A Study On The Cultivation Of Thinking Quality In Senior High School English Reading Teaching

In recent years,cultivating students’ subject key competencies has been a heated topic in educational and academic circles.As one of important part of English key competencies,thinking quality plays a significant role in promoting students’ English learning and all-round development.Meanwhile,English reading teaching is not only an important part of English teaching,but also an effective way to cultivate students’ thinking quality.Students can develop their thinking quality through English reading class,and the development of thinking quality can in return help students accomplish reading activities more smoothly.However,the survey shows that the status quo of the most senior high students’ thinking is not optimistic.Based on this,this study aims to make an in-depth investigation of the cultivation of thinking quality in senior high school English reading teaching so as to obtain an understanding of the current situation,identify existing problems and influencing factors.At the same time,it is hoped that it can provide related theoretical basis and practical suggestions for English teachers to cultivate students’ thinking quality better.Based on Constructivism Theory,Cognitive Development Theory and Theory of Intelligence Focused on the Thinking Structure,this study took the cultivation of thinking quality in senior high school English reading teaching as the research topic.In this study,15 English teachers and 105 students from a senior high school in Yantai City,Shandong Province were selected as the subjects.The study was conducted by using questionnaire,interview and classroom observation.The specific research questions are as follows:(1)What are teachers’ understanding and attitude towards thinking quality?(2)Are there any problems in the cultivation of thinking quality in senior high school English reading teaching? If so,what are they?(3)What are the factors influencing the cultivation of thinking quality in senior high school English reading teaching?According to the analysis of the results,some conclusions are drawn as follows:Firstly,a majority of teachers have a basic and correct understanding of thinking quality,they hold a positive attitude towards the cultivation of students thinking quality in English reading class.Secondly,in English reading teaching,some teachers attach too much importance to teaching language knowledge,some thinking-oriented activities in the textbook are abandoned;most teachers fail to use heuristic teaching method to develop students’ thinking;there are more explanations about literal understanding of the texts in reading teaching,less about the exploring the implied meanings embedded in the texts.Thirdly,the main factors influencing teaching practice in terms of cultivating thinking quality are academic pressure,traditional teaching methods,students’ individual differences in cognition level and teachers’ lacking of related training.Based on the results and findings of this study,some suggestions are put forward,hoping to help English teachers improve and strengthen their teaching methods and strategies for cultivating students thinking quality in English reading teaching,and with an expectation to provide some guidance for English teaching practice in senior high school.