A Study Of Junior High School English Teachers' Critical Thinking Disposition

Information era requires people to be equipped with the ability to identify authentic information and make correct judgments.Critical thinking is the ability needed to make meaningful and rational judgments about things or opinions based on certain criteria,which is a typical quality in the making of innovative talents.As a substantial component of critical thinking ability,critical thinking disposition refers to people's mental state and subjective inclination when doing critical thinking activities,directly affecting the effectiveness of thinking activities.Recently,a large number of domestic and foreign scholars have conducted researches in measuring and analyzing primary school,middle school and university students' critical thinking disposition,but comparatively fewer researches have been done in the field of teachers'critical thinking disposition,particularly that of junior high school English teachers'.Teachers in junior high school shoulder a transitional responsibility to shape and mould their students'education as well as their personality.Since their critical thinking disposition deeply affects the possible development of students' critical thinking ability,necessary researches about junior high school English teachers' critical thinking disposition are not only meaningful but also important.On the basis of relevant researches about critical thinking disposition as well as the theoretical framework of the Hierarchical Model of critical thinking,this study combined questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to investigate junior high school English teachers'critical thinking disposition.The Critical Thinking Disposition Questionnaire composed by Wen and her team was used to investigate the overall situation and analyze the dimensional performances of the critical thinking disposition of 47 junior high school English teachers from four different schools in a county of Jiangsu Province.In addition,12 junior high school English teachers were selected randomly to attend the semi-structured interview to explore into the factors influencing their critical thinking disposition.The results of the study show that junior high school English teachers' critical thinking disposition is in general active,but not satisfactory in the aspects of truth-seeking,systematicity and cognitive maturity.On the whole,although there is no significant difference between female and male junior high school English teachers' critical thinking disposition,there do exist noteworthy differences in the aspects of their teaching seniority and professional titles.Besides,junior high school English teachers' psycho-cognition,logical abilities and views of learning,school regulations and working atmosphere,social environment and scientific development all affect their critical thinking disposition.The findings of the study provide several implications for the formation and cultivation of junior high school English teachers' critical thinking disposition.For the teachers,they should change their perceptions of teaching to better adapt to the society and make full use of their proactivity.For the schools,they should take actions,such as providing a multistage training program and setting up a better evaluation system,to create a better environment for different teachers' professional development.The society,particularly the relevant educational and administrative departments,should also strengthen the cultivation of teachers' critical thinking disposition by perfecting relevant regulations and optimizing course arrangement of normal schools to create a better social atmosphere for the development of critical thinking.