An Observation Study On The Cultivation Of Thinking Quality In High-quality English Reading Classes Of Senior High Schools

Thinking quality refers to the ability and level in terms of logical thinking,critical thinking and creative thinking.English Curriculum Standard for Senior High School(2017 Edition)suggests that cultivating thinking quality is an important way of improving students’ analysis and problem-solving ability.The focus of senior high school English reading teaching at this stage gradually extends from focusing on language knowledge comprehension and text information interpretation to the cultivation of thinking quality.This study takes the 11 th National High-quality English Reading Classes of Senior High Schools as the research object and employs classroom observation and script analysis to observe and study the cultivation of thinking quality mainly from three aspects: classroom activities,teachers’ questioning and students’ answers.This thesis mainly focuses on the following questions:(1)what activities do teachers design to cultivate students’ thinking quality in high-quality English reading classes of senior high schools ?(2)In what way do teachers use different types of questions to cultivate students’ thinking quality in high-quality English reading classes of senior high schools?(3)What are the characteristics of students’ thinking quality reflected from their answers in high-quality English reading classes of senior high schools?The results show that(1)in high-quality English reading classes of senior high schools,teachers do not adopt one fixed activity to cultivate thinking quality,but they choose the appropriate activities according to the teaching content to improve class efficiency.Every teacher has designed various activities to cultivate students’ logical thinking,such as predicting the content of the text,mind map,imitative writing and discussing the writing purpose in groups.Some teachers also design activities such as evaluation and writing to cultivate students’ critical and creative thinking.(2)Teachers follow the principle of students’ cognitive development,lay emphasis on the building of thinking ladders and propose remembering,understanding,applying,analyzing,evaluating and creating questions step by step.Besides,they allocate a reasonable proportion of each type of questions so that students’ cognitive development is navigated from logical thinking to critical and creative thinking.(3)Students are able to state facts,analyze reasons and make predictions and inferences according to the questions raised by the teacher,which reflects their strong logical thinking.Some students are also able to take the initiative to think and express creative ideas,which reflects their creative thinking,while students’ critical thinking is slightly lacking.According to the research results,it is recommended that senior high school English teachers are expected to strengthen their professional quality and master the strategies of cultivating thinking quality.Besides,they should arrange classroom activities carefully in accordance with teaching contents.Moreover,teachers are supposed to give careful consideration to the design of questions,follow the gradual principle and appropriately increase the proportion of evaluating and creating questions,thus promoting the improvement of students’ thinking quality.