| Reading is one of the main ways of language acquisition. Also it is an importantpart for learners to study previous experiences and develop their own thinking ability.For second language learners, it contains the readers’ understanding of foreignlanguage knowledge itself, as well as the reader’s choice and judgment for the valueof reading and experience of thinking connotation. Critical thinking (CT) has alwaysbeen highly respected in Western and Chinese education, but during the developmentof modern Chinese education, due to the influence of history and tradition, and manyother reasons, its dissemination in China is in a sluggish situation. From the1990s tothe present, with the development of science and technology, the Chinese academiaplaced their focus on the study of critical thinking once again. Meanwhile, more andmore relevant research theses were released year by year, and the CT research inChinese academia became more diverse and popular.The period of high school is the best time for the development of students’thinking towards maturity. The high school education is the critical joint pointbetween elementary education and higher education. Therefore, the task for highschool teachers to train students’ thinking ability should not be delayed any more.From the papers and theses in the CNKI, we can find that the researches on criticalthinking mainly focus on the range of university. Whereas the CT studies on highschool English teaching is still in a relatively weak position. English reading lessonsplay a very important role in senior high school English teaching. It is also the mainfront for developing students’ thinking ability. There is profound practical significanceto explore and discuss the impact of the reflective reading lessons on high schoolstudents’ reading abilities and the development of critical thinking.Reflective thinking belongs to a higher level of thinking with a specific purpose.Critical reflection is one of the ways to boost individual critical thinking as well.Reflective reading teaching could be regarded as a useful attempt to link the teacherand students’ reflective thinking and the teaching of reading. The author tries to clarify the research aim through testing the following hypotheses:(1) A correlationexists between CT level and reading competence of first-year high school studentsbefore and after the reflective teaching experiment.(2) Reflective reading teachingwill have an effect on first-year high school students’ critical thinking and theirEnglish reading competence in the period of one semester. In addition, the CriticalThinking Disposition Inventory-Chinese Version (CTDI-CV) was adapted in the studyfor the first-year students in NO.2High School of Xuwen County, Zhanjiang city.The CTDI-CV was designed by Peng Meici, a professor in Hong Kong PolytechnicUniversity, and her colleagues. Two classes of first-year high school studentsparticipated in the experiment, and both the CT pre-test and post-test were measuredduring the study. Meanwhile, taking into consideration the actual competence of thestudents, the author used the same synchronous reading material for students toexamine their reading comprehension level in pre-test and post-test. The experimentlasted a total of one semester including the pre-test and post-test without distinctionbetween the experimental group and the control group. In order to ensure the accuracyof the study, the author did not explain the answers of the paper after the pre-test.Finally, through the statistical analysis of students’ pre-test and post-test scores ofcritical thinking and reading, we find that reflective reading teaching did not promotestudents’ critical thinking greatly in short term. On the contrary, it promoted students’reading performance. The author analyzed the data and synthesized the feedback ofthe interview with students after the post-test in order to provide constructivesuggestions on the further development of critical reading in ESL/EFL teaching andresearch. |
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