Unpacking Class Activities that Foster the Practice of the 4Cs in a General English Course: Students’ Perspectives

This study explores students’ perceptions of how the 4Cs—creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration—were practiced and which class activities promoted these practices in a required General English course at a four-year university in Korea. A total of 73 students from six course sections participated during the spring 2025 semester. Data were collected through an online survey consisting of five-point Likert-scale items, multiple-choice questions, and open-ended responses. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative responses underwent thematic analysis conducted collaboratively by two researchers to ensure reliability. Students reported engaging in the 4C practices at moderate to high levels, with collaboration and communication ranked highest, followed by critical thinking and creativity. They also perceived the course as supportive of the 4Cs in a similar pattern. Among class activities, group presentations, group discussions, and teacher or peer feedback were identified as most effective in fostering the 4C practices, whereas paragraph writing and paraphrasing with citing were viewed as less supportive. Thematic analysis further revealed characteristics of these class activities that nurtured the 4C practices, including creativity through idea generating in open and safe environments, critical thinking through exposure to multiple perspectives and iterative feedback and revision, communication via authentic interaction, and collaboration through collective goal pursuit. These results highlight implications for structuring English courses in higher education to more effectively nurture the 4Cs.