批判性思维视角下高利害英语测试写作任务的评估——一项个案研究

Evaluating Writing Tasks in High-stake English Tests by the Principles of Critical Thinking:A Case Study

批判性思维的概念有着悠久的历史,学者们对其含意和范围有着不同的理解。此概念在教育中起着至关重要的作用,它所带来的启示可以渗透到各个学科当中。其中英语写作就是一个与批判性思维紧密相连的语言技能。目前的研究大都集中于批判性思维与英语写作教学的关系,但是有关其与英语写作测试的关系的文献并不多见。本研究对有关批判性思维的文献进行了综述,并提出了一个有关此概念内涵的"三维标准":思维维度、关照维度和意识形态维度,并以批判性思维的这些原则评价了高利害英语测试中的四个写作任务,其中有三个是国内英语测试中的写作真题。评估结果表明,国内的写作任务的质量尚需提高,以促进其对考生批判性思维能力的激发;另外批判性思维的三个维度对于英语写作任务的设计和评估具有应用价值。

Critical thinking has a long tradition and scholars have varied understandings on the meaning and scope of its concept.It is vitally important in education,which can be penetrated into all disciplines.English writing is a language skill that is inseparable with critical thinking.There has been a number of researches on the connection between critical thinking and English writing education,but those related to the assessment of English writing are insufficient.This research reviewed and summarized relevant literature on critical thinking and proposed a three-dimensional standard for critical thinking：the dimension of thinking,caring and ideology,and then applied the principles of critical thinking to evaluating 4 cases of writing tasks in high- stake English tests,3 of which are in Chinese tests.The result shows that the quality of the writing tasks in China should be further improved for inspiring critical thinking,and that the three dimensions of critical thinking are applicable to the design and the evaluation of English writing tasks in language education.