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Problems of Critical Thinking Development at English Lessons in High School

Student: Galyamova Yuliana

Supervisor: Maria Kirsanova