Practical Methods of Cultivating Critical Thinking Through Intercultural Communication Teaching

Recent China's educational policy of Higher Educational Special Plan (HESP) stresses that critical thinking (CT) is an essential intellectual skill for college students. National language policy of College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR) addresses that comprehensive language abilities and intercultural communication competence should be intensively cultivated in college English teaching (CET). This study therefore tentatively integrates the goals required by two kinds of policies into one college English course of intercultural communication (IC) and aims to construct a CT-based intercultural communication teaching (ICT) in CET. The focus of this study is setting on the practical methods of training CT through ICT. Four methods of Socratic Method, comparative method, critical incident analysis method and case study method are respectively illustrated and exemplified from the theoretical level to the practical applications. These practical methods are expected to facilitate the cultivation of CT through ICT as an extended subject in college English teaching.