Cultivating Critical Thinking Skills Through Inquiry-Based Learning Approach in College Oral English Class

Abstract

In the 21 century, Mastering English, especially spoken English, has become a necessary skill for college students after graduation. However, after many years learning, Chinese students still exhibit weak proficiency in English speaking. Some scholars believe that the Critical Thinking can help students effectively learn English. There is a lack of research conducted on cultivating students’ critical thinking skills in the teaching of college oral English in China. This study adopted quantitative research method to investigate the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning approach on students’ critical thinking skills in oral English class in Chinese college. 60 Business English undergraduates were selected and enrolled in the control group (n = 30) and the experimental group (n = 30). The experimental group received the 9-week inquiry-based learning intervention. Pre-test and Post-test of critical thinking skills were conduced in the two groups and was assessed by California Critical Thinking Skills Test.The ANCOVA analysis was applied to compare the differences of the data from the two groups. The result showed that the students’ overall critical thinking skills especially the Analysis skills were significantly improved after receiving inquiry-based learning approach. However, there were no significant differences in Evaluation and Inference skills after the treatment. For future researchers, they can design a longer research programme for critical thinking training, spanning at least a semester or even a year, which may yield better results.