李芸

Kunming University， Kunming， Yunnan， China， 650214

Abstract： Critical thinking is an important measuring index in the cultivation of talents at colleges and universities， and the combination of critical thinking and discipline education is the most ideal solution. This paper begins with the definition and methods to cultivate critical thinking， with the purpose of exploring the relations between the two， and introduces the critical reading models in college English teaching， its effectiveness and specific operation methods. This paper believes that critical thinking is an important condition and motivator for critical reading while critical reading is a vital way to develop critical thinking and a media to implement it.

Key words： Critical Reading； Critical Thinking； Questioning and Thinking

1. Introduction

Since the 20th century， the cultivation of critical thinking has been attached great importance by western countries and has gradually become a research hotspot. In recent years， many domestic scholars have conducted research on the critical thinking abilities of college students. The result showed that the critical thinking abilities of Chinese college students are in urgent need to be improved. Liu Donghong （2005） found， from the research of English writings of college students， that most of them are still subject to authoritarian views and lack independent thinking ability and personal understandings.[1] Huang Yuanshen （1998， 2010） referred to the current thinking status of students majoring in foreign language as "absence of critical thinking". [2] And many experts such as Sun Youzhong （2011）， [3] Wen Qiufang and Liu Runqing （2006） called for strengthened efforts to cultivate the critical thinking abilities of college students. [4]

Critical reading is a major way to cultivate critical thinking. This paper will first sort out the connotation and research results of critical thinking and then explore on the models， features and methods of critical reading.

2. What is Critical Thinking？

In the past 20 or 30 years， foreign scholars have conducted multi-dimensional research on critical thinking， among whom the most well-known is Delphi Research （Facione 1990）. This research put forward the view that critical thinking includes two parts， critical thinking skills and critical thinking disposition. And critical thinking skills contain interpretation， analysis， evaluation， deduction， explanation and self-adjustment， while critical thinking disposition covers truth seeking， open thinking， analytical ability， systematic ability， confidence， inquiry ability and recognition maturity.

Kneedler suggests that critical thinking contains 12 basic skills within three parts （Luo Qingxu， 2000）： 1） definition and clarification， which include ① recognition of central topic or question， ② comparison of similarities and differences， ③ determination of relevant information and ④ formation of appropriate questions； 2） judgment of relevant information， which contains ① differentiation of facts， views and reasonable judgment， ② check consistency， ③ recognition of hypothesis between lines， ④ recognition of original model and cliché， ⑤ recognition of prejudices， emotional factors， promotion， semantic disposition and ⑥recognition of different value systems and ideologies； 3） solution and conclusion， covering ① recognition of the appropriateness of the materials and ② prediction of possible results. [5]

Halpern （1998） believes that critical thinking disposition contains the willingness to participate in a complicated task and persist， the habit to make plans and prevention of impulsive behaviors， being flexible and open， the willingness to correct oneself and give up low effective strategy and the awareness of making proper preparation in front of reality. [6]

It can be seen that the main difference on the description of critical thinking skills by Facione and Kneedler lies in the skills of "self-adjustment". Despite different languages applied， they have similar connotation， mainly referring to the information processing and treatment method. Luo Qingxu （2000：82） believed that "self-adjustment and monitoring are the core and critical foundation of critical thinking". [1] So does the author. Facione and Kneedler have defined critical thinking disposition in different words， but they all refer to individual quality and attitudes. Those with critical thinking skills have strong abilities in analysis， deduction and judgment while those with critical thinking disposition have the willingness to correct themselves and seek truth. Liu Donghong pointed out that critical thinking disposition and skills are two different concepts. [1] Those with critical thinking skills do not necessarily have the abilities to utilize critical thinking well. The person may be well trained to have critical thinking ability but that person could not actively use the critical thinking to analyze or solve problems due to inertial thinking or personal habit. Therefore， that person cannot be considered as having critical thinking. Similarly， a person with critical thinking disposition is not necessarily has good critical thinking ability.

In order to develop critical thinking， the students should be encouraged to have critical thinking disposition， which is critical spirit， and cultivated to have critical thinking skills， so as to allow the students to form critical spirit， form their own opinions about the things they meet and the views or methods they read or hear， and possess the abilities to analyze problems， form a view and strategy and correct themselves instead of blindly following or believing others.

