A Empirical Study on Critical Thinking Ability in College English Reading Teaching under CBI

Abstract

In the context of the new liberal arts, the ordinary English teaching model is difficult to adapt to the development of college English teaching, and English reading, as a necessary part of cultivating students’ comprehensive language ability and critical thinking ability, has played an important role in college English teaching. As a text-based teaching method, Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is more in line with the learning of English reading. Based on Krashen’s input hypothesis and Swain’s output hypothesis theory, it selected 66 English major seniors from Y University as the research subjects, who subsequently are divided into control classes and experimental classes. Data was collected by survey questionnaires and reading tests. Based on the analysis and discussion of relevant data, it concludes that: firstly, the critical thinking ability of college students is at a moderate level. Secondly, the CBI teaching method is significantly positively correlated with students’ critical thinking ability. Thirdly, the CBI teaching method has a positive impact on students’ critical English reading skills.