The Structural Composition and Developmental Stages of Critical Thinking Skills
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19421135Ключевые слова:
critical thinking structure, developmental stages, metacognition, epistemic cognition, dispositions, cognitive skills, teacher education, higher-order thinkingАннотация
Critical thinking represents one of the most extensively studied yet persistently misunderstood constructs in
educational psychology and pedagogy. Despite decades of theoretical elaboration and empirical investigation, teacher
education programs continue to treat critical thinking as either a generic transferable skill or a vaguely defined graduate
attribute, without adequate attention to its internal structural complexity or the specific developmental trajectory through
which it is acquired. This article addresses both dimensions: first, by proposing a multi-layered structural model of critical
thinking that distinguishes its cognitive, metacognitive, dispositional, and epistemic components; and second, by synthesizing
existing developmental frameworks into a coherent stage model that maps the progression from novice to expert
critical thinking across the educational lifespan. The article draws on cognitive psychology, philosophy of education, and
language teacher education research to argue that effective critical thinking pedagogy requires precise structural knowledge
of what is being developed and a longitudinally informed understanding of how that development unfolds. Implications
for curriculum design, formative assessment, and teacher educator practice are discussed.
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