An Action Research On The Cultivation Of Junior School Students'Thinking Competency Through English Literature Reading

Language and thinking are closely connected and complement each other.Language carries and expresses thinking,while thinking is the core of language.Thinking competency,one of the four 'key competencies;of English studies,has been received a great deal of attention in recent years.English reading plays an important role in developing and cultivating students' language and thinking competency.Among the wide variety of English reading materials available to students,it is English literature reading,the core of all reading,that bears the special function of developing language and thinking at the same time.However,there is limited research that focuses on the influence of English literature reading on junior middle school students' thinking competency,especially so for action research in this field.The purpose of this study is to conduct action research which aims to find out whether English literature reading can contribute to students' thinking competency.If so,how does it happen and which aspects of thinking competency are enhanced.Forty-five students of Grade Seven were chosen from the Yaohua Binhai Middle School.Data was collected through questionnaires,interviews,teaching journals,and case observation.Then the multiple sources of data were coded and further analyzed.Findings from this study demonstrate that the English literature reading makes contributions to the development of students' thinking competency in terms of logical thinking,critical thinking and creative thinking.This action research can be beneficial to the teaching of English reading to junior school students and cultivation of students'thinking competency.