An Empirical Study On The Cultivation Of College Non-English Majors’ Critical Thinking Skills In EFL Reading

Critical thinking skill is regarded as an essential skill in the 21st century, which aims to promote people’s ability to criticize, question, evaluate and reflect. The traditional college English teaching, especially English as a foreign Language (henceforth EFL) reading teaching, puts more emphasis on imparting basic linguistic knowledge and skills, which neglects the enhancement of college students’ critical thinking skills. However, research at home and abroad in current decades mainly focuses on the importance of cultivating critical thinking skills (Wen,2008), with the lack of empirical studies on how to cultivate college students’ critical thinking skills.In terms of the paramount significance of critical thinking skills and the research status quo mentioned above, this thesis explores tentatively the cultivation of college non-English majors’ critical thinking skills in EFL reading by adopting both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The present mixed-method study aims at answering the following three research questions:First, what are the current situation, problems and coping strategies of college non-English majors’ critical thinking skills in EFL reading? Second, do college non-English majors’ critical thinking skills in EFL reading change before and after the teaching intervention? If so, to what extent and how do their critical thinking skills change? Third, what are the effective ways to cultivate college non-English majors’critical thinking skills in EFL reading?224 non-English majors from S University were investigated through questionnaires and interviews at the very beginning of the research in order to find out the status quo, problems and coping strategies of college non-English majors’critical thinking skills in EFL reading. Specifically, it compares critical thinking skills in EFL reading between students of different genders, majors as well as grades. Subsequently, 31 sophomores of the 224 students in School of History and Culture were selected as experimental class trainees, accepting critical thinking skills training in EFL reading class for the whole semester while other 31 non-English majors in control class were taught by the traditional reading teaching methodology. Accordingly, the whole 17-week reading teaching process has generated a wide range of data from questionnaires, critical reading tests, interviews, classroom observations and reflective writings, which contributes significantly to the deep exploration of the change of college students’ critical thinking skills, as well as the specific teaching methods to cultivate them in EFL reading.Given the analysis and discussion of data resources collected, it can be concluded in the following three aspects. First, the college non-English majors’critical thinking skills in EFL reading are weak and the differences lie in gender, major and grade. Second, those who received the critical thinking skills training improve tremendously regarding their critical thinking skills in EFL reading, especially when it comes to Interpretation, Inference, Analysis and Explanation. Third, both critical reading strategy and cooperative learning are on the list of the effective ways to cultivate college non-English majors’ critical thinking skills in EFL reading. Therefore, it is of overriding importance for college English teachers to involve relevant training in daily reading teaching consciously for the sake of college students’lifelong learning.