Mutual Promotion between Language Skills and Critical Thinking Training in Business English Skill-based Courses

Abstract

Critical thinking is commonly acknowledged as one of the primal abilities in a Business English graduates. The problem of “deficient critical thinking ability” in foreign language majors has long plagued professionals in college foreign language teaching. Skill-based language courses that constitute the majority of the English curriculum are the root. However, Business English major can effectively overcome the problem because of its advantages in integrating language-skill training into business-knowledge learning. Teachers of Business English skill courses should convert teaching philosophy and methods, and transform the skill-based courses into knowledge- and critical-thinking-oriented training courses. This will ultimately help realize mutual promotion of language capacities and critical thinking ability in Business English majors.