A Survey On Students’ English Critical Reading Ability In Senior High School

With the new curriculum reform,China’s English education pays more and more attention to the development of senior high school students’ reading ability and thinking quality.The cultivation of critical reading ability is one of the key points to improving thinking and reading ability.The English curriculum standard for senior high schools(2017 edition,2020 Revision)puts forward requirements related to the critical reading ability of senior high school English learners.In recent years,the college entrance examination English reading comprehension test has also increased the number of times investigating this high-level reading ability,which shows that China’s English education attaches great importance to critical reading ability.This study finds that previous scholars have done a lot of theoretical research to explore the essential practical significance of the critical reading ability to English learners through literature review.However,relevant investigation research is rare,which gives this study space to explore.This study investigated 319 senior high school students’ English critical reading ability in K high school in Suzhou using English critical reading ability test papers,English critical reading ability self-assessment questionnaires,and interviews.Try to answer the following questions:(1)What is the current situation of senior high school students’ critical English reading ability?(2)What are the differences in English critical reading ability of senior high school students with different academic performance levels?(3)Does the selfassessment of senior high school students’ English critical reading ability meet the test performance?The following are the results obtained by analyzing the survey data:(1)From the quantitative data,senior high school students’ English critical reading ability is at the medium level.Among the different dimensions of critical reading ability,discourse analysis ability is the strongest,and discourse evaluation ability is the weakest.(2)Overall,students’ English critical reading ability in the high academic performance group is better than that of students in the low academic performance group.However,there is no significant difference between the two groups in the dimension of discourse analysis ability.There are group differences in other dimensions.Specifically,students in the low academic performance group are worse in discourse reasoning and evaluation abilities.(3)There is a positive and weak correlation between senior high school students’ self-assessment score of English critical reading ability and test performance of English critical reading ability.Therefore,the accuracy of their evaluation of their critical reading ability needs to be improved.Through multiple linear analyses,it finds that senior high school students’ discourse analysis ability has a significant predictive effect on the performance of the critical reading ability test.Given the above situation,under the guidance of intertextuality theory,schema theory,and critical discourse analysis theory,this study suggests improving English critical reading ability from the perspectives of teachers,students,and schools.