A Study On Cultivating Students’ Critical Thinking Competence In The Process Of Senior English Critical Reading Class

Nowadays,National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools requires to develop students’ core competency that is to improve students’ thinking quality and to develop students’ critical thinking in English learning.In the time of information age,it is quite important to analyze,judge and evaluate the information one gets.In English teaching,critical reading is considered as an important way to cultivate critical thinking.However,students in the regions where the education level is not so developed are common to be seen that they are weak in English,so the main goal of English reading teaching is to teach students language knowledge and develop language skills,and the literal comprehending of students is particularly stressed,therefore,most of the students read with lower order thinking rather than critical thinking in higher order thinking.Based on the theory of reading theory in constructivism and Bloom’s cognitive hierarchies theory,this study aims to explore how to develop students’ critical thinking by using critical reading strategies in English reading effectively.In this study,the author has firstly researched what the critical reading strategies are adopted in English reading.Then,the author tried to discover the changes of students’ critical thinking competence after the training of critical reading strategies.Besides,the author offered some suggestions on how critical reading strategies can be improved to cultivate students’ critical thinking competence based on this research.This research was carried out in Lingao Middle School of Hainan,in which two ordinary classes were selected.In the experimental class,critical reading strategies are adopted,while in the traditional class,there is nothing special as usual in reading,and the two classes are taught by the same teacher.During the experiment,questionnaires,tests and classroom observations are used.From this research,firstly,it is found that in the experimental class,critical reading strategies such as preview,annotating,questioning,analyzing,summarizing and evaluating are adopted in reading class.Secondly,students were given reading tests before and after the experiment,which showed that the reading ability of students in experimental class improved more than students in traditional class did.Through the analysis of different types of students’ thinking level needed in the tests,it is found that the inference ability of students in experimental class improved more than students in traditional class did,while in the aspect of analysis ability,there was no obvious difference between the two classes.Besides,a critical thinking test with five sections is given to students in both experimental and traditional class.According to the analysis on the test results,among the five sections on critical thinking,students in experimental class do better in four sections than students in traditional class do.Lastly,there are some suggestions for improvement on the use of critical reading strategies and for the development of critical thinking.The author hopes that they can play a reference role in teaching students in reading and developing students’ critical thinking competence.