Critical Thinking Cultivation and Curriculum Modules ‎Construction of Chinese College English Reform: The Case ‎of Beijing Institute of Technology ‎

Abstract

One main concern of Chinese university education is to vigorously improve the teaching quality, in the midst of it is to enhance the students’ capability of critical thinking. China’s construction plan of world-class university and first-class discipline (The “Double First-Class Initiative”) puts forward specific requirements for the training of critical thinking skills. This paper takes Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) as an example to explore how to promote a critical-thinking oriented English teaching reforms in the aspects of course design, teaching strategy, evaluation method, textbook writing, teacher training and educational resource integration. It takes some courses, namely English writing, business English and American literature at BIT to explore how to integrate the critical thinking into English teaching curriculum modules design. To be more specific, how to integrate the sub-critical thinking ability, such as logical reasoning, innovative thinking, analysis and problem solving ability, comprehensive and evaluation ability, research and practice ability to language skills, language knowledge, language use, cultural appreciation and practice activities. It holds that the enhancement of critical thinking ability of students will brings about vital energy to the English teaching and research in universities.