“Fairminded critical thinking” (FCT) is an alternative to traditional critical thinking conceptions as it places greater emphasis on ethical reasoning. Argumentative writing can provide a means to observe and cultivate such thinking...
more“Fairminded critical thinking” (FCT) is an alternative to traditional critical thinking conceptions as it places greater emphasis on ethical reasoning. Argumentative writing can provide a means to observe and cultivate such thinking qualities. This study introduces a non-linear instructional model to teach FCT, and through a small-scale intervention, explores its potential for developing four FCT intellectual standards in argumentative writing (intellectual accuracy, depth, breadth, and logic) with a group of Chinese university English (EFL) users. Adopting a one-group, pretest-posttest exploratory design, writing samples were assessed with a locally created rubric tool which was also triangulated through an adapted content analysis. Overall, pretest writing samples showed that some thinking skills had already been developed, yet there was a tendency toward one-sided argumentation and the use of informal evidence to justify claims, frequently culminating in a persuasive defense of one position. On the posttest, logic was the only intellectual standard that showed a more noticeable improvement, potentially attributed to the teaching model, representing development of a more moderated, multi-sided articulation of logic. These findings provide impetus for a discussion of how FCT can be further taught and assessed. Theoretical and methodological implications of FCT as a non-traditional approach to critical thinking and argumentation are discussed.
