A Study of Cultivation of Critical Thinking through Reading Literary Texts in the EFL Classroom

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02347
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Osaka Electro-Communication University
• Principal Investigator: Sugimura Hiroko 大阪電気通信大学, 共通教育機構, 教授 (20411267)
• 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)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 文学 / 思考力 / クリティカルシンキング / 英語教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study explores how literary texts function to cultivate reasoning skills (critical thinking, among other things), and how they should be used in English education for the above-mentioned purpose. For the former, both the literature- and reasoning skills-related books and articles were read to build a theoretical framework and to select literary texts as materials; for the latter, how the texts should help students in English classes to improve their critical perspectives were examined. Furthermore, fieldwork was conducted in the UK to find out what is difficult for Japanese university students to interpret literary texts. Based on the results of some pilot lessons, the fieldwork in the UK, and the literature reviews, we showed the possibility of employing literary texts as catalysts for thought in EFL classroom.

Free Research Field

英文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、大学における英語教育に思考（特に、クリティカル・シンキング）の涵養という到達目標を組み込む足がかりとなった。文学テクストを教育的目的から使用することの意義を検討し、再確認できたことで、今後の文学研究自体の発展にもつながる。