Exploring The Effectiveness Of English Reading Circles On Senior High School Students’ Critical Thinking Ability

Subject core competences in the General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards(2017 edition)(hereinafter referred to as New Curriculum Standards)made it clear that it is important to develop students’ critical thinking ability,and creatively construct new concepts from a multidimensional perspective.Cultivating critical thinking ability cannot be separated from language input.Reading,as the most common method of language input,is the main type of class for teachers to guide students to improve their thinking abilities.Traditional reading teaching mode is not effective in cultivating students’ thinking qualities,so scholars introduce "reading circles" teaching activities from abroad.However,the author found that the majority of critical thinking researches have been focused on college students or adults,and there is a neglect of how high school students should build this thinking ability.Therefore,based on input theory,cooperative learning and critical thinking theory model,this study investigates the impact of the reading circles teaching model on high school students’ critical thinking ability,aims to answer the following questions:(1)In terms of the seven aspects of truth-seeking,open-mindedness,analytical ability,systematization,critical thinking confidence,intellectual curiosity,and cognitive maturity,what is the current status of student’ critical thinking ability?(2)What is the impact of applying English reading circles on students’ critical thinking abilities? How can this be proven?(3)What are students’ attitude toward reading circles model?The subjects of this study are 109 students from Class 1 and Class 5 of the senior high school in C city.55 students from class 1 are the control class(CC)and 54 students from class 5 are the experimental class(EC)According to the results of high school entrance examination of the two classes,there was little a difference in average English scores between the experimental class(EC)and the control class(CC).During the three-month experiment,the control group used the task-based teaching model,while the experimental class(EC)used the reading circles teaching model,and both classes were taught by the author and data were collected and analyzed.The study uses questionnaires,English reading tests,and interview surveys.Through the analysis of questionnaire and reading test data,it is found that:(1)the experimental class(EC)and the control class(CC)are at the lower than average level in the seven dimensions of critical thinking ability.(2)Through the teaching experiment,the data of the control class(CC)shows that their critical thinking ability has improved but there is little difference.The experimental class(EC)using the reading circles teaching mode has improved significantly,which proves that the reading circles teaching mode has a positive role in promoting the development of high school students’ critical thinking ability.(3)Students are fond of the reading circles model,indicating that it is easier to express and get in touch with different viewpoints under this model.At the same time,some students mentioned that reading circles improved their attention to critical thinking ability.The author derives the following conclusions from the above study: first,teachers should make efforts to modify their role,hand back control of the classroom to the students,and encourage them to discuss and think creatively rather than forcing them to come up with a specific solution.Second,educators should emphasize feedback skills and the creation of effective scaffolds for the growth of critical thinking.Third,teachers should have a solid understanding of their students and select lesson materials that are as relevant to those interests and real-world situations as possible.This study sets out to develop critical thinking ability and core literacy for senior high school students and will serve as a resource for high school students and teachers.