A Survey Of The Cultivation Of Critical Thinking In English Reading Teaching In Senior High School

The cultivation of critical thinking is taken as an indispensable part of English language education.And the senior high school stage is a crucial period for critical thinking development.Meanwhile,English reading is a process of using and developing thinking,and also an essential means to cultivate critical thinking.However,related researches indicate that students’ symptom of "absence of critical thinking" still exists in English reading class.Therefore,this paper investigates the overall situation of senior high school English teachers’ cultivation of students’ critical thinking in reading class,and analyzes the differences between novice teachers and proficient teachers,aiming at providing some insightful suggestions for improving the quality of senior high school English reading instruction and facilitating the development of students’ critical thinking.Based on Anderson et al’s theory of taxonomy and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development,the author uses questionnaire survey and interviews to carry out the research with eighty English teachers from three senior high schools in Guangdong province as the research subjects.Three questions will be answered through the research:(1)What is the overall situation of teachers’ cultivation of students’ critical thinking in senior high school English reading teaching?(2)Are there any differences between novice teachers and proficient teachers in the cultivation of students’ critical thinking in senior high school English reading teaching? If yes,what are the differences?(3)What are the problems existing in teachers’ cultivation of students’ critical thinking in senior high school English reading teaching and the causes of the problems?As for the first two research questions,this study solves them through questionnaire survey.Guided by the two-dimensional structure model of critical thinking in the Delphi Report,the questionnaire contains two first-level dimensions: the cultivation of critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions.Its internal consistency coefficient(Cronbach’s α)is 0.955,and the KMO is 0.814.For the third question,the author combines the data obtained from the questionnaire and the results from the interviews.The study yields the following findings:(1)In general,senior high school English teachers reach a slightly high level in cultivating students’ critical thinking in reading instruction.The level of cultivating critical thinking dispositions is higher than that of cultivating critical thinking skills.Furthermore,teachers’ training of students’ evaluation,explanation and self-regulation skills needs improving.(2)There are not any significant differences in critical thinking training between novice teachers and proficient teachers,but proficient teachers perform better than novice teachers,especially in coaching critical thinking dispositions.(3)The existing problems in critical thinking training contain teachers’ incomplete understanding of critical thinking and how to cultivate it,the separation between critical thinking training and English language teaching,and the difficulty of implementing critical thinking activities.These problems are caused by teachers’ lack of experience in teaching,the limitations of students’ English competence,lack of relevant training,pressure from teaching schedules and examinations.Based on the research findings,the author puts forward some suggestions for teachers and schools.For teachers,they should understand critical thinking and its cultivation from the perspective of core competency in English,integrate critical thinking training into English teaching process,adjust critical thinking training methods according to students’ English competence as well as foster students’ questioning spirit and stimulate their desire for expression.For schools,they should incorporate the cultivation of critical thinking into the assessment of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning,and provide teachers with more training of cultivating critical thinking in English reading class.