Abstract: The application of cnitical thinking-oriented English micro-lectures can facilitate the develop-ment of students’ four core competencies ， i e. , competency in international communication in vocationalsettings，competency in multicultural exchange，competeney in advanced thinking and competency inhigher-level learning autonomy. 'The design，development and application of micro-lectures should be inaccordance with students’cognition development , second language acquisition parinciples and the featuresof modern learning methods. The teaching is designed based on the situated learning theory and students'practical needs; the micro-lectures are developed in concordance with schema theory and multimedialeaming theory with well-balanced cognitive load and“figure-groundl”relationship，whereafter some de-sign and development principles of micro-lectures are proposed. 'The student-centered interactive micro-lectues are applied in the thinking-oriented blended teaching ，which is to promote the effective applica-tion of micro-lectures in higher vocational English and give full play to the role of vocational English as apromoter of thinking abilities as well as a tool for communication.

Key words: critical thinking , micro-lectues, core competencies , higher vocational English, blended teaching