Breaking the Stereotypes: Promoting Thinking Skills in Chinese EFL Classrooms

Introduction

In response to economic globalization, many governments and education institutions have made efforts to introduce English language education in schools, given that English is used as a lingua franca. Particularly, Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) has grown dramatically in the last two decades (Rich, 2014). Many non-native English-speaking countries, including China, have introduced English as a compulsory subject at the primary stage of learning. It is believed that this is a way to maximise exposure to English and allow EFL learners to use the target language as much as possible. Therefore, a significant number of studies have looked into the effectiveness of different approaches to TEYL, such as the quality of effective teaching (Copland & Garton, 2014), age-appropriate teaching methods (Gregson, 2017), and challenges in TEYL (Copland, Garton & Burns, 2014). Others have examined the contextual factors that influence TEYL; for example, global policies and local cultural factors (Enever, 2018), young learners’ language awareness (Muñoz, 2014), and beliefs of learning English (Tragant & Vallbona, 2018).

Additionally, encouraging good thinking at a young age has become a major teaching objective in different subjects worldwide. This move requires individuals to develop 21st-century skills for future challenges, emphasizing communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Particularly, in Asian countries, such as China, where learning English is mainstream and has a large number of EFL learners, perceive that the variety of these thinking skills are vital to promoting citizens’ global competence (MOE, 2020). However, the definition of thinking skills has not been agreed on, and a “multilayered concept” (Li, 2016, p.285) of thinking skills requires teachers to have sufficient pedagogical knowledge to support their teaching practices. Several studies have investigated promoting young learners’ thinking skills (Moedt & Holmes, 2020) and teaching thinking skills in the EFL context (Chason et al., 2017; Wilson, 2016). Compared to other research in TEYL, promoting young learners’ thinking skills in EFL contexts is still under-researched.

A few studies have examined adopting intervention programs to promote thinking skills in TEYL. For example, Hui et al. (2020) used a quasi-experimental design and revealed that reading picture books enhanced young children’s English language learning and creativity. However, in most of the research, both the TEYL pedagogies and thinking skills programs are considered in western contexts (Yang, 2016). They have often been adapted and adopted by countries where English is not taught as the first language, thus, the cultural background has often been neglected (Gunawardena et al., 2017). Alongside this, the successful implementation of these programs and teaching methods indicates they are effective, yet it is difficult to see whether teachers developed knowledge that could improve their teaching practice and how learners participated in the learning process. Moreover, cultivating good thinking processes among young learners in EFL classrooms requires an open learning space for them to think interactively, learn together, and talk meaningfully and critically (Mercer, 2004). Yet, the Chinese learning style has been criticised as rote-learning; therefore, it is not supportive of cultivating young learners’ thinking. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to closely examine a more naturalistic approach to reveal the opportunities and obstacles of promoting thinking skills in primary EFL classrooms as a way to break the stereotypes of Chinese learners.