Students’ Level of Critical Thinking Skills (CTS) in Writing Problem Statement (PS) in Theses

Abstract

When organising ideas in a thesis, students have to deal with a set of structures to meet its communicative purposes. Numerous attempts have been made to investigate the move structures of the problem statement (PS), which is a section in the introduction chapter of a thesis. However, there is no previous work that accounts for the element of critical thinking skills (CTS) in PS. This study recognises that CTS combined with move structures are necessary for students to write an effective PS. A guideline for writing an effective PS that embodies organised moves and CTS is non-existent. Therefore, this study aims to introduce a Rubric for Assessing Critical Thinking Skills in Problem Statement (RACTSPS) to rate the PS section, taking into account students’ CTS guided by the correct moves when writing them. This rubric was developed based on thematic analysis from previously developed models and rubrics. Thirty PS sections were extracted from 30 English-written theses from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institutional Repository using the purposive sampling method. The PS samples were then rated using RACTSPS, and the scores were recorded. The scores were then triangulated with the raters’ feedback in a focus group interview. The findings reveal that students display an average level of CTS. This is concerning for the university as it reflects the lack of graduates’ ability to think critically – a skill much needed in the academic and industry settings. As a result, a guide should be offered to both students and teachers early in the thesis writing process, which this study proposes. The model, the RACTSPS, will create awareness of the CTS level expected to be reflected in the students’ thesis.