Abstract Summary
Foreign language departments need to fulfill an educational goal and go beyond the purpose of L2 development. In this presentation I will introduce a curriculum reform that integrates the development of critical thinking skills in the teaching of L2 English speaking, including background, activity design, and findings from empirical research.
Abstract :
Language teaching programmes tend to focus on the development of L2 proficiency. Foreign language departments, with a traditional “linguistically conceived stance” (Maxim, 2010. p. 1), need to fulfill an educational goal and go beyond the purpose of L2 development. It was the recognition of such need that motivated a series of educational reforms in English Departments in China (Hu & Sun, 2006; Sun, 2008; Jin, 2010; Zhang et al, 2013; Sun, 2011, 2015, 2017) at the turn of the century. The curriculum reform of trying to incorporate the development of critical thinking in the traditional English language courses is one of these reforms. It was started out in a foreign studies university in China and the idea is now adopted by many other universities. In this presentation I will first introduce this curriculum reform, focusing especially on the reform of the Speaking courses, which have changed from Speaking 1, 2, 3 and 4 to Intercultural Conversations, Interpersonal Discussions, Public Speaking, and Topical Debates. I will then illustrate how to integrate the development of critical thinking skills in the teaching of L2 English speaking through the illustration of activity design. I’ll end by reporting findings from empirical research on this reform.
