Article Review: University Student Critical Thinking Assessment Study

This article review examines a study investigating the impact of integrated assessment on the critical thinking skills of first-year university students. The research, employing a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests, aimed to determine if integrated assessments, grounded in real-world problems, enhance students' critical thinking abilities. The study used the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) and found that the experimental group, exposed to integrated assessments, showed statistically significant improvements in critical thinking compared to the control group. The review highlights the importance of aligning learning, teaching, and assessment practices to bridge the gap in critical thinking skills required in the workplace. The study's findings suggest that integrated assessments can be beneficial, promoting deeper understanding and providing students with more time for internalizing the material. The reviewer emphasizes the study's relevance and its implications for improving assessment practices in higher education, ultimately enhancing student employability.

Running Head : ARTICLE REVIEW
Article Review
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

As far as the background of the study is concerned the central Research question which
has been concentrated on by the study is whether the integrated assessment that is done with the
students of first year increased the critical thinking skills of the students. Also, there are many
competencies and skills which are needed by graduates for the work but the critical thinking is
something of more value which can be imported to the graduate students (Cloete,2018).. Because
of the increased momentum of the business and globalization, the organizational need their staffs
at almost all levels to become the expert critical thinkers particularly those who can make solid
and suitable decisions. The critical thinking has been considered to be the focal area of many
empirical studies that can be dated back to 1900s. The skills of critical thinking have been
considered being primary in the higher education in many empirical studies both internationally
and nationally.
This particular outcome has not diminished in the past in spite of the advancement of
technology which has led to modifications in the workplace. A person is definitely not born with
the skills of critical thinking and these skills cannot be developed by maturation also. They
should be practiced after being taught along with being reinforced with the appropriate
assessment. For assessing and measuring the achievements in the critical thinking ability of the
students, a person should have the understanding of what exactly ‘critical thinking’ means. The
study has highlighted the empirical evidence regarding the issue of under-prepared graduates
who are in want of critical thinking abilities that are required in the work environment. The study
has found that the integrated assessment founded on the practical problems must be included in
both the first year and the subsequent study years for the students.

Regarding the research objective it is found that the main objective of the research is to
investigate whether the integrated assessment that is done in the first-year students of the
university that has increased the critical thinking skills of the students or not. The study is also
aimed at reminding if an integral assessment can increase the critical thinking abilities of the first
year students in the department of ECE or extended curriculum program of management
accounting course at the University of Technology in the South Africa.
The core Research question of the article is whether the integrity assessment conductor
with the first year students of the University can enhance the critical thinking abilities of the
students. Further there are many skills along with competencies needed by the graduates for their
management work. However, the critical thinking skills are considered to be the most valuable
which can be imparted to the graduate students. Because of the globalization and the
development of business organization need their staff of all levels to have the ability of critical
thinking and making good decisions at certain situations. Therefore, this study is quite important
to have addressed the research question and presented the findings (McNeish & Stapleton,
2016).. It can be also said that this study is quite relevant because there is a huge need of
alignment of learning, teaching and the assessment practice for enabling institutes of the higher
learning for bridging this particular gap.
The study is based on the quantitative method of research. Notably, the study has
employed the quantitative method because it was longitudinal it in its nature. The sampling of
the study consists of two students groups where the one is experimental group and the other is
the control group (Nan & Sansavini, 2017). The study has administered all of the five categories
of Watson-Glaser critical thinking appraisal UK edition to the two groups through a measure of
pre-test and post-test. This assessment is also concentrated on determining what the higher

education students learn and their experience for supporting effectively what they learn and
accomplish. It also focuses on the students’ study time and the way they judge their own selves
firstly as the pupils and then as the graduate students. As a research design, the research has
made use of the quasi-experimental, the post-test and pre-test along with the non-equivalent
design. This specific design has helped in evaluating the influence of the intervention of the
integrated assessment on the critical thinking skills of the students. Although, this is not a pure
experimental design and instead of that it is the Quasi experimental design because the
participants were not that assigned randomly to either experimental group or the control group
but they were selected intentionally (Furuya-Kanamori,., Barendregt, & Doi, 2018).. This
specific design needs the group to have undergone post-test measure. As far as the reliability and
validity of this methodology is concerned, it can be said that this instrument of WGCTA- UK
edition has been administered previously in the context of South Africa and hence there is a
norm group existing. The instrumental bias was reduced because this same test had been
administered to the groups prior and post treatment. Notably, the external validity of the study
has definitely increased through the experiment reflecting the work ambience. In order to
enhance the study external validity, a pilot study has been conducted with all of the first time
registration for the National Diploma having used the WGCTA- UK edition test of practice.
Also, the findings of the study have revealed that there is a statistical importance in the
whole post test scores that are in favor of the experimental group. Further, it is recommended
that the integrated assessment founded on the real world problems must be conducted in both the
first year and subsequent years of university study (Schiefele et al., 2017).The study has also
found that critical thinking should be and can be developed through a long period and can
increase the critical thinking skills for the control groups 5 within five months time between the

two tests. The whole significance which is evident in the results at that the experimental group
prior to the integrated assessment where it was quite inferior than the control group in 3 among
the 5 critical thinking area such as interpretations, directions and arguments evaluation.
About the future implications of the study, it can be said that the integrated assessments
are of huge benefit as opposed to the numerous stand-alone assessment. The integrated
assessments help in exploring several modules understanding the bulky burden of assessment
faced by the student. The students get more time for internal rising and setting the way subject
that is connected. This approach has helped in enhancing the critical thinking skills a lot.
Therefore, this finding of the study can be focused and taken into account in future research as a
benchmark to proceed with the management researches. The findings are extremely helpful for
the educational system and the University operations so that they can include the critical thinking
practices for increasing the skills with the students through which they can be more employable.
As far as my views on the studies concerned, I would like to say that this study has
selected an important topic which can be extremely helpful for the management students and
increase their employability in future. Universities should definitely include the practical
problems regarding critical thinking skills so that the students can become good decision makers
from an early stage. The quantitative method selected by the article has got my attention because
according to my views in such cases the quantitative method becomes the most suitable method
than the qualitative one. The use of WGCTA- UK edition has enabled the authors in easily
conducting research through the integrated assessment. The language of the article is lucid and
simple which is easily understandable. The information’s are correctly given matching with the
requirement of the study. According to my views, the contributions of the study are huge because
there are five sections in this paper. The paper clearly introduces the study in the first section and

the second section covers the whole literature on the critical thinking and assessment along with
higher education. In the third section, the research design is presented whereas in the fourth
section, analysis of the study has been given concluding in the fifth section. The study has made
its target of promoting the uses of integrated assessment in the entire development of critical
thinking skills among the students of Higher Education. The integrity assessments are focused
more on the real life situation which is useful particularly in terms of showing the connection
between practice and theory. I can say that this study will improve and inform and improve the
practices at Higher education institute in future and the student will benefit from the improved
assessment practices

Reference and bibliography
Cloete, M. (2018). The impact of an integrated assessment on the critical thinking skills of first-
year university students. Accounting Education, 27(5), 479-494.
Furuya-Kanamori, L., Barendregt, J. J., & Doi, S. A. (2018). A new improved graphical and
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Goon, A., Khan, Z., Oulkar, D., Shinde, R., Gaikwad, S., & Banerjee, K. (2018). A simultaneous
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McNeish, D. M., & Stapleton, L. M. (2016). The effect of small sample size on two-level model
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Nan, C., & Sansavini, G. (2017). A quantitative method for assessing resilience of
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