A Study On Middle School English Teachers’ Application Of Thinking Visualization Tools

The newest compulsory education and senior high school English Curriculum Standards both propose the cultivation of the thinking capacity should be an indispensable goal of middle school English teaching.However,the invisible nature of thinking poses certain difficulties in developing thinking capacity.The thinking visualization tools,such as mind maps and thinking maps have manifold usage in English instruction.Since they can present the process and results of teachers’ and students’ thinking visually and structurally,English teachers can take advantage of them to cultivate students’ thinking capacity.Therefore,this research investigates the status quo of how middle school English teachers apply thinking visualization tools based on the tools’ value in fostering thinking capacity,to gain insight into the specific situation of teachers’ awareness and use of the tools and relevant influencing factors.The results are expected to provide teachers with practical suggestions.Questionnaires,classroom observations,and interviews are mainly used in combination in this research.Based on a review of relevant literature,this research built an analytical framework that consists of five dimensions: teacher’s attitude,teacher’s perception of tools,teaching practice,evaluation and reflection,and influencing factors.The research tools were designed according to the framework.210 middle school English teachers were surveyed,15 English classrooms using thinking visualization tools were observed,and six teachers were invited to participate in the interviews.Then,combining the relevant literature,the collected data were analyzed and discussed.The results are as follows:(1)Teachers are willing to use thinking visualization tools to develop thinking capacity,but lack systematic theoretical knowledge.(2)Teachers apply the tool with emphasis on developing logical thinking capacity,but their use is individually limited.(3)When teachers use tools to develop student’s creative thinking,they usually let students practice divergent thinking.Students have few chances to use the tools creatively.(4)Teachers lack the cognition to develop critical thinking capacity when applying the tools and lack systematic and diverse ways to develop it.(5)Teachers generally valued reflection and revision when using the tools,but their evaluating situation is not optimistic.(6)The effect of teachers’ applying tools is influenced by several aspects of influencing factors.Relevant projects and teaching resources can provide powerful support for English teachers.On the basis of the above findings,the study brings forward several suggestions.Firstly,teachers’ theoretical study of thinking visualization tools should be strengthened,especially the theory about the relevance between tools and thinking capacity cultivation.Secondly,the researchers and teachers can conduct relevant research to explore practical patterns for applying thinking visualization tools from a perspective of cultivating thinking capacity.Thirdly,teaching resources related to thinking visualization tools in English language teaching need to be developed to provide systematic support for teachers.