Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Writing Class

Jilin International Studies University,Changchun,China Email:531579697@qq.com

[Abstract]While the development of critical thinking is widely recognized as one of the goals of higher education in China,the existing studies show that the critical thinking is seriously neglected in higher education in China,leading to the widespread phenomenon of critical thinking absence,which is still on the rise.Thinking critically is often perceived to be one of the primary purposes of writing,but the issue as to whether the critical thinking can be developed in EFL writing class has always been extensively debated and researched.This paper bases itself on a quantitative case study of university students majoring in English in China to explore how to develop critical thinking of students in an EFL writing class.

[Keywords]develop;critical thinking;EFL writing class in China

Introduction

Recently critical thinking is a heated topic at home and abroad.This issue as to whether critical thinking can be developed by teaching has always been largely disputed.Some recognize it as“the art of making your thinking better,clearer,more accurate,and more defensible”.(Paul R.&Elder L,2002)Namely,they deem that critical thinking can be consciously taught in an academic atmosphere,while others hold an opposed view,believing critical thinking is a culturally-determined skill,and it cannot be internalized by Eastern communities as they are not inclined to question authority(Atkinson,1997; Atkinson & Ramanathan,1999).Critical thinking in this paper is best defined as a series of skills of applying,analyzing,synthesizing and evaluating information that can be continuously worked upon by students to form a judgement towards an issue.

It is largely found that students,particularly students within EFL circles tend to neglect significant critical thinking in EFL writing(Stapleton,2002).In China,Wen Qiufang(2009),who has tested over 20,000 college students in 66 colleges and universities,pointed out that“Critical Thinking Absence”is a common problem among college students in China.Huang Yuanshen(2010)even put forward the phenomenon of“Critical Thinking Absence”of Chinese foreign language major students who lack the skills of analysis,synthesis,judgment,reasoning and discrimination.Chen Muze(2014)said that Chinese college students need the training of explanation,analysis and rationality,but foreign language majors focus on the training of massive memory and restatement,which is obviously not the best way to develop analytical thinking.In view of this,it is extremely urgent to develop the critical thinking of Chinese college students,especially the critical and creative thinking of Chinese foreign language majors.

Writing is one of the most effective courses to develop the critical thinking of students(Sun,2011),but the particularity of English majors and the uniqueness of English writing in China make the development of students’critical thinking limited by the maximum.Therefore,how to develop critical thinking has become the top priority in EFL writing class.In view of this,this paper,based on California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory—Chinese Version(CCTDI-CV),attempts to investigate whether critical thinking of students can be developed in EFL writing class and how to develop it.

Implementation of Developing Critical Thinking in EFL Writing Class

The experiment is implemented,aiming to explore whether the critical thinking ability can be developed in EFL writing class and how to develop it.Namely,whether the students’critical thinking skills and critical personality tendencies have been improved or not,so as to further test the effectiveness of the application of flipped teaching in EFL writing class.The quasi-experimental research method was adopted to set the experimental group and the control group,and the data were collected by using quantitative research method.Here are the key problems to be solved:

1.Can critical thinking be developed in EFL writing class?

2.What impact does the“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching have on developing critical thinking of English majors,including the improvement of critical thinking skills and the cultivation of critical personality tendency?To what extent do students change?

This experiment adopts the most influential“California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory—Chinese Version(CCTDI-CV)”.After many revisions and experiments,it is so far the most localized one with good reliability and validity.The reliability coefficient index of CCTDI-CV is.90>.70.The scale consists of 70 items from seven dimensions of truth-seeking,open-mindedness,analyticity,systematicity,self-confidence,inquisitiveness and maturity,including 30 positive items and 40 negative items.Each dimension contains 10 items,and a score system of six levels is adopted,with 1=strongly disagree,2=disagree,3=disagree,4=somewhat agree,5=agree,6=strongly agree.The total score of the scale was 70-420,and the higher the score is,the higher the critical thinking is.The score of>350 indicates strong critical thinking,and ≥280 indicates positive critical personality tendency.A score between 210 and 280 indicates a moderate critical thinking,while a score less than 210 shows a negative tendency of critical personality.The total score of each dimension ≤30 means that the critical thinking is weak,and the range between 30 and 40 means that the critical thinking is medium,while ≥50 means that the critical thinking is strong.130 effective questionnaires were distributed and recovered with a recovery rate of 100%.

