A Comparative Study Of Cultivation And Differences In Thinking Quality Between Chinese And American Junior Middle School Students Based On English Subject Key Competence

Globalization and informationalization stimulate new demands for talents and hasten parturition of key competence nowadays.Numerous documents about key competence are promulgated by many countries,which have obvious consistency or similarity but not completely identical to each other.Therefore,there may be some questions worthy of discussion behind the differences.As far as the English subject is concerned,the goal of American English language learning in the 21st century is summarized as five words starting with C:communication,cultures,connections,comparisons,and communities.However,English is classified as a foreign language education with specific teaching objectives in China,one of which is the cultivation of students’ English subject key competence.The domestic English subject key competence consists of language ability,cultural awareness,thinking quality,and learning ability.This thesis combines Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive objectives to compare cultivation and differences in thinking quality between Chinese and American junior middle school students based on English subject key competence,which adopts the questionnaire survey and the semi-structured interview as the main research methods.The research subjects are students in Grade 2 of the two general middle schools,Brinkley Middle school in Jackson City and YanJi Middle School in Bengbu City,and English teachers who are experienced with English teaching for more than ten years.It can be shown the current situation of junior middle school students’ logical thinking,critical thinking,and innovative thinking based on English subject key competence from the questionnaire.At the same time,the information about the requirements,performances and training strategies of thinking quality based on English subject key competence are illustrated through the semi-structured interview with junior middle school English teachers in Grade 2 of the two middle schoolsBased on English subject key competence,this thesis intends to solve the following three research questions:1.What are the differences in thinking quality requirements between Chinese and American junior middle school students?2.What are the differences in thinking quality performances between Chinese and American junior middle school students?3.What are the differences in thinking quality training strategies between Chinese and American junior middle school students?The results are listed as follows:1.In the entire English teaching process,the thinking quality of American junior middle school students requires more attention to competence education rather than knowledge education.2.American junior middle school students have a more comprehensively performance on logical thinking,critical thinking,and innovative thinking.3.As to the strategies used in the cultivation of thinking quality,the United States puts more emphasis on developing students’ability to use English and the formation of students’ some other related qualities.These advantages require our attention and learning.