An Analytic Study On The Design Of Cultivation Of Critical Thinking Ability In Senior High School English Reading Materials

Critical thinking advocates thinking consciously according to the appropriate evaluation criteria,so as to make a reasonable judgment according to the criteria.Having a critical thinking quality can help people get what they need from an overwhelming amount of information.In modern society,critical thinking is a necessary characteristic of innovative talents.In recent years,research about critical thinking has attracted more and more researchers'attention.Compared with the western countries,the start of relevant researches about critical thinking in our country is relatively late,and most of them are concentrated on the theoretical study.There are few researches combined with the study of teaching materials.In China,The New English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(2017 version)lists thinking quality as a core competence of English discipline,and defines it as the ability and level of thinking in logicality,criticism,innovation,etc.Critical thinking is an important thinking pattern.However,many Chinese students are lack of the ability of independent thinking under the examination-oriented education system,which is not conductive to the cultivation of innovative talents in China.Coursebook is the main material for students to learn English and the main basis for teachers to teach.This study is based on theoretical model of critical thinking and the material evaluation approaches proposed by Cheng Xiaotang and Cunningsworth'.The research studies and reviews relevant literature,then analyzes the design of reading materials and reading exercises of senior high school English coursebooks(PEP version)by applying Wen Qiufang's Hierarchical Model and coursebook assessment scale from Standards for Foreign Language Learning of America in the 21~stt Century.A questionnaire is conducted for the users of the coursebook-teachers to find out their attitude towards the cultivation of students'critical thinking ability in senior high school English coursebook.This study includes the three research questions:(1)How does the design of senior high school English reading materials reflect the cultivation of critical thinking ability?(2)How does the design of senior high school English reading exercises reflect the cultivation of critical thinking ability?(3)What are the teacher's attitudes towards the cultivation of students'critical thinking ability in senior high school English coursebooks?In order to answer these research questions,the author combines quantitative with qualitative analysis.20 English teachers in Laboratory Middle School of Hohhot and 22 English teachers in No.1 Middle School of Tongliao are chosen as research subjects.Firstly,the text analysis is made of the senior high school English reading materials and reading exercises.Secondly,a questionnaire investigation is conducted among the users of the coursebook-teachers so as to collect and analyze related data.The finding of this study are as follows:Firstly,senior high school English reading materials embody the cultivation of students'critical thinking ability.In terms of critical thinking skills the reading materials contain analysis skill,evaluation skill and inference skill.In terms of critical thinking dispositions the reading materials reflect curiosity,self-confidence,open-mindedness,integrity and persistence.However,the proportion of critical thinking skill reflected in the reading materials is not well balanced.The largest proportion is analysis skill,next is evaluation skill and inference skill is the smallest.Secondly,senior high school English reading exercises reflect the cultivation of students'critical thinking ability to some extent,which is mainly about analysis skill.But as the the great characteristic of cultivating critical thinking,communicative exercises are relatively less.Finally,through investigating it is found that the vast majority of teachers are satisfied with the coursebooks for the cultivation of students'critical thinking ability.However,nearly half of the teachers do not have much knowledge of how to improve their own critical thinking ability.Based on the research findings,the author suggests that coursebooks compilation should try to balance the critical thinking skills embodied in the reading materials,especially adding more reading texts reflecting inference skill,and design more communicative exercises to cultivate students'critical thinking.Finally,teachers should continue to learn how to improve their own critical thinking ability,expand students'thinking as far as possible from multiple angles,and train students'critical thinking to achieve the goal of constantly developing students'critical thinking ability in their process of English learning.