A Comparative Study On Senior English Coursebooks From The Perspective Of Developing Critical Thinking Ability

As main materials for English learning,reading section in English coursebook is an important way to develop students’ critical thinking.Therefore,the degree to which critical thinking is reflected in the reading section has a significant influence on the development of students’ critical thinking.Aiming at finding the differences or similarities in reading section in terms of cultivating students’ critical thinking ability between two sets senior high school compulsory English coursebooks,English(YP)and English(PEP),three questions are proposed in this research:(1)Are there any differences and similarities on topic in reading section between YP and PEP in terms of cultivating students’ critical thinking dispositions?(2)Are there any differences and similarities on discourse in reading section between YP and PEP in terms of cultivating students’ critical thinking?(3)Are there any differences and similarities on exercise in reading section between YP and PEP in terms of cultivating students’ critical thinking skills? Based on Delphi Report and Wen Qiufang’s framework of critical thinking,internal evaluation and external evaluation are employed in this research to analyze topic,discourse and exercise in reading section.Meanwhile,questionnaire and semi-interview are used to collect students and teachers’ opinions on coursebooks.Several findings are concluded:(1)According to internal evaluation,both YP and PEP have a variety of topics but PEP is richer than YP.Both of them focus more on the cultivation of curiosity than self-confidence;From the perspective of discourse,both YP and PEP emphasize the cultivation of analysis and inference.However,YP emphasizes more on evaluation while PEP focuses on interpretation;In terms of exercise,both of them emphasize the cultivation of analysis,inference and interpretation but pay limited attention on evaluation.YP pays more attention on analysis than PEP.(2)According to external evaluation,coursebooks users agree that topics in YP and PEP are various but also point that the element of self-confidence presented in YP and PEP is not enough.Students also hold that the integrity should be paid more attention;Meanwhile,coursebooks users hold positive attitudes towards the diversity and interest of discourses in YP and PEP and believe that discourses in YP are less interesting while PEP has less controversial discourses.It indicates that PEP is more concerned with the cultivation of curiosity while YP emphasizes more on open-mindedness;Moreover,coursebooks users hold that exercises in YP and PEP could cultivate critical thinking skills of analysis,interpretation and inference but evaluation and explanation are not valued.