Selected Readings in American Literature is a required course for the third year of English major,and it is also a compulsory course for the Bachelor Degree of English Language and Literature at School of Foreign Lang...Selected Readings in American Literature is a required course for the third year of English major,and it is also a compulsory course for the Bachelor Degree of English Language and Literature at School of Foreign Languages,Leshan Normal University.The course uses the combination of English literary reading and course paper writing to develop students’English reading and writing skills,while focusing on the cultivating critical thinking skills of English majors.展开更多
The paper is purposed to promote students＇ writing skills and help them perfect their cognitive structure at the same time by designing some writing tasks. The tasks are based on the contents of the teaching material...The paper is purposed to promote students＇ writing skills and help them perfect their cognitive structure at the same time by designing some writing tasks. The tasks are based on the contents of the teaching materials, and students can get involved in the activities by thinking critically.展开更多
Critical thinking,as higher-order thinking,is the use of relatively complex cognitive skills like analyzing,reasoning,making judgments.This paper analyzed the distribution of exercises on critical thinking skills in E...Critical thinking,as higher-order thinking,is the use of relatively complex cognitive skills like analyzing,reasoning,making judgments.This paper analyzed the distribution of exercises on critical thinking skills in EAP writing context for EFL students.The data were randomly collected and systematically coded according to the new version of Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking cue questions:lower-order thinking(LOT,including remembering,understanding,and applying)and higher-order thinking(HOT,including analyzing,evaluating,and creating).The findings showed that HOT exercises have a higher proportion than LOT exercises in EAP writing context for EFL students.Most cue questions in HOT exercises greatly emphasize the training of critical thinking skills and enhance the effectiveness of promoting learners’critical thinking skills.Therefore,critical thinking skills,as a product of training and practice,tend to be trained to improve students’language learning and development,and especially to facilitate development of cognitive and higher-order cognitive skills.Based on the findings,the training of critical thinking is expected to be improved in English learning for EFL undergraduates,so as to make improvement in cultivating Chinese EFL students’critical thinking skills.展开更多
Every day communication is an event in which there is an interactional relationship between interlocutors. This interaction needs whole language in which language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing; as...Every day communication is an event in which there is an interactional relationship between interlocutors. This interaction needs whole language in which language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing; associated knowledge of vocabulary, meaning, syntax, etc.; and also, thinking skills are interwoven. This means that language should be kept whole and ＂if language isn＇t kept whole, it isn＇t language anymore＂ （Rigg, 1991, p. 522, cited in Richards ＆ Rodgers, 2001, p. 109）. In English as a Second Language/English Foreign Language （ESL/EFL） learning settings, improvement in one skill can affect the development of other skills. A particular course may highlight certain skills, but if the teacher is creative or specific tasks and problems are used in language learning settings, learners are provided with the opportunity to improve multiple, integrated skills. This paper aims at elaborating on critical thinking approach to language learning and introducing practical ideas for helping teachers to integrate language and thinking skills. It introduces 3 critical thinking activities （Dialogue journals, reading logs and literacy portfolios）, and also discusses how implementing them can serves as a way to integrate language skills. It also maintains that engaging learners in these activities helps them use authentic materials and solve problems of their own interest that in turn has a positive effect on student＇s motivation.展开更多
The absence or inadequacy of critical thinking is one of the prevalent problems in English teaching and learning in China, which gives rise to various problems in learners’ writing: digression from the topic, unorigi...The absence or inadequacy of critical thinking is one of the prevalent problems in English teaching and learning in China, which gives rise to various problems in learners’ writing: digression from the topic, unoriginal or uncreative ideas, loose logic, logical fallacies, and lack of real content. Under such circumstances, the present paper proposes the “teaching-learning-assessing-testing Four in One” flipped classroom mode in Educational Informatization 2.0 Background to develop learners’ critical thinking ability relying on technical support provided by the researcher’s school and the mode is then applied in English writing course. The application of the mode has achieved some effects. It is applauded by learners and may thus have some implications for the development of learners’ critical thinking ability in writing courses.展开更多
The present study adopts a quantitative design to explore the effects of pre-designed teachers' questions as the mediation tool to scaffold the development of students' critical thinking and their discourse le...The present study adopts a quantitative design to explore the effects of pre-designed teachers' questions as the mediation tool to scaffold the development of students' critical thinking and their discourse level writing skills in English from a sociocultural perspective. The participants were 39 sophomores from two classes. The results showed that:(1) teachers' questions targeting specific critical thinking skill in the classroom and in after-class conferences, as well as in written homework feedback were effective;(2) students backslid a little while internalizing teachers' questions concerning critical thinking;(3) students improved reliably in terms of local and global coherence in their written production with the help of teachers' questions. The findings indicate that teachers' questions facilitate students' development of critical thinking and enhance their discourse level writing skill.展开更多
基金This paper is one of the research results of Key Research Project on the Reform of Education&Teaching in Leshan Normal University:The Cultivation and Practice of Students’Critical Thinking Ability in the Core Courses of English Majors(JG2015-ZD02).
