Critical Pedagogy in Chinese College English Class.docVIP

Critical Pedagogy in Chinese College English Class 　　Abstract. This paper reflects on the drawbacks of traditional Chinese college English learning and teaching： too much focus on text analysis. Also it analyzes why students lose interests in learning English and the way to switch the situation. Finally， it introduces the concept of what critical pedagogy and discusses why critical literacy is necessary to develop in ESL class. 　　Key words： critical thinking， critical literacy， critical pedagogy， college English teaching 　　Introduction 　　Critical literacy aims at developing learners to critically receive the information besides acquiring basic literacy skills such as decoding， predicting， and summarizing. As they read， they can question the texts， figure out the author’s intent， understand the sociocultural influences， and to build up the connection between their old knowledge with the new knowledge. Critical literacy can thus help teachers and students expand their reasoning， seek out multiple perspectives and turn to be an active thinker. 　　Many educators in the US and European countries have long advocated the teaching of English critical thinking skills such as reasoning and problem solving. No action was generated， however， until 1980， when the Rockefeller Commission on the Humanities recommended that critical thinking be included in the U.S. Office of Education definition of basic skills. Three universities now offer a Master of Arts program in teaching critical thinking； the California State University system requires a course in critical thinking； and the College Board has made it one of the six basic skills needed for college （Educational Testing Service 1984， 8； Ennis 1985， 28） . 　　Critical thinking is not the same as， and should not be confused with， intelligence； it is a skill that may be improved in everyone （Walsh and Paul 1988， 13）. However， it is not something that necessarily develops with maturity and so should be taught to all ages. In t