The compare and contrast the two skills of critical thinking and analysis in the UK and in Japan

International students studying a higher education in the UK faced a range of challenges in their news environment. That is because there are many differences between studying in the UK and their home countries. Especially study skills students are required in the UK are different from their previous studies. This essay will compare and contrast the two key skills of analysis and critical thinking in the terms of my main course of media studies in the UK and my previous education in Japan. It will also describe the way to improve these skills. Firstly, development of analytical skill is essential for media education because students need to read various types of texts. For example, they have to read not only written texts but also watch news on TV, films and radio. In my main course, students will train to analyse these materials and to express their own opinions (Kingston, 2014). In the UK, students write essays so many times that they have opportunities to practice analytical skills. They have to gather a lot of information and analyse them for their writings. On the other hand, analytical skill was not emphasised in my previous study in Japan. Although students wrote short reports sometimes, they did not write essays often. Writing repots is not so hard compared with essays because it is usually remark about lectures or questions that we can find easily from our notes or websites. Therefore compared with students in the UK, Japanese students are lack of analysis practice experiences. (ACTA DIDACTICA NAPOCENSIA, 2011) Secondly, critical thinking is also necessary for media studies.According to Kristine Artello(2013), with the advent of social media technologies, such as YouTube, and the availability of small inexpensive video cameras with easy-to-use video editors, multimedia assignments provide important opportunities to engage students while promoting higher levels of critical thinking. Multimedia assignments encourage students to exercise higher order critical thinking skills. As she mentioned, critical thinking is becoming more and more important for media studies. It should not be confused with being argumentative or being critical of other people. According to Joe Lau & Jonathan Chan(2014) ,critical thinking can help us acquire knowledge, improve our theories, and strengthen arguments. We can use critical thinking to enhance work processes and improve social institutions. In short critical thinking help us understand various tests of media more clearly. In the UK, critical thinking is always emphasised by professors in classes. Classes are interactive and usually contain small groups. In class, students are not just listening to lectures but share their ideas and discuss topics to find effective solutions. Professors do not always tell students answers in class. They guide them to go to the ideal goals. In contrast, memorization skill is important in Japan because professors want to know how much students understand their lectures. Since almost all of the classes are lectures, classes are not interactive. Students are always guided by professors. They tell them their knowledge and answers which they think it is true from only their researches. All students have to do is just listening and taking knowledge from professors. They memorize their notes before examination to get a good grade. Hence Japanese students are not good at thinking from critical perspective and their knowledge is very limited. Thirdly, there are many possible ways to improve analysis and critical thinking. To promote analytical skill, evaluation is useful. It enables students to question themselves and try to think about reasons and evidence every time. To develop critical thinking, having a wealth of knowledge is vital. Reading news papers, journals and various types of media helps students not only when discussing in classes but also writing essays. Therefore, in order to be a successful student both skills are essential. In conclusion, critical thinking and analysis are important when students learn media at university. They are useful when they get a job in the future as well. While there are some similarities, it is important to note that, in a higher education in the UK, students have many chances to practice these skills. However, Japanese students have a few opportunities to practice both skills. I believe that these come from cultural differences. Of course, both systems have advantage and disadvantage. Then which do you prefer?