A Case Study On The Cultivation Of Postgraduates’ Critical Literacy In Advanced Critical English Class For Postgraduates In University X

As stated in the construction of new liberal arts,foreign language education should not only cultivate students’ ideals and beliefs and enhance their comprehensive strengths,but also promote students’ innovative ability.Postgraduate students are the major force in realizing the innovative development of our country,and an important premise of innovation is to have good critical literacy.However,the implementation of postgraduate English courses currently is mostly a continuation of college public English courses,which adopts traditional teaching approach emphasizing the training of language skills to conduct literacy practices based on literature.As a result,critical literacy centered on critical thinking and rational judgement in language among this group still entails further cultivation and promotion.Therefore,this study seeks to investigate the cultivation of postgraduates’ critical literacy in an English classroom based on the reform of MA English teaching in university X,which is of great significance not only for the cultivation of innovative talents but also for the promotion in the quality of postgraduate foreign language education advocated in new liberal arts.Based on critical literacy theories,this study undertakes a qualitative research method to investigate the cultivation of students’ critical literacy in Advanced Critical English Class for Postgraduates(This management English class is under the reform of MA English teaching in university X)by analyzing how the class is organized to develop students’ critical literacy and its’ possible effects on students’ critical literacy as well as the features of postgraduates’ critical literacy.The database is composed of classroom observation,comments in online discussion and open questionnaire.The research results showed that the class sought to make interventions on students’ critical literacy through three dimensions: learning environment,teaching materials and teaching methods.Satisfactory teaching effects were found with noticeable evidence in students’ critical literacy as follows: Firstly,with regard to the engagement of critical literacy practices,the proportion of critical literacy practices in online platform and the number of critical practices per comment in online discussion grew steadily over time reflecting an upward trend in the engagement of critical practices in different phases;Secondly,in terms of the quality of critical literacy practices,it was found that the mean score of online comment samples also indicated a positive increasing tendency;Thirdly,the results of open questionnaire showed the class not only contributed to the development of students’ critical literacy,but also benefited students’ language ability,learning ability and disciplinary knowledge.In addition,the features of postgraduates’ critical literacy have been included in the research which can be summarized as two points: 1)Integration of disciplinary knowledge and language knowledge;2)Focus on sociopolitical issues.In the end,based on the feedback obtained from the open questionnaire and classroom observation,this study puts forward some suggestions for Advanced Critical English Class for Postgraduates: Firstly,from the perspective of learning environment,in the construction of online extracurricular learning platform,the teacher should not only attach importance to the easy access of the platform but also show concern about the sense of belonging as well as play a monitoring role for the online interaction so as to promote students’ engagement in online communication;Secondly,with regard to the teaching methods,apart from the constant dialogue between the lecturer and students,the teacher should be aware that the interaction between different groups is also worth encouraging and advocating in the classroom.It is hoped that the implications can provide some references for postgraduates’ critical-pedagogical practices.