3. Teaching of Critical Thinking

There are mainly three ways to cultivate the critical thinking of college students in foreign schools. The first way is to set up separate critical thinking classes to train students； the second is to combine the cultivation of critical thinking with subject teaching and develop the critical thinking of the students through regular teaching in the classroom； the third is to develop implicit courses. In general， the combination of the cultivation of critical thinking and subject education is the most ideal way but it also encounters many difficulties in practice， mainly in the following six aspects 1） time： Teachers have no time to train critical thinking in classes； 2） attitudes of the students： Most students are reluctant to think； 3） attitudes of teachers： Teachers often do not offer enough time and opportunity for students to think； 4） lack of resources： It is very difficult to cultivate the critical thinking of students through teaching activities solely designed by the imagination and creativity of the teachers； 5） how to create conditions： Only by making the classes full of vigor and imagination can the the minds of students be stimulated； 6） evaluation method： It remains a challenge to find a method that is able to evaluate the minds of students.

It remains a trouble for all the teachers to handle these difficulties. vanGelder （2005） revealed 6 experiences on critical thinking teaching from the research results of cognitive science.

1. Long-term training

Critical thinking develops throughout ones lifetime and it cannot be formed during a short-term courses. Therefore， teachers should be prepared for long-term efforts to integrate critical thinking into daily teaching.

2. Practice makes perfect

Learning critical thinking is like learning to play tennis and you cannot learn it just by sitting in front of the TV and watch the game. You can only learn it under the lead of the teachers and through constant practice. Teachers cannot just tell students what to do but should give them opportunities to try so as to help them form critical thinking.

3. Learn to transfer

The critical thinking formed under certain circumstance cannot necessarily be used in other circumstances. Teachers can offer students similar tasks under different circumstances so as to lead the students to transfer this skill.

4. Study the theory

Students should learn about what is critical thinking and its features and methods so as to better form critical thinking and analyze the reasons of others thinking problems.

5. Thinking map

Thinking map should be used to help students organize argument and grounds of argument and allow them to quickly and clearly see others thinking and deduction process. Teachers should give timely feedback to students if they see confusion in the thinking of students and the causes.

6. Self-protection

Teachers should break the students awareness of self-protection and teach them to open their minds and be flexible. Relevant teaching activities can be designed at the classes to promote the students to find more evidence to support their views or give calm and objective evaluation while facing objection.

The six aspects summarized by Van Gelder have not only allowed us to better understand critical thinking but also provided beneficial advice for the cultivation and teaching of critical thinking.

4. Critical Reading

As mentioned before， the combination of the cultivation of critical thinking and discipline education is the most ideal way. This paper will explore how to integrate the cultivation of critical thinking into English reading teaching.

4.1 What is critical reading？

Critical thinking and critical reading are two closely related concepts as reading is an important way to cultivate critical thinking while thinking is an important condition for critical reading. The incorporation of the cultivation of critical thinking in reading is called critical reading. The so-called critical reading refers to the understanding of text at a higher level， which includes explanation meaning and evaluation. Critical reading allows readers to distinguish important information and unimportant one， differentiate facts and views and determine the purpose and tone of the author. Besides， readers should deduce implied information， fill in the blank of information and reach logical conclusions. Halpern defined critical reading as a judgment and evaluation activity of the authenticity， effectiveness and value of the reading materials by the readers， who had understood the text， in accordance with certain principles and standards [6]. It usually contained three steps， which were text understanding， evaluation of it and reaction. Halpern believed that critical reading was not rough browsing of the text， passive acceptance and memory of the content but a reading strategy to analyze， integrate and evaluate the authors views， disposition or hypothesis [6]. Chen Lingjun（2010） thought that critical reading was to analyze and evaluate the representation of the text information based on the understanding of text language and content and finally formed ones own views and attitudes. [8] That is to say， teachers should lead the students to reveal the deeper meaning of the text by analyzing and interpreting language and writing. Taking into consideration of the definitions by the several researchers， critical reading can generally be divided into two levels， the first of which is text understanding， which is what the author tries to express， and the second of which is to evaluate the views and attitudes conveyed in the text and express readers views and attitudes. The interpretation， analysis， evaluation， deduction， explanation and self-adjustment contained in critical thinking skills can be fully applied and trained in critical reading.

