A Research On The Critical Thinking Disposition Of English Major Undergraduates

21st century is an age of information and globalization. Innovation is required and encouraged. Critical thinking is essential for innovative thinking. In 2000, National Standard of Foreign Language Undergraduate Teaching Quality published by the Ministry of Education in China definitely requires that teachers should strengthen the development of students’critical thinking abilities and innovation abilities (Zhong Weihe, 2015). At present, more and more universities make it as one of the key goals of talent development of English majors. This thesis aims at investigating the overall situations of critical thinking disposition of English major undergraduates, finding out which influential factors affect English major undergraduates’ critical thinking ability, and offering some suggestions on the development of English major undergraduates’critical thinking abilities.In this study, the primary means for collecting information is questionnaire and interview. The subjects involved in the questionnaire are 195 undergraduates of English majors and 4 English major teachers are interviewed. Based on the Peng Meici’s(2004) Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory-Chinese Version and according to the situations of English major teaching, the author designs a questionnaire of critical thinking disposition inventory for English majors.The present study attempts to answer the following three questions:1. What are the overall situations of critical thinking dispositions of English major undergraduates?2. Are there any remarkable differences in critical thinking dispositions of different majors and different grades of English major undergraduates?3. What factors affect different English major undergraduates’ critical thinking dispositions?The findings of the study are:1. English major undergraduates generally have a strong inclination towards critical thinking disposition, but a weak inclination on subscales of truth-seeking, systematicity and self-confidence.2. Undergraduates of three different grades generally have a strong inclination towards critical thinking disposition respectively and there is statistically significant difference on critical thinking disposition between three different grades, but there is no critical period when occurs the improvement of English major undergraduates’ critical thinking dispositions. Undergraduates of three different majors generally have a strong inclination towards critical thinking disposition respectively, and there is not statistically significant difference between them, though there is statistically significant difference on the subscale of truth-seeking. There is not statistically significant difference on critical thinking dispositions for the students from different districts, but the critical thinking dispositions of students who are from city are stronger than those of students who are from town and county. And there is no statistically significant difference on critical thinking dispositions between male and female either.3. There are four main factors influencing English major undergraduates’ critical thinking dispositions. They are students’ factors, environmental factors, cultural factors and teachers’ factors.Based on the findings, the author puts forward some suggestions:Students should strengthen self-cultivation by enhancing the curiosity and learning motivation, cultivating questioning spirit and improving the practical ability and innovative spirit. Teachers should improve their own critical thinking ability, strengthen students’ autonomous learning ability, establish new teaching philosophy and apply advanced teaching methods, and schools should create a good learning environment and offer the selected course of critical thinking for students to promote their critical thinking ability.