Using Cognitive Conflict to Develop Critical Thinking in Reading Teaching

The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022) for the first time incorporates the cultivation of thinking quality into the junior high school English curriculum, and describes the specific manifestations of critical thinking in terms of “sub-characteristics” by academic segments. In English teaching, teachers can use cognitive conflict to cultivate students' critical thinking, but most teachers do not have a clear understanding of cognitive conflict. Besides, the frequency and amount of cognitive conflict that teachers consciously use in the classroom varies from teacher to teacher. Therefore, this paper analyzes four types of cognitive conflicts that can be tried to use in reading teaching. What’s more, this paper divides the development process of cognitive conflict in reading learning into four stages: stimulation, analysis, dissolution and reflection. Finally, this paper proposes effective strategies for using cognitive conflict in reading teaching to develop students' critical thinking.