A Research On Senior High School English Teacher’s Belief In Cultivating Students’ Critical Thinking Ability

In recent years,with the continuous advancement and development of English teaching reform,and under the background of English core competencies,the cultivation of students’ high-level thinking,with critical thinking as the core,has become the focus of today’s English education.As an important part of teachers’ cognition,teacher’s belief guides and influences teachers’ behaviors to a certain extent.Therefore,it is necessary to study the teacher’s belief in cultivating students’ critical thinking ability.The purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs of Senior High school English teachers in developing students’ critical thinking ability.Based on the Bloom’ taxonomy of education and the Simon Borg language teacher’s belief researches,this study constructed a theoretical framework in combination with the interpretation of high school students’ thinking quality by Mei Deming & Wang Qiang(2018)on English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017).Through questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview,the researcher investigated the beliefs of 40 English teachers in cultivating students’ critical thinking ability in three Senior High schools.The research questions are :(1)What beliefs do Senior High School English teachers have in cultivating students’ critical thinking?(2)What are the main factors that affect teachers’ beliefs in cultivating students’ critical thinking ability? The study found: 1.In training students’ critical thinking ability,the Senior High school English teachers have a good understanding on the definition of critical thinking,the roles between teachers and students,the teaching of critical thinking ability,the students’ learning of critical thinking and the evaluation of critical thinking ability.However,in the critical thinking teaching,Senior High school teachers’ beliefs in the teaching of English subject knowledge is contradictory to the beliefs in cultivating students’ critical thinking.The beliefs in cultivating students’ critical thinking is easy to change,which is not a core beliefs but a marginal beliefs 2.There are many factors affecting the formation and development of relevant teacher’s belief.Internal factors include teachers’ personal learning experience,teachers’ own critical thinking,cognition of critical thinking,teaching requirement and teaching motivation.External factors include the school’s curriculum objectives,relevant educational policies,the evaluation of the open class,the position of teaching,the school’s examination system and the peer pressure.Finally,based on the research findings,the researchers gives relevant suggestions :1.English teachers improve their understanding of critical thinking ability and their own pursuit of teaching;2.English teachers should learn to reflect on the relevant theoretical knowledge and personal practical experience in the cultivation of critical thinking ability.3.Schools and governments should provide sufficient support to cultivate students’ critical thinking ability.