This experiment is conducted in the third semester with English writing as the experimental course.The weekly class hour is 2,and the experiment will be completed in 17 weeks.The students(n=130)and the teachers(n=2)from four classes in Jilin University of International Studies were selected as experimental subjects.The experiment was divided into three stages.

In the first stage,students in the experimental group and the control group were given a questionnaire(CCTDICV)and a writing test(pre-test).In the second stage,two participating teachers taught English writing to the experimental group and the control group respectively.All participating students will be randomly divided into experimental group(n=75)and control group(n=75).Under the guidance of the teacher and with the help of“Super Star Learning”(an online learning network platform in China),students in the experimental group will be subject to“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching,while students in the control group will accept the traditional English writing teaching.In the third stage,after 17 weeks,students in the experimental group and control group were given a questionnaire(CCTDI-CV)and a writing test(post-test).Before and after the experiment,SPSS20.0 was used to analyze the differences of questionnaire and writing test results between the experimental group and the control group.

Reorganize teaching resources around“critical thinking”

Traditional teaching situation“one book+supporting courseware”in EFL writing class is changed.Teachers set gradient learning tasks that can reasonably meet the cognitive level and psychological needs for different students.Such relevant critical and innovative writing resources as courseware,micro-videos,open online courses,wellknown domestic and foreign network corpus etc.are provided for students.Meanwhile,students are encouraged to think critically and creatively about the text,to get to the point,and to express their ideas,rather than blindly accepting the facts they are being taught.

Emphasize the teaching method of hierarchical grouping

Based on the students’writing(pre-test)scores,the students are graded as ABC(good,medium and poor).According to the principle of“homogeneity among groups and heterogeneity within groups”,the class was divided into five study groups with six students in each group.The group members included two students from each level.A-level students were appointed as the group leader,and students of different levels were assigned different tasks,aiming to stimulate the subjective initiative in learning and critical thinking of students at all levels.Meanwhile,A-level students can act as“mentors”for C-level students and improve their English level in the process of guidance.

“Critically thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching

Flipped teaching can maximize the extension of class time,give full play to classroom efficiency,do more intensive practice in a real sense,and fully mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of students.It makes full use of the convenience of uploading resources of“Super Star Learning”and provides various course resources.

Before class,students are required to take the initiative to study online,complete relevant course activities and essay writing tasks,and find difficulties through synchronous and asynchronous communication.In class,teachers use oral presentation and group competition to sort out the fragmented knowledge and help students form a systematic knowledge system for their online study.Besides,teachers choose typical essay models to inspire students to critically evaluate the essay from six dimensions:profundity,relevance,fairness,organizational clarity,in-paragraph logic,and inter-paragraph logic.After class the students revise the essays under the guidance of the teachers.

Experimental Data Results and Analysis

The students in the experimental group(n=2*35=70)and the control group(n=2*35=70)were tested by CCTDICV before and after the experiment.SPSS20.0 was used to test the independent and paired samples T test results of the two groups.

Table 1 showed that T=-1.96 and P = 0.846 > 0.05,which means there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the pre-test results of critical thinking.Additionally,the students in the experimental group and the control group had the same majors and had not received relevant training.Besides,there was no significant difference in their scores in the pre-test of writing(see table 4).

