2018 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
A Study of Cultivation of Critical Thinking through Reading Literary Texts in the EFL Classroom
| Project/Area Number |
15K02347
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| Research Institution | Osaka Electro-Communication University |
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Principal Investigator |
杉村 寛子 大阪電気通信大学, 共通教育機構, 教授 (20411267)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
M・D Sheehan 阪南大学, 国際コミュニケーション学部, 教授 (00411265)
工藤 多恵 関西学院大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (70342350)
南津 佳広 大阪電気通信大学, 共通教育機構, 准教授 (70616292)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | Literature / Thinking skills / Critical thinking / English education |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The focus of this study was the process of reasoning while reading literature. Worksheets that mainly included inferential questions about the literary texts were developed and revised. Some short stories, which were taught in class, did not pertain to a theme that the students were familiar with. Therefore, the activity of group discussion was incorporated into the classwork to further deepen the students’ understanding of the text and stimulate their critical and even creative reading skills. The discussion of each group was recorded in a voice recorder, and later transcribed. The transcripts were categorized into fourteen items to find out how a group discussion works.
Sugimura studied the UK evaluation criteria of thinking skills. The following five items were selected from several keys related to critical thinking: assumption, bias, credibility of evidence, hypothetical reasoning and judgment (Fisher, 2011). Based on some of these, the students’ interpretations of a short story were analyzed. The result of the analysis was reported in an article.
Sugimura and Minamitsu visited Bangor, UK to exchange opinions on the utilization of poetry to promote students’ evidence-based interpretation. Sugimura developed the worksheet to be used as a pre-reading activity for the poetry-reading class in the foundation programme. The aim of this worksheet was to launch the students smoothly into the process of critical and creative reading of poetry. Utilizing this worksheet, Sugimura and Minamitsu conducted a pilot lesson here.
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