A Comparative Study On Cultivating Critical Thinking Of English Postgraduates And Non-english Postgraduates In The Comprehensive University

In the context of fierce international competition, talent cultivation becomes particularly vital to enhance Chinese national power and raise its international status.Postgraduate education plays an essential role in talent cultivation, especially in cultivating talents with critical thinking ability which lays solid foundation for postgraduates’ innovative ability and is usually taken as an indispensable ability to engage in scientific research. However, currently, comparative studies on cultivating critical thinking of English postgraduates and non-English postgraduates are rarely reported. A lot of studies on cultivating postgraduates’ critical thinking ability focus on medical nursing, which are still in an embryonic stage. These studies are far from enough in their depth and breadth, not to mention the empirical ones in this field.Therefore, it is urgent to make a wider but deeper study on the cultivation mode of postgraduates to explore effective cultivation ways to improve their critical thinking skills.Based on the research status quo of critical thinking skills, the thesis explores the effect of cultivation mode of postgraduates on the critical thinking skills development of English postgraduates and non-English postgraduates from an empirical perspective, hoping to provide an array of feasible methods and strategies to efficiently develop their critical thinking skills. The research questions are listed as follows:(1) What are similarities and differences in the cultivation mode of postgraduates of English majors, science and engineering majors and other liberal art majors?(2) Have the critical thinking skills of English postgraduates and non-English postgraduates improved after a year of postgraduate study? If improved, what extent is their improvement?(3) Are there significant differences in the critical thinkingskills among English postgraduates, science and engineering postgraduates and other liberal art postgraduates after a year of postgraduate study?The total 99 subjects are selected from English postgraduates, science and engineering postgraduates and other liberal art postgraduates of Grade 1 in a comprehensive university. Since these postgraduates’ ages and their educational backgrounds are almost the same, they can be considered as homogeneous at the outset of the experiment. This study employs qualitative and quantitative methods to survey the change among the three majors in terms of critical thinking skills after a year of teaching practice. Quantitative research includes critical thinking skills test whereas qualitative research includes classroom observation and a personal interview.The major findings of one-year survey are presented as follows:(1) Both similarities and differences are found in the cultivation process in critical thinking skills between English postgraduates and non-English postgraduates. The similarities mainly can be seen in their teaching goals, the design of class, students’ class performance, teachers’ and students’ roles and the assessment methods. The differences show in their class activities, learning state, after-class activities and effects of postgraduate study.(2) After a year of postgraduate study, English postgraduates, science and engineering postgraduates and other liberal art postgraduates all have been obviously improved in their critical thinking skills which are specifically evident in the skills of recognition of assumptions, induction,deduction and explanation. As to the extent of their improvements, science and engineering postgraduates have gained the largest, other liberal art postgraduates the next and English postgraduates the smallest.(3) No difference in their critical thinking skills is discovered among the three majors when the experiment commences,but after a year of postgraduate study, difference shows between English majors and science and engineering majors, mainly reflecting in the skill of induction, whilesignificant difference is found between other liberal art majors and science and engineering majors in their recognition of assumptions and explanation, yet no significant difference between English majors and other liberal art majors.In brief, cultivation mode of postgraduates in the comprehensive university can promote students’ critical thinking skills. The differences in the critical thinking skills cultivation process between English postgraduates and non-English postgraduates result in their different critical thinking abilities. Therefore, educators or teachers teaching these majors should take the different characteristics of these students from different majors into consideration during their teaching process and create more chances suitable for them to improve their critical thinking abilities.