Welcome to Francis Academic Press

Frontiers in Educational Research, 2023, 6(4); doi: 10.25236/FER.2023.060410.

A Study on Critical Thinking in Integrated English Course from the Perspective of Sociocultural Theory

Author(s)

Zhu Xianqi

Corresponding Author:
Zhu Xianqi
Affiliation(s)

School of European American Languages and Culture, Guangxi University of Foreign Languages, Nanning, 530222, China

Abstract

Speaking and writing seem to be two basic forms of the English foreign learners’ thinking output. And they are two important approaches that help EFL to improve their critical thinking in English learning. In China, speaking and writing training have long been separated in teaching of English major. In other words, Chinese teachers tend to focus on English writing rather than speaking. Thus, it produces a number of “dumb” English learners. Based on Sociocultural Theory proposed by Lev Vygotsky, this study tries to provide “scaffold” for improving students’ critical thinking and helping them to form their own opinions by adopting oral tasks during class, cooperation and inspiration approaches. After the oral tasks practiced in class, writing will be assigned to them for consolidating the thoughts they expressed in the oral tasks. Combined with speaking and writing training, students will be close to their Zone of Proximal Development.

Keywords

critical thinking; teaching of Integrated English Course; Sociocultural Theory

Cite This Paper

Zhu Xianqi. A Study on Critical Thinking in Integrated English Course from the Perspective of Sociocultural Theory. Frontiers in Educational Research (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 4: 56-60. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2023.060410.

References

[1] Paul & Elder. Critical thinking: the nature of critical and creative thought [J]. Journal of Developmental Education, 2006(12):110-118.

[2] Vygotsky L S. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Process [M]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.  

[3] Guo Haiyan. A study on university English teaching model from the perspective of ZPD [J]. Journal of Lanzhou Institute of Education, 2015.9. (in Chinese)  

[4] The National Administry Committee on Teaching Foreign Languages to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education. The Guide of University English Major Teaching [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2020. (in Chinese)

[5] Li Liwen, An Action Research on How to Increase Reader Awareness and Critical Thinking [J], Foreign Language in China, 2011.3. (in Chinese)

[6] Liu Yanhong, Zhang Jun. A study on critical thinking elements in university English major’s textbooks based on corpus [J]. Foreign Language Education, 2022.3. (in Chinese)

[7] Zhang Zhirong. A study on strategies of English teaching in vocational schools from the perspective of ZPD [J]. Journal of Inner Mongolia Normal University (Educational Science), 2014.10. (in Chinese) 

[8] Zhou Weiwei. Development of critical thinking from perspective of sociocultural theory [J]. Journal of Nanchang Institute of Technology, 2020.5. (in Chinese)