Table 1 independent sample T test of CCTDI-CV in the experimental group and control group

As is shown in table 2,the pre-test scores of CCTDI-CV in the experimental group and the control group were 186.4667±28.00731 and 188.3333±24.02578,both of which were<210,indicating a negative tendency of critical personality.The independent sample T test results of the experimental group were T=-7.606 and P=.000<0.05,indicating that the results of CCTDI-CV in the pre-test and post-test of the experimental group were significantly different.In the experimental group,the Mean value of CCTDI-CV in the post-test(253.3333)was>210,and the tendency of critical personality developed from negative to medium level.However,the Mean value of CCTDI-CV in the control group(192.4667)also increased,but it was still negative.

Table 2 independent sample T test of CCTDI-CV in the experimental group and control group

Table 3 measured the changes of students’critical thinking in the experimental group and control group from seven dimensions.Paired sample T test results showed that there were significant differences in the seven dimensions of CCTDI-CV for students in the experimental group.The P values were.002,.002,.001,.000,.005,.008,.003,with all ≤0.05.In particular,the scores of students in the four dimensions of truth-seeking,open-mindedness,analyticity and maturity rose from < 30 to > 30,indicating that students’tendency of critical personality on these four dimensions developed from negative to medium level.The Mean values of analyticity,systematicity,self-confidence and inquisitiveness dimensions were>42,which indicates that students have strong critical thinking.

Although the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group were all>30 in the four dimensions of analyticity,systematicity,self-confidence and inquisitiveness,the P values were in turn .254,.216,.887,.925,all of which were > 0.05,showing no significant difference.However,the scores of the other three dimensions were all less than 30 before and after the experiment,so the overall critical thinking of the students in the control group was still negative.

Table 3 Paired samples T test of CCTDI-CV in the experimental group and control group

Inquisitiveness Maturity Experimental group Control group Experimental group Control group 33.860+9.3316 34.200+9.6471 25.760+5.7365 26.300+6.1473 43.070+6.5127 34.310+8.5314 37.100+9.5496 26.670+5.1435-3.399-.097-3.978-.314.008.925.003.760

Table 4 showed that P value was 0.000(< 0.05),indicating that both of“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching and traditional teaching can improve students’writing achievement after 17-week experiment,but the effect of the former one is more significant,with Mean differences of the experimental group(19.53448)much higher than that(12.00000)of the control group.

Table 4 T test of independent samples in the experimental group and control group

The experiment proves that“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching can be of help to realize the seamless connection of extracurricular and classroom learning.The experimental group students demonstrate significant improvements in seven dimensions of CCTDI-CV.Additionally,the experimental group students have a good grasp of the essay writing with more appropriate words,more smooth sentences,and more prominent ideas and layout presented in the essays.In view of this,compared with traditional teaching,“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching can deeply excavate students’initiative and exploration.Students keep thinking,analyzing,summarizing and reflecting by participating in flipped classroom activities,and their confidence,language ability and logical thinking can be improved through multiple evaluation systems.Centering on essay writing,“critical thinking ability oriented”flipped teaching is more systematic in teaching design,content,resources and tasks.The integration of information technology and English writing class can stimulate students’drive,and the synchronous and asynchronous interactive learning environment can optimize the learning process and decompose the learning pressure.

The experiment concludes EFL writing class provides an opportunity for students to think critically as they are exposed to more critical ideas in writing through a variety of reading input and discussion practices,which reflects that to think critically enables students to write insightfully.Besides,it is also found that discussion and debate practice in EFL writing class can stimulate students’consciousness of actively participating in the writing process and strengthen critical thinking by establishing a new partnership between students and teachers,which is of help to their writing skill and life-long skill.

Implications and Conclusion

Based on CCTDI-CV,the experimental study truly combines the construction of teaching mode with practical operation to deeply explore whether students’critical thinking can be developed in EFL writing class and how to develop it.Unlike the traditional teaching mode,the flipped teaching focuses on developing the critical thinking of students and emphasizes the quality of language output.Meanwhile,the guidance of modern information technology in foreign language teaching can integrate teaching resources,optimize teaching effects and give full play to students'learning autonomy and initiative.

Acknowledgements

This paper is the phased research achievement of The Higher Education Research Project of Jilin Higher Education Association(No.JGJX2020C46).