POTENTIALS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN PROMOTING CRITICAL THINKING IN THAI TERTIARY EDUCATION

Intercultural competence is a contemporary pedagogy in Thai tertiary education. The current study aims to explore the potentials of employing intercultural competence to promote critical thinking in Thai tertiary education. There are two constructs being reviewed: intercultural competence and critical thinking. The origin and benefits of intercultural competence are first discussed, followed by its frameworks. Then the challenges of teaching intercultural competence in Thai tertiary education are raised, followed by general knowledge of critical thinking. After that, the interconnection between intercultural competence and critical thinking is provided as a claim of the potentials of intercultural competence in enhancing critical thinking. This academic article proposes that there are five reasons why intercultural competence potentially enhances critical thinking. First, its matching characteristics of ‘holistic’ and ‘judiciousness’ in culture and critical thinking’s frameworks. Second, the shared characteristic of both constructs is that they are learnable through inquisitive, truth-seeking, and analytical skills. Third, the open-mindedness of CT skills as a dynamic process of thinking. Fourth, the confidence in reasoning towards ethnocentrism with high determination. Finally, the aforementioned aspects are mutually and systematically supportive of one another. With all these elements, there is high potential for using intercultural competence instruction to promote critical thinking in tertiary students.  Article visualizations: