An Empirical Study On The Effects Of The Flipped-Classroom-Based Critical Reading Teaching On Non-English Majors’Critical Thinking Disposition

Since the early 20 th century,extensive attention has been paid to critical thinking(CT)and lots of research has been conducted by scholars abroad.For instance,Facione(1990)constructed a two-dimensional structure model of CT,consisting of critical thinking cognitive skills and critical thinking dispositions.This model of CT has been widely adopted in many previous studies.In China,research has been conducted mainly on CT’s definition,origin,and cultivation through effective teaching methods such as critical reading(CR)teaching.Some researchers have proved that CR teaching was able to improve students’ CT,especially to improve their CT skills(Shi,2017),while less attention was paid to the effects of critical reading on CT dispositions.In recent years,the integration of technology and digital resources has made innovative education possible.And flipped classroom which is the product of innovative education has been embraced as a new teaching model.However,relevant studies on the effects of critical reading on students’ CT dispositions are still insufficient,especially in flipped classroom settings.Therefore,this study aims to reveal the effects of the flipped-classroom-based critical reading teaching on non-English majors’ CT dispositions with 50 non-English major freshmen as the research subjects who were high intermediate English learners from Chongqing University.The CCTDI-CV questionnaire and interviews were adopted as instruments.The research questions include: 1)What are the effects of the flippedclassroom-based critical reading teaching on non-English majors’ overall critical thinking disposition? 2)What are the effects of the flipped-classroom-based critical reading teaching on non-English majors’ seven specific critical thinking dispositions(truthseeking,open-mindedness,analyticity,systematicity,self-confidence,inquisitiveness,maturity)? 3)What are the possible causes for the effects?The results of this study are as follows.Firstly,students’ overall critical thinking disposition significantly improved.Secondly,in terms of the seven specific CT dispositions,students improved significantly in systematicity and self-confidence,but they performed worse in inquisitiveness,while there was no significant change in truthseeking,open-mindedness,analyticity,and maturity.Thirdly,the possible causes for the improvement of systematicity might include the pressure from different subjects and the good example set by the teacher.Besides,students’ pre-class preparation,their increasingly better performance in class,and the teacher’s encouragement contribute to the improvement of self-confidence.Furthermore,the students’ worse performance in inquisitiveness might result from their conservative personalities,the heavy burden from different courses,and nervous classroom atmosphere.Finally,that the students’ truthseeking,open-mindedness,analyticity,and maturity experienced no significant change might result from the fact that the time duration of the flipped-classroom-based critical reading teaching was not long enough.Based on the results,some suggestions are provided for improving the flippedclassroom-based critical reading teaching and developing students’ CT dispositions.For example,priority and detailed guidance should be given to the activities in class that matter most.Besides,a relaxing classroom atmosphere should be created with activities going on at a proper pace.In addition,communication online between students and the teacher as well as the teaching assistant should be further enhanced.Last but not least,the teacher should continue to assign before-class tasks,such as reading supplementary materials,to provide enough language input for students.This study can provide inspiration for reading teaching in College English and for the cultivation of students’ CT dispositions.