| Critical thinking ability is not only the demand in the era of information and globalization,but also the requirement of the new English curriculum criteria for senior high school students’ thinking quality.Currently,however,the performance of rural senior high school students’ critical thinking ability in English reading is far from satisfaction.Therefore,it is necessary and urgent to cultivate rural senior high school students’ such ability in English reading.This study investigates the present situation of critical thinking ability of rural senior high school students in English reading,purposed to answer the following three questions:(1)What is the level of critical thinking ability of rural senior high school students at present?(2)What kind of critical thinking skills and dispositions have rural senior high school students learned and acquired? And(3)What are the main factors that may hinder the development of the rural students’ critical thinking ability?The subjects of this study are selected from two rural senior high schools in County A of Luoyang.The participants in the questionnaire survey include 230second-year students and their English teachers in the two rural senior high schools.In addition,four students and four teachers are interviewed.Critical thinking skills test and critical thinking disposition inventory are assessed to investigate the overall level of such ability of rural senior high school students,as well as the kind of critical thinking sub-skills and dispositions the students have learned and maintained.Furthermore,as a supplementary survey,the third questionnaire mainly covers five aspects: society,school,curriculum,teachers and students,to investigate the factors that may hinder the cultivation of such ability.Based on the analysis of the questionnaires and the final term’s English test,as well as the results of interviews,the following conclusions are drawn.Firstly,nearly half of the participants have scored above 72 points(out of 120)in terms of critical thinking skills,standing at the intermediate level;and nearly half of them have scored above 84 points(out of 140)in terms of critical thinking disposition,lying in the medium level.This shows that such students’ overall level of critical thinking ability is generally at the medium level.Secondly,as shown in the critical thinking skills tests,the sub-skills that the participants are good at include explanation,interpretation and analysis,accounting for 76%,70% and 60%,respectively.Their performance in the inferring skill is at an average level,compared with other critical thinking skills,accounting for 53%,exactly,their inferring skill is neither good nor bad.However,their sub-skills of evaluation and self-regulation are not well established and a little bad compared with other sub-skills,accounting for 42% and 38%,respectively.Moreover,these students perform well in critical thinking dispositions of self-confidence,systematicness and analyticity,accounting for 82%,80% and 74% respectively.But their critical thinking dispositions in terms of cognitive maturity,open-mindedness and truth-seeking perform poorly,accounting for 49%、49%、47%,respectively.Thirdly,among the five main factors that hindering the cultivation of such students’ critical thinking ability,especially,such factors as the arrangement of teaching time and the system of assessment,the curriculum resources and the proportion of critical thinking in English reading test,as well as the rural students’ language ability are the three hindering elements at a higher recognition rate.Namely,the factors of school,curriculum and students have more influence on the cultivation of such ability.Based on the above research findings,some suggestions are put forward. |
