The Influence Of Personal Epistemology On Critical Thinking

Critical thinking(CT)has become an important goal for modern education at home and abroad.CT at the metacognitive level and CT disposition are assumed to associate with and regulate CT skills and cognitive activities.At present,theoretical and empirical studies on CT skills have yielded significant results,but less is known about how meta CT and CT disposition impacts CT skills.On the other hand,educational psychology research has proved that personal epistemology(PE),that is,individual's beliefs in knowledge and knowing,exerts influences on cognitive thinking and learning activities.Against this background,it makes sense to explore the possible interaction between PE on the one hand and CT and CT at the metacognitive level on the other.To answer this question,the present study carries out multiple case studies to investigate 14 English major sophomores'process of writing academic papers for linguistic courses,focusing on if and how their personal epistemology impacts their critical thinking activities and CT at the meta level.Findings of the cases reveal that PE plays a metacognitive role in regulating CT skills and CT dispositions.To be more specific,students at different PE stages,namely absolutism,multiplism and evaluativism,exhibited different attitudes towards linguistic knowledge and consequently different CT patterns.Absolutists,holding naive epistemic beliefs,were less motivated as a knower and resorted to limited means of CT skills,thus leading to rather shallow discussion and thinking.Evaluativists,regarding knowledge as uncertain and knowing as justifiable,were more confident and motivated to pursue truth as a meaning constructor.They flexibly used CT skills and demonstrated deep and thorough thinking compared to their counterparts.Multiplists,who believed in the sophisticated nature of epistemology in a superficial way,were found to be troubled with diffidence and hesitation.They were aware of problems and needs in thinking critically but unable to conduct further exploration,performing better in CT compared to absolutists.Based on the result of case studies,an interactive pattern among PE,CT and CT at the meta level is proposed,the validity of which should be testified by further research.Since the maturity of students'PE is found to exert direct influences on their attitudes towards knowledge as well as on their motivation and ability to conduct critical thinking activities,more attention should be paid to cultivate students' PE in order to improve their CT skills,CT disposition and CT at the metacognitive level.