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Critical thinking can be said to be among the louder 'buzz phrases' in education in the 21st century. Both critical thinking and communication are key employability skills. Whilst there is a body of research on critical thinking, and its role in pedagogy, there seems to be a dearth of research linking second language ability and critical thinking. This area probably needs further examination given that it relates to subject specific discourse. Moreover the debate about domain-specific and generalist critical thinking skills is arguably impacted by language in ways that could disadvantage non-native English speakers in their assessed work.

This research, carried out with automotive students in New Zealand, suggests the language support currently given on a bachelor level course in automotive may not be adequate, and might need to be made available in different ways because perceptions of language ability may impact on success. The findings from this project suggest that automotive students might in fact prefer more language support. This information would be useful for course designers and facilitators at institutions elsewhere, particularly where courses might attract large numbers of non-native speakers either as international or domestic students. In either case, their perceived needs and expectations on the level of language support required to succeed are a focal point of this project.

Published abstract.

Individual available papers are indexed from TD/TNC 124.1044 to TD/TNC 124.1053. Show less

This paper explains how data gathered by third year undergraduate automotive students revealed weaknesses in compliance issues within automotive businesses. Over a two year period, four cohorts of students examined a range of workshops - focusing on how these businesses conducted their activities in accordance with relevant New Zealand legislation. Supervision of students consisted of weekly meetings when they were reminded about the details of the main regulatory areas they needed to take into account when observing workshop practice. The supervisor also detailed the ethical procedures needed and stressed that they were not to inquire about economic aspects of the businesses, nor to report on it if they did receive such information. Data collection methods by students included New Zealand government websites, as well as visual observations and photographs, and interviews with key staff within garages.

Data used for meta-analysis by the supervisor was only from the top students' reports, in order to eliminate rogue data. This revealed that the numbers of compliance failures were appearing on such a regular basis that it became essential that these findings should be brought to the attention of the automotive industry and its regulators. The paper concludes with recommendations for compliance improvements.

Published abstract. Show less