A Study Of The Effect Of Mind Map-based English Writing Teaching On Senior High School Students' Critical Thinking Ability

Against the backdrop that there is a lack of attention on critical thinking ability in senior high school students' English writing,the thesis explores the effect of mind map-based English writing teaching on senior high school students' critical thinking ability in their English writing.Based on the situation of Chinese senior school students'critical thinking ability,three lower levels of critical thinking ability are selected:interpretation ability,analysis ability and evaluation ability.The research questions of the thesis are as follows:1.What effect does mind map used in English writing teaching have on senior high school students'English writing in terms of interpretation ability?2.What effect does mind map used in English writing teaching have on senior high school students' English writing in terms of analysis ability?3.What effect does mind map used in English writing teaching have on senior high school students' English writing in terms of evaluation ability?An experimental study was conducted to verify the effect of mind map-based English writing teaching on senior high school students' critical thinking ability in their English writing.The participants were from two parallel classes at a senior high school in Nanjing and there were 48 students in each class.The experimental teaching lasted for three months.The research instruments were questionnaires and English writing tests.The pre-test questionnaires were used to investigate the current English writing situations in the senior high school;the post-test questionnaires were used to collect the information from the experimental class students about their attitude towards the effect of mind map-based English writing teaching on their.English writing.The results of the post-test questionnaires showed that students generally acknowledged its benefits on their English writing.The English writing pre-test was carried out at the beginning of the experiment,which indicated that the critical thinking ability level is generally the same in the experimental class and the controlled class.The post-test was implemented by the end of the experiment.During the process of the three-month experiment,mind map was used in the experimental class for English writing teaching while the controlled class received traditional English writing teaching.The data in the English writing tests were collected in terms of interpretation,analysis and evaluation,which were analyzed by SPSS 21.0,resulting in the following conclusions:1.Mind map-based English writing teaching can effectively enhance students'interpretation ability in English writing.The mean score of the experimental class in the post-test increased substantially,moving from 6.6042 to 7.8958(p<0.05),which is much higher than the post-test mean score(6.3750)(p<0.05)in the controlled class.2.Mind map-based English writing teaching can effectively enhance students' analysis ability in English writing.The mean score of the experimental class in the post-test increased substantially,moving from 5.9375 to 7.0417(p<0.05),which is much higher than the post-test mean score(5.6042)(p<0.05)in the controlled class.3.Mind map-based English writing teaching can effectively enhance students' evaluation ability in English writing.The mean score of the experimental class in the post-test increased substantially,moving from 5.3542 to 6.7500(p<0.05),which is much higher than the post-test mean score(5.1875)(p<0.05)in the controlled class.The pedagogical implications are as follows:mind map should be used in English writing teaching;English teachers should pay attention to students' critical thinking ability,and English teachers can use mind map in English writing teaching to help students enhance their critical thinking ability in English writing;English teachers should be careful about the gap among students in terms of critical thinking ability,which may be caused by mind map-based English writing teaching.