for students is lacking.
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1. What benets have the students
experienced in their English course for
tourism integrated with critical thinking
activities?
2 What critical-thinking activities
doourstudentsprefer?
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2.1.Denitionofcriticalthinking
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denes critical thinking (CT) as the
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onitsdenition.Traditionally,CTisseen
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elds(McMillan,1987;Pascarella,1989).
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likemanagingnancesandplayinggames.
ScrivenandPaul(1987)denedCTasa
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domain-specic expertise developed
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transferable across elds,anda niteset
ofspecicreasoningskills.Forexample,
CT in veterinary medicine diers from
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should emphasize both domain-specic
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skills,deningitasthoughtfulandlogical
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solvingproblemseectively.
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regarded as a crucial skill, its denition
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2.2.Benetsofcriticalthinkingfor
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language prociency facilitates deeper
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specic knowledge by providing access
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lesssignicant,withonly34%ofstudents
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Chart3.CTactivitieshelped
methinkinamorelogicaland
structuredway
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improvedmyproblem-
solvingskills
Chart5.CTactivities
improvedmydecision-
making
(Source:Thestudysurvey)
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