Педагогічні науки

Сучасні методи викладання

Ларіна О.С., Суховецька С.В., Отдєльнова Л.Л.

Житомирський державний технологічний університет

Critical thinking as an approach to the teaching in ESP classes

Nobody is an absolute beginner when it comes to critical thinking. Our most everyday activities require us to make use of some of the basic skills involved in critical thinking, such as: working out whether we believe what we see or hear; taking steps to find out whether something is likely to be true; arguing our own case if someone doesn't believe us.

However, just because we can think critically this doesn't mean we always do, or that we do it well. This is to be expected, as we don't need to employ the same level of critical thinking for everything we do.

For everyday activities, we take a certain amount on trust, and this saves us from having to recheck every detail. We have to decide on how much information is really required and what level of doubt is acceptable for each new circumstance. The levels and types of knowledge we need vary depending on the task, such as whether we are simply switching on a light, inventing a new form of electrical circuit or treating someone for electrocution. Similarly, critical thinking involves: identifying correctly when we need to gain more information; selecting effectively the right type and level of information for the purpose.

Success in most professions requires good critical thinking skills. Academic study also requires increasingly sophisticated levels of critical analysis at every level of study. And the process of learning foreign languages is not an exception. Referring to the study, you may be expected to apply critical thinking to: what you hear, see, and do; the material you read; how you interpret new situations and events; what you write, say or present to other people.

But it should be explained what is meant by critical thinking and everyone must develop their own reasoning skills. These skills are essential to those progressing to higher levels of academic study, whether at advanced or degree level. However, the underlying concepts are useful to anyone who wishes to: understand the concepts used in critical thinking; develop clearer thinking; interpret and produce argument more effectively; be more observant of what they see and hear.

The use of critical thinking will assist you in practical ways such as helping you to:

· recognize and understand the technical terms in critical thinking so you know what other people are referring to when they mention these, and so you can apply them yourself as relevant;

· build confidence in your own ability to apply critical thinking techniques;

· examine closely the opinions, views and arguments presented by other people;

· challenge other people’s views from an informed perspective when this is appropriate.

It is also particularly helpful for students in developing the ability to:

· recognize the arguments of specialist authors;

· locate arguments in key texts with greater speed;

· engage with the arguments used by both experts and their peers;

· produce better critical analytical writing of their own for marked assignments;

· recognize the difference between critical analysis and other kinds of writing, such as description.

Taking into the consideration that the study of foreign languages (for example, English) must be closely connected with the future profession of students, ESP is the main aspect in teaching it. That is why; the great part of texts contains specific information and terminology, the description of different scientific phenomena. The work with scientific literature requires not only getting general and specific information but also includes the process of thinking and critical approach to cause-and-effect relations in the text.

Students are expected to develop critical thinking skills so that they can dig deeper below the surface of the subjects they are studying and engage in critical dialogue with its main theories and arguments. This is usually through engaging in critical debate in seminars, presentations or writing produced for assessment or publication.

One of the best ways of arriving at a point where we really understand something is by doing, or replicating, the underlying research for ourselves. However, as undergraduates, and indeed in everyday life, there simply isn't the time to research everything we encounter. The depth of understanding that comes through direct experience, practice and experimentation has to be replaced, at times, by critical analysis of the work of other people.

Students need to develop the ability to critically evaluate the work of others. Whilst some find this easy, others tend to accept or apply the results of other people’s research too readily, without analyzing it sufficiently to check that the evidence and the reasoning really support the main points being made. Bodner (1988), for example, describes chemistry students as being unable to “apply their knowledge outside the narrow domain in which it was learnt. They ‘know’ without understanding.” Bodner suggests that, instead of focusing primarily on standard chemical calculations in books, students should be looking for answers to questions such as “How do we know …?” and “Why do we believe …?”

Bodner’s description is likely to be just as true of students in other subjects. It is not unusual for students and for people generally, to rely unquestioningly on research that is based on a small sample of the population, or that is based on faulty reasoning, or that is now out of date. Evidence from small or isolated projects is often treated as if it was irrefutable proof of a general principle, and is sometimes quoted year after year as if it were an absolute truth.

Good critical thinking skills bring numerous benefits such as:

· improved attention and observation;

· more focused reading;

· improved ability to identify the key points in a text or another message rather than becoming distracted by less important material;

· improved ability to respond to the appropriate points in a message;

· knowledge of how to get your own point across more easily;

· skills of analysis that you can choose to apply in a variety of situations.

Skills in critical thinking bring precision to the way you think and work. You will find that practice in critical thinking helps you to be more accurate and specific in noting what is relevant and what is not. The skills listed above are useful to problem-solving and to project management, bringing greater precision and accuracy to different parts of a task.

Although critical thinking can seem like a slow process because it is precise, once you have acquired good skills, they save you time because you learn to identify the most relevant information more quickly and accurately.