文摘Selected Readings in American Literature is a required course for the third year of English major,and it is also a compulsory course for the Bachelor Degree of English Language and Literature at School of Foreign Languages,Leshan Normal University.The course uses the combination of English literary reading and course paper writing to develop students’English reading and writing skills,while focusing on the cultivating critical thinking skills of English majors.
文摘The paper is purposed to promote students＇ writing skills and help them perfect their cognitive structure at the same time by designing some writing tasks. The tasks are based on the contents of the teaching materials, and students can get involved in the activities by thinking critically.
文摘Critical thinking,as higher-order thinking,is the use of relatively complex cognitive skills like analyzing,reasoning,making judgments.This paper analyzed the distribution of exercises on critical thinking skills in EAP writing context for EFL students.The data were randomly collected and systematically coded according to the new version of Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking cue questions:lower-order thinking(LOT,including remembering,understanding,and applying)and higher-order thinking(HOT,including analyzing,evaluating,and creating).The findings showed that HOT exercises have a higher proportion than LOT exercises in EAP writing context for EFL students.Most cue questions in HOT exercises greatly emphasize the training of critical thinking skills and enhance the effectiveness of promoting learners’critical thinking skills.Therefore,critical thinking skills,as a product of training and practice,tend to be trained to improve students’language learning and development,and especially to facilitate development of cognitive and higher-order cognitive skills.Based on the findings,the training of critical thinking is expected to be improved in English learning for EFL undergraduates,so as to make improvement in cultivating Chinese EFL students’critical thinking skills.
文摘Every day communication is an event in which there is an interactional relationship between interlocutors. This interaction needs whole language in which language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing; associated knowledge of vocabulary, meaning, syntax, etc.; and also, thinking skills are interwoven. This means that language should be kept whole and ＂if language isn＇t kept whole, it isn＇t language anymore＂ （Rigg, 1991, p. 522, cited in Richards ＆ Rodgers, 2001, p. 109）. In English as a Second Language/English Foreign Language （ESL/EFL） learning settings, improvement in one skill can affect the development of other skills. A particular course may highlight certain skills, but if the teacher is creative or specific tasks and problems are used in language learning settings, learners are provided with the opportunity to improve multiple, integrated skills. This paper aims at elaborating on critical thinking approach to language learning and introducing practical ideas for helping teachers to integrate language and thinking skills. It introduces 3 critical thinking activities （Dialogue journals, reading logs and literacy portfolios）, and also discusses how implementing them can serves as a way to integrate language skills. It also maintains that engaging learners in these activities helps them use authentic materials and solve problems of their own interest that in turn has a positive effect on student＇s motivation.
文摘The absence or inadequacy of critical thinking is one of the prevalent problems in English teaching and learning in China, which gives rise to various problems in learners’ writing: digression from the topic, unoriginal or uncreative ideas, loose logic, logical fallacies, and lack of real content. Under such circumstances, the present paper proposes the “teaching-learning-assessing-testing Four in One” flipped classroom mode in Educational Informatization 2.0 Background to develop learners’ critical thinking ability relying on technical support provided by the researcher’s school and the mode is then applied in English writing course. The application of the mode has achieved some effects. It is applauded by learners and may thus have some implications for the development of learners’ critical thinking ability in writing courses.
文摘The present study adopts a quantitative design to explore the effects of pre-designed teachers' questions as the mediation tool to scaffold the development of students' critical thinking and their discourse level writing skills in English from a sociocultural perspective. The participants were 39 sophomores from two classes. The results showed that:(1) teachers' questions targeting specific critical thinking skill in the classroom and in after-class conferences, as well as in written homework feedback were effective;(2) students backslid a little while internalizing teachers' questions concerning critical thinking;(3) students improved reliably in terms of local and global coherence in their written production with the help of teachers' questions. The findings indicate that teachers' questions facilitate students' development of critical thinking and enhance their discourse level writing skill.