4.2 Critical reading model

Chen Lingjun （2010） put forward three critical reading models. The first one is to build a critical reading model of constructionism， which means that teachers allow students to discuss the content， representation methods and main idea of the article and form their own opinions and understanding. [8] Then these opinions should be summarized through group discussion so as to lead students to find objective basis for their own opinions. The second one is to select typical reading materials and multi-media teaching methods. The cultivation of critical thinking has certain requirement for reading materials so teachers can select some original and thoughtful reading materials， especially Internet commentary and news report. These reading materials are in nature of critical thinking and different opinions on the same phenomenon， which makes them the best subject for comparative analysis. When reading these articles， students can analyze， extract and even evaluate through comparative reading and form their own thoughts and opinions. The third one is to improve students language sensitivity through critical discourse analysis. Teachers can organize students to extract the basic ideas and emotional tone， evaluate the conscientiousness and objectivity of the expression and form right judgment on the facts. In addition， students should be able to extract the content， ideas and attitudes of the text and give feedback， whether it is recognition， doubt or denial.

Huang Yuanshen（2013） conducted deep research on the third model and found some instructive methods from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. [2] They pointed out that teachers can design critical reading teaching from the following perspectives. The first one is critical reading perspective based on the concept of "author". Teachers can lead students to discuss who is the author of this text？ Whose voice does it present？ Whose interests does it reflect？ What are the purposes and functions？ These questions can effectively help students to challenge their thinking from the perspective of "the voice of work". The second is the critical reading perspective based on dialogue. The text is not the monologue of the author but a potential dialogue. All the texts are inviting potential readers to respond and give feedback in explicit or implicit way. Teachers should lead students to get engaged in critical reading， thinking and evaluation， form their unique understanding and highlight the subjectivity of leaners. The third is critical perspective based on genre intertextuality. Teachers can lead students to find the origin of the text. If it can be found， the difference between original one and the text should be compared. For example， the reason for selecting this text， are there any modifications or what is the meaning of it. If the origin cannot be found， articles with similar subjects can be found to explore the intertextuality among these articles.

Critical reading models put forward by the above scholars can be summarized into three points. The first is accurate selection of material， as proper materials can better inspire thinking. The second is appropriate guidance. Teachers should guide students thinking methods and angles. The third is reasonable methods. More discussions should be encouraged to reflect the subjectivity of the students in class.

5. Conclusion

Recently， a new round of college English and English major reforms have begun， with the purpose of improving the quality of talents. National standard for improving the quality of undergraduate students is being studied. And the cultivation of critical thinking is an important measuring index for talents cultivation quality at colleges and universities.

References

[1] Liu Donghong， 2005， Research on the Critical Thinking Abilities of College Students in Writing [J]，Foreign Language Teaching （3）.

[2] Huang Yuanshen， 1998， Absence of Critical Thinking [J]，Foreign Language and Their Teaching 7： 1， 19.

[3] Sun Youzhong， 2011， Highlighting the Cultivation of Critical Thinking Abilities and Further Leading Reform in English Major Reform [J]，Foreign Languages in China （3） ：49-58.

[4] Wen Qiufang and Liu Runqing， 2006， Analysis on the Abstract Thinking Features of College Students from English Argumentative Essay [J]，Foreign Languages （2） ：49-58.

[5] Luo Qingxu， 2000， On the Cultivation of Critical Thinking of College Students [J]，Educational Research of Tsinghua University （4） ： 81-85.

[6] Halpern， D.F. 1998. Teaching critical thinking across domains： Dispositions， skills， structure and metacognitive monitoring [J].American sychologist （4）：449-445.

[7] Li Xiaomei， 2010， Experimental Research of the Teaching of English Major Reading Based on Critical Reading [J]，Journal of Mudanjiang University， 19： 123-125.

[8] Chen Lingjun， 2010， On the Cultivation of Critical Reading Ability of College Students [J]， Educational Review ：23-25.