Action Research On Cultivating Students’ Critical Thinking Ability In Senior High School English Reading Teaching

The new high school English curriculum standards issued in 2017 proposed the construction of the core competency of English subject,among which,the cultivation of students’ thinking quality and the improvement of students’ critical thinking ability once again attracted attention.In the era of rapid development of technology,it is particularly important to interpret,analyze,judge and evaluate the obtained information with critical thinking.In English teaching,critical reading is an important way to develop critical thinking.In county and township senior high schools,however,because the students’ English foundation is generally weak,the main goal of English reading teaching is to teach English knowledge and develop language skills,focusing especially on helping students understand the literal meaning of the passage.As a result,most of the students stay at a low level of thinking rather than a high level of critical thinking in English reading.Under the guidance of Anderson’s taxonomy of cognitive objectives and other theories,this research attempts to cultivate students’ critical thinking ability in English reading classes.The research questions are as follows:(1)What approaches can teachers take in cultivating students’ critical thinking ability in senior high school English reading class?(2)Can students’ critical thinking ability be developed after the experiment?(3)What changes have occurred in students’ learning behaviors after the experiment?The research is conducted in a county senior high school in Dongying.Class 2 of Grade 1 is selected as the experimental class while Class 1 of Grade 1 is selected as the control class.In the preparation stage,by conducting the first questionnaire survey,the researcher acquires the status of critical thinking ability of the two classes,and finds that the critical thinking ability of the two classes are at the same level.In the process of action research,the researcher focuses on training students’ critical thinking abilities in terms of interpretation,analysis,application and evaluation.During the experiment,the researcher finds that students gradually learn to interpret the passage from different perspectives,analyze the information in detail,and become more active in asking questions and making evaluations.After the experiment,through the comparative analysis of thetwo questionnaire survey results,two reading comprehension scores,students’ class participation,notes and reflection summaries,the researcher finds that students in the experimental class have higher critical awareness and ability than students in the control class,and in the experimental class,students’ learning behaviors have shown a positive change.This research provides an example for the cultivation of students’ critical thinking ability and has certain practical research value.Because of the short research time,fewer samples and the lack of teaching experience,there are some limitations in the research that need to be further addressed.