外语专业大学生思辨倾向变化的跟踪研究

The Development of Critical Thinking Disposition of Foreign Language Majors: A Longitudinal Study

本文报告了我们对两所高校163名英语和德语专业大学生思辨倾向跟踪三年、调查四次(入学初和一、二、三年级期末)的研究结果。总体样本数据表明,外语专业大学生思辨倾向均分在4分以上,为积极、正向;第一次与第二次调查结果相比,呈明显下降趋势,第二、三、四次结果之间无显著差异。为了探究思辨倾向变化的实际情况及其原因,我们采用刺激性回忆的方法对18名受试进行了深度跟踪访谈,其中英语与德语的受试人数各半,他们的思辨技能水平均匀分布在高、中、低三个分数段。访谈数据表明,第一次与第二次量化数据呈现的下降趋势未能体现其内在的真实性与复杂性,更不能说明变化的原因。本次质性数据对此进行了很好的补充。这进一步证明量化研究一定要与质性研究有机结合。

This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal study which explores the development of critical thinking disposition （CTD） of 163 foreign language majors in their three years of undergraduate study by conducting four surveys at the beginning of the first year, the end of the first, second and third years respectively. The quantitative data reveal that the average scores of CTD are above 4 points, which means the CTD is positive in general. However, the CTD decreased significantly through the study of the first year and kept fairly stable in the second and third years. In order to find out the complexities of changes within the three years and the reasons for the changes, 18 cases were carefully selected and interviewed longitudinally by stimulus recall. Among the 18 cases, half were English majors and half German majors, whose critical thinking abilities were evenly distributed among high, intermediate and low levels. The findings yielded by the qualitative data show that the decrease tendency of CTD in the first year fails to show us a true picture of the internal complexity of the development and to provide the reasons for the changes. This study further proves that quantitative method should be combined with qualitative method.