初中英语阅读教学对学生批判性思维培养的现状研究_英语论文

Teaching Reading and the Cultivation of Students’ Critical Thinking

摘要

创新是一个民族的灵魂，而培养学生创造性的关键在于培养他们的批判性思维能力。阅读教学是中学英语教学的重要组成部分，也是培养学生批判性思维能力的重要途径。该研究以布鲁姆的教育目标分类系统为理论基础,并采用了课堂观察法、访谈法和案例分析法，旨在解决三个方面的问题：一是初中英语教师阅读课上是否有培养学生批判性思维能力的意识及其具体的表现；二是他们采用了哪些方式来培养学生的批判性思维能力；三是在阅读教学中老师们还存在哪些疑问和困难。研究表明，初中英语教师在阅读课上对培养学生的批判性思维能力有比较显著的意识；日常教学中也积极尝试一些教学策略和方法启发学生的思维，如头脑风暴、思维导图、图式理论、多维度多层次的问题设计等，使得学生积极思考，课堂氛围活跃。

关键词：阅读教学 批判性思维 布鲁姆认知领域分类

Abstract

Innovation is the soul of a nation. And the key to cultivate students’ innovation is to cultivate their critical thinking. Reading teaching is a significant part of language teaching in middle schools and it is also an important approach to cultivate students’ critical thinking. This thesis is based on Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Classroom observation, interview and case analysis are adopted to answer the three research questions:  first, whether teachers in middle schools have the awareness to cultivate students’ critical thinking or not? And what manifestations do they have? Second, in reading teaching, what approaches do teachers use to cultivate students’ critical thinking? Third, what problems or difficulty do teachers in middle schools have in their reading teaching? The research indicates that English teachers in middle schools have awareness to cultivate students’ critical thinking in their reading teaching and they have tried many teaching strategies and approaches to achieve this goal, such as brainstorming, mind-mapping, schema, questions of different dimensions and levels, etc, which makes students think positively and also makes classroom atmosphere active.

Key words: reading teaching critical thinking Bloom’ Cognitive Taxonomy

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 5

1.1 Research Background 5

1.2 Research Purpose 6

1.3 Significance of the Research 6

1.4 Structure of the Dissertation 7

Chapter Two Literature Review 8

2.1 Critical Thinking 8

2.1.1 The General Introduction to Critical Thinking 8

2.1.2 Critical Thinking Skills and Critical Thinking Disposition 10

2.2 Critical Reading 11

2.2.1 The General Introduction to Critical Reading 11

2.2.2 Critical Reading Strategies 12

2.3 Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives 13

2.3.1 The General Introduction to Bloom’s Taxonomy 13

2.3.2 Reading and Cognitive Process 14

Chapter Three Methodology 15

3.1 Research Questions 15

3.2 Participants 16

3.3 Research Methods 17

3.3.1 Methods for Data Collection 17

3.3.2 Data Analysis Method 20

Chapter Four Findings and Discussions 21

4.1 Teachers’ Awareness and Behaviors to Cultivate Students’ Critical Thinking 21

4.2 Ways to Cultivate Students’ Critical Thinking 23

4.2.1 Brainstorming 23

4.2.2 Mind-map and Schema 24

4.2.3 Stratified and Diversified Questions 24

4.2.4 Challenging Tasks 25

4.3 Problems to Be Solved 25

Chapter Five Conclusion 25

5.1 Implications of the Research 25

5.2 Limitations of the Research 26

Appendix 26

Acknowledgements 31