An Observation Of Thinking Ability Cultivation In High-quality English Classes In Junior Middle Schools

Since the concept of “key competency” was put forward by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)in 1997,it has been adopted to promote the implementation of education in many countries in the world.Chinese Ministry of Education put forward “key competency” for the first time in 2014.In September 2016,The English Curriculum Standard of High School(to be promulgated)takes the cultivation of students' English key competency as an important goal,and it stipulates that the thinking quality should be identified as one of the four dimensions of the cultivation of students' English key competency.It can be predicated that the cultivation of students' thinking ability will be the key factor to innovate the teaching objectives and teaching content of English classes in junior high schools in the future.Through classroom observation,the author studies how the high-quality English teachers carry out language activities to cultivate the students' thinking ability.The author also summarizes its characteristics and analyzes the teaching theories to provide some suggestions for the front-line English teachers to conduct the normal teaching reform.This research has the theoretical value as well as practical significance.The author takes the Eleventh National English Classes in Junior High Schools as the object of the study,and designs the observation scale of the cultivation of the thinking ability in high-quality English courses.Through classroom observation,The author makes data collection,classification and analysis.Besides,based on the constructivism theory and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives,the author observes and explores how English teachers cultivate the students' thinking ability in high-quality classes from the following five aspects: the methods of teachers' thinking training,the types of language cognitive thinking activities,the levels of language cognitive thinking activities,the organizational forms of language cognitive thinking activities and the participation width of language cognitive thinking activities.The major findings of this research are as follows: using flexible and multiplemethods of the teachers' thinking training,paying attention to multilingual cognitive activities and the speaking ability,paying attention to the development of high-level thinking,paying attention to individual learning and cooperative learning,and paying attention to the students' participation of thinking activities.Therefore,the author suggests that English teachers in junior high schools should design diversified activities about thinking training,lay stress on various linguistic cognitive activities,improve the students' high-level thinking,take account of individual learning and cooperative learning,and encourage students to participate in the thinking activities.