Critical thinking subskills in project-based EFL learning: uneven salience and conditional activation

Introduction: Most research on critical thinking (CT) in project-based learning (PBL) has focused on whether CT improves following instruction, typically through composite or dimension-specific scores. Less is known about how learners experience individual CT subskills during task engagement. Methods: This qualitative study examined how twelve Grade 12 students at a Sino-foreign cooperative secondary school in China described their use of six CT subskills during intercultural project-based tasks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted one week after task completion and analysed using a hybrid thematic approach. Results: In students' accounts, the six subskills were not described as equally salient or simultaneously activated. Interpreting and analysing were commonly described as early, relatively consistent moves. Inferring and evaluating appeared more variable: under certain conditions they sharpened culturally responsive communication, while under others they narrowed cultural content through premature assumptions or receded into procedural compliance. Explaining and self-regulating were described as late-stage refinements, often compressed by time pressure. Perceived task stakes, rubric design, and feedback availability emerged as conditions that appeared to shape whether inference and evaluation took productive or constraining forms. Discussion: These findings suggest that CT subskills may be experienced as unevenly distributed across task phases, and that fostering CT in intercultural PBL may require explicit attention to the conditions under which less stable and later-emerging processes are supported.