A Study Of The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Disposition And English Reading Strategy Use Of The Non-English Majors

Critical thinking,composed of critical thinking disposition and critical thinking skills,has become increasingly prominent in higher education in the 21 st century.Its significant role in English reading has been widely acknowledged.Critical thinking disposition is one’s continuous internal intention and motivation to approach problems by using critical thinking skills.Positive critical thinking disposition promotes individual’s critical thinking.At the beginning of the 21 st century,a large number of studies on the relationship between critical thinking and English reading strategy use as well as English reading ability have been carried out,which have been conducted mainly from the perspective of critical thinking skills while rarely from critical thinking disposition.In addition,much research in China has mainly involved English-major students as the participants.In the last few years,although few scholars have been conducting research on the correlation between critical thinking disposition and English reading,specific relationship between critical thinking disposition and English reading strategies,which has been confirmed one of the contributing factors in English reading ability,is not dealt with.Given all that,this study aims to explore the specific relationship between non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition and their English reading strategy use.217 Non-English majors from Shandong Normal University are chosen randomly to participate in this study.The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory(CCTDI)revised by Wen Qiufang(2011),the Survey of Reading Strategies(SORS)and a semi-structured interview are adopted to investigate the current situation of participants’ critical thinking disposition and English reading strategy use.With the purpose of exploring the correlation between non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition and English reading strategies,the present study intends to address the three questions:(1)What is the current situation of non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition and their use of English Reading strategies?(2)What is the relationship between non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition and their use of English reading strategies?(3)Can the non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition serve as the predictor of their use of English reading strategies?Major findings and discoveries are presented as follows:(1)The overall non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition is at a moderate and positive level.The dimensions of Inquisitiveness,Analyticity,Open-mindedness,Justice-orientedness and Cognitive maturity show positive traits,while the dimensions of Truth-seeking,Confidence and Systematicity show moderate and ambivalent traits.The overall non-English majors’ English reading strategy use is at a higher and moderate level.To be specific,students use global strategies and problem-solving strategies more frequently than they use supporting strategies.(2)On the whole,non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition correlates closely with their English reading strategy use and especially their problem-solving strategy use.Except the dimensions of Cognitive maturity and Supporting reading strategies,the positive correlation has been found between both the dimensions of critical thinking disposition and English reading strategy use.(3)Eventually,the participants’ overall critical thinking disposition can serve as the predictor of their use of English reading strategies.To be specific,the predictive validity of students’ disposition of inquisitiveness on their problem-solving strategy use and supporting strategy use is the most positive and significant;the predictive validity of students’ disposition of analyticity on their global reading strategy use is the most positive and significant.Accordingly,this study puts forth some suggestions in English teaching and learning to improve the cultivation of students’ critical thinking disposition and increase students’ awareness of using English reading strategies.Meanwhile,this study has elaborated on the correlation between non-English majors’ critical thinking disposition and their English reading strategy use,which supports and contributes to the studies on critical thinking and English reading.Finally,the limitations as well as the perspectives for the future studies are presented.