A Study Of The Effect Of Problem-based Learning On English Majors’ Critical Thinking

With the fast footsteps of economic and cultural globalization, English learners gradually cannot be satisfied with the traditional English teaching model. Since1990s, the learner-centered approach, Problem-based Learning (PBL) approach, has been used in Western countries on a large scale and has been highly acclaimed by language educators. PBL intends to improve students’independent learning capability, cultivating students’creativity and spirit of cooperation. The use of PBL in this study ultimately aims at promoting English learners’language acquisition and their comprehensive quality.Critical thinking, as one of the hottest issues in the educational circles, has received great attention in the United States and other western countries since1980s. It not only plays a really vital role in the intellectual development and personnel training but also is very essential to cultivate students’creative spirit and innovational competence.The purpose of this study is mainly to explore English majors’attitudes towards critical thinking, and whether Problem-based Learning has influence on English majors’critical thinking. The experimental subjects of this study are composed of41English majors from the Department in Foreign Languages of Anshan Normal College. California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) and Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment (CCTSA) are employed as the instrument to measure the two dimensions of critical thinking. The results show that the students like this new teaching model. Furthermore, the results show that PBL has a positive effect on English majors’critical thinking. At last, the thesis discussed how to improve students’critical thinking ability and how to apply PBL into classroom teaching, and proposed some suggestions.