Abstract:

The purpose of the current study was the exploration of 32 Taiwanese university students’ (M: 10; F: 22) perceptions of seven course activities in an English teaching class in the Spring Semester of 2016.

The research questions were:
(a) How did the university students respond to the course activities in an English Teaching class from the perspective of English acquisition? and
(b) How did the university students respond to the course activities in an English Teaching class from the perspective of critical thinking?

Data collection included a 6-point-scale questionnaire, mind-maps, and the students’ reflection papers. The results of the questionnaire indicated that the participants tended to agree that the seven course activities could help them increase English ability (M=5.22) and critical thinking ability (M= 5.63), which were supported by the collected qualitative data. Furthermore, the results of the current study could contribute to the theory, research and practice of English teaching and learning, especially course activity design.

Keywords:

Course activities, English acquisition, critical thinking, Taiwan.