Филологические науки/5.Методы и приемы контроля уровня владения иностранным языком

Grechok L.M., GrushaT.I. Chernichiv State Institute of Economics and Management,Ukraine

Citical thinking The skills that you develop at university in critical thinking will support you in your future professional lives. Professionals constantly need to make decisions based on critical thinking, to evaluate processes and outcomes, and to reflect upon their practice. When you are thinking critically, you are not just thinking passively and accepting everything you see and hear. You are thinking actively. You are asking questions about what you see and hear, evaluating, and finding relationships. An international group of experts was asked to try to form a consensus about the meaning of critical thinking. One of the first things they did was to ask themselves the question: Who are the best critical thinkers we know and what is it about them that leads us to consider them the best? So, who are the best critical thinkers you know? Why do you think they are strong critical thinkers? Can you draw from those examples a description that is more abstract? Now, consider the example of the team of people trying to solve a problem. The team members, unlike the courtroom’s adversarial situation, try to collaborate. The members of an effective team do not compete against each other. They work in concert, like colleagues, for the common goal. Unless they solve the problem, none of them has won. When they find the way to solve the problem, they all have won. So, from analyzing just two examples we can generalize something very important: critical thinking is thinking that has a purpose (proving a point, interpreting what something means, solving a problem), but critical thinking can be a collaborative, noncompetitive endeavor. And, by the way, even lawyers collaborate. They can work together on a common defense or a joint prosecution, and they can also cooperate with each other to get at the truth so that justice is done. Thus an educational process is built on principles of critical thought. It is characterized by such features. 1.Activities involve tasks the decision of which requires thought of higher level. 2.An educational process is organized as a research of certain theme. 3. The result of studies is not mastering of facts or stranger ideas, but making own judgements. 4.Critical thought requires sufficient skills of operation and formulation of deductions proofs from students and ability to find and interpret original documents and information generators, analyze arguments, make strong conclusions. 5. Students must be motivated to the discussion of problem, but not to try to avoid its decision. They must work all together, to attain a general consensus. Four stages of critical thought The first stage is actualization of knowledge, awakening of interest on a theme. The second stage is comprehension of new information, critical reading and writing. The third stage is reflections, forming of own opinion in relation to educational material. The fourth stage is generalization and estimation of information (problems), determination of methods of its decision, finding out of own possibilities Some techniques to help you read critically

• When you take notes, divide your notepad into two columns. Jot down the main ideas in the left hand column, and the supporting comments in the right hand column. Add your own comments in another colour, or in brackets.
• Talk to other people (anyone who is interested!) about what you have read.
• Relate this text to others by looking for similar or contrasting themes.
• Think of how you might explain what the text means to, say, a high school student. What would you have to add to make it intelligible? (This will help you to see the underlying, unstated assumptions.)
• Ask yourself: 'Is it possible to disagree with any of this?'
• Ask yourself: 'How can I convince my peers/teachers that I understand what this is about? Some techniques for forming critical thought of skills

1. Critical thought "What' s of Your Rating"? 2. Critical thought "Priority Ladder". 3.Critical thought "Human Bias Graph". 4. Critical thought "Milestones". 5. " Brainstorming" Let’s consider “brainstorming” like an effective method of collective discussion, search of decisions, which comes true through the free accumulation of ideas on a certain theme, expression views of all participants. This method enables for the group of students to use the intellectual possibilities for the rapid and effective job processing. It is one form of creative thinking: it works by merging someone else's ideas with your own to create a new one. You are using the ideas of others as a stimulus for your own. Brainstorming is one of these special techniques, but traditionally it starts with unoriginal ideas. The first step to take is to learn the creative thinking techniques so that you can deliberately use them to come up with new ideas. You will then be at an immediate advantage over those who don't know how to use them. You should then practice the techniques to increase your skill at ongoing creative thinking. (After a while you may even find it unnecessary to use specific techniques because you may be having too many ideas anyway.)The main task of education is a necessity to teach a person to think critically. In our view, critical thought contains ability to estimate not only a result, but also directly thinking process. Basic Guidelines for Brainstorming is useful for attacking specific (rather than general) problems and where a collection of good, fresh, new ideas (rather than judgment or decision analysis) are needed. For example, a specific problem like how to mark the content of pipes (water, steam, etc.) would lend itself to brainstorming much better than a general problem like how the educational system can be improved. Note, though, that even general problems can be submitted to brainstorming with success. Brainstorming can take place either individually or in a group of two to ten, with four to seven being ideal. (Alex Osborn, brainstorming's inventor, recommends an ideal group size of twelve, though this has proven to be a bit unwieldy.) The best results are obtained when the following guidelines are observed: 1. Suspend judgment. This is the most important rule. When ideas are brought forth, no critical comments are allowed. All ideas are written down. Evaluation is to be reserved for later. We have been trained to be so instantly analytic, practical, convergent in our thinking that this step is very difficult to observe, but it is crucial. To create and criticize at the same time is like watering and pouring weed killer onto seedlings at the same time. 2.Think freely. Freewheeling, wild thoughts are fine. Impossible and unthinkable ideas are fine. In fact, in every session, there should be several ideas so bizarre that they make the group laugh. Remember that practical ideas very often come from silly, impractical, impossible ones. By permitting yourself to think outside the boundaries of ordinary, normal thought, brilliant new solutions can arise. Some "wild" ideas turn out to be practical, too. 3. Tag on. Improve, modify, build on the ideas of others. What's good about the idea just suggested? How can it be made to work? What changes would make it better or even wilder? This is sometimes called piggybacking, hitchhiking, or ping ponging. Use another's idea as stimulation for your own improvement or variation. As we noted earlier, changing just one aspect of an unworkable solution can sometimes make it a great solution. 4. Quantity of ideas is important. Concentrate on generating a large stock of ideas so that later on they can be sifted through. There are two reasons for desiring a large quantity. First, the obvious, usual, stale, unworkable ideas seem to come to mind first, so that the first, say, 20 or 25 ideas are probably not going to be fresh and creative. Second, the larger your list of possibilities, the more you will have to choose from, adapt, or combine. Some brainstormers aim for a fixed number, like 50 or 100 ideas before quitting the session.

References:

1. American Philosophical Association, Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction. "The Delphi Report," Committee on Pre-College Philosophy. (ERIC Doc. No. ED 315 423). 1990

2. Brookfield, Stephen D.: Developing Critical Thinkers: Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting. Josey- Bass Publishers. San-Francisco, CA. 1987

3. Browne, M. Neil, and Keeley, Stuart M.: Asking the Right Questions. Prentice-Hall Publishers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 2003

4. Costa, Arthur L., & Lowery, l Lawrence F.: Techniques for Teaching Thinking. Critical Thinking Press and Software. Pacific Grove, CA. 1989

5. Facione, Noreen C, and Facione Peter A.: Critical Thinking and Clinical Judgment in the Health Sciences - An International Teaching Anthology. The California Academic Press, Millbrae CA. 2008