An Empirical Study on the Influence of PBL Teaching Model on College Students’ Critical Thinking Ability

Abstract

The critical thinking ability is an indispensable ability of contemporary college students, and the PBL teaching model abandons the shortcomings of traditional teaching methods, which is more suitable for the development trend of university curriculum teaching reform in China. In order to understand the influence of PBL teaching mode on college students' critical thinking ability, the research is carried out into English critical thinking dispositions and skills of the second grade English education majors in Jiangxi Province, via questionnaires, interview, English tests and the PBL teaching experiment. And the results indicate that the PBL teaching model can improve such three English critical thinking temperament level as analysis, openness and fair, and it can significantly improve the two English critical thinking skills of analysis and interpretation, but do not improve the English scores of the students significantly. The purpose of this study is to enrich the research into the influence of PBL teaching model on English critical thinking ability, and so as to provide some reference for improving the quality of English teaching in colleges and universities.

A Comparative Study of Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Approaches in College English Classrooms: Analyzing Pedagogical Behaviors Via Classroom Observation

“…However, there was limited empirical research that investigated the application of PBL in EFL classrooms in Chinese higher education. We were able to identify eight empirical studies using the PBL approach [ 39 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ], and our syntheses and critiques of these studies are presented from three perspectives: English language proficiency, critical thinking skills, and the quality of implementing PBL.…”

The Effectiveness of New Inquiry-Based Learning (NIBL) for Improving Multiple Higher-Order Thinking Skills (M-HOTS) of Prospective Chemistry Teachers

“…As shown in Figure 7, a relationship exists between critical, analytical, and creative thinking and is realized in the form of practical thinking. The core of creative thinking skills is critical thinking (Zhou, 2018), which also involves analytical thinking (Paul, 1993). Students are encouraged to think critically when analyzing (McDonald, 2012;Nuangchalerm & Thammasena, 2009;Robins;.…”

“…In the education context, these mental abilities are crucial for the students facing such challenges (Chang, 2000;Che, 2002). There are also fundamental needs to prepare students to be communicative, collaborative, creative, innovative, and to think critically and analytically to solve real-world problems effectively in the global competition era (Cai et al, 2017;Sang et al, 2018;Toheri, 2019;Zhou, 2018;Zivcovic, 2016). These conditions require educators to provide opportunities for students to possess Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and mastery of needed abilities according to their future professions.…”

“…Studies on the correlation between critical thinking and problem-solving skills have also been carried out (Kirmizi et al, 2015;Kivunja, 2014). Other studies focused on critical thinking skills in association with metacognitive learning (Gotoh, 2016;Gurcay, 2018), critical thinking with learning styles (Dilekli, 2017), and the relation of critical thinking with Problem Based Learning (PBL) models (Siriwat & Katwibun, 2017;Zhou, 2018). Although these studies focused on the aspects of HOTS and efforts to improve them, the thinking skills were examined individually or in a combination of two aspects of thinking only.…”

Establishing Critical Thinking Course for High School Students in China: A Literature Review in Pedagogy Field

“…Liu and Li (2015) conducted an investigation in eight large mathematics classrooms with 381 students, concluding that there were possibilities for Chinese students to think critically and creatively in traditionally instructed classes. Zhou (2018) aimed to explore the critical thinking ability of college students through English Problem Based Learning (PBL) teaching model among randomly selected English major sophomores from two classes from a second level university in Jiangxi province in China, and the experimental results revealed that compared with traditional teaching, PBL teaching model can improve three English critical thinking temperament level as analysis, openness and fair and significantly improve the two English critical thinking skills of analysis and interpretation. Mehta and Al-Mahrouqi (2015) transferred the CTS into students' writing based on a specific research of 30 English majors at Oman's Sultan Qaboos University through giving contrasts samples of student writing on a given topic at the beginning and the end of a semester-long course on critical reading skills.…”