Revisiting English Majors' Critical Thinking Skills-A Case Study of Socratic Questioning Application

The Cultivation of Critical Thinking has been one of the key issues in the international education research. As an important skill in the development of the talent of undergraduate, it has been included as one of the mandatory criteria in The outline of National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020). English majors have been acknowledged to be lacking in critical thinking abilities due to various reasons. This paper points out that it is the very the old-fashioned cramming teaching method in a "model class" conducted in a multi-medium method that results in the lack of critical thinking skills in English majors. This paper manifests finally how to transform the classroom teaching by applying Socratic Questioning after surveying briefly the various concepts and ways of cultivating the critical thinking skills.