A Study On The Critical Thinking-oriented Teacher Talk In English Reading Class In Senior High School

Critical thinking(CT)plays a crucial role in human cognition.Therefore,how to cultivate higher order thinking ability has attracted more attention from experts and scholars at home and abroad.According to English Curriculum for Senior High School(2017),thinking quality is one of the core competences of students.As a vital part of thinking quality,CT has become an important topic in foreign language education.Previous studies mainly focus on theoretical issues rather than pedagogical ones.Of the empirical studies,the focus of research is usually on students,especially college students.Little attention is given to teachers’ CT as well as CT teaching.Accordingly,this study takes teacher discourse as the starting point and endeavors to explore critical thinking-oriented teacher talk(CTOT)in senior high school English reading class and its correlation with teachers’ own CT level.This study tries to describe the current situation of CT teaching and in-service English teachers’ CT level through questionnaires,classroom observation and semi-structured interviews.The author conducted a two-month classroom observation in public senior high schools.The participants were 30 in-service English teachers from different regions.According to their scores,six teachers were selected for classroom observation,among whom three scored the highest and another three the lowest.The author transcribed and analyzed at least 2 English reading classes per teacher based on the Universal Intellectual Standards(Paul& Elder,2008).At the same time,the participants also completed the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory 2000(CCTDI)and California Critical Thinking Skills Test2000(CCTST),and the results were used to evaluate teachers’ CT level.Moreover,in order to find more information about teachers’ understanding and attitudes to CT and CT education,the author conducted semi-structured interviews with 6 teachers.All the data were systematically analyzed by qualitative and quantitative methods.The findings are as follows.Firstly,senior high school English teachers’ CTOT varies greatly in quantity,dimensions and class sessions.Secondly,the difference of teachers in CTOT shows a significant correlation with their CT skills.Teachers with qualified CT skillslevel can produce more CTOT in class.Thirdly,there are similarities and differences between teachers’ understandings of CT.The results of the study indicate that EFL teachers differ in CTOT both in quantity and dimension.They need to further improve their abilities and skills in critical thinking in order to achieve better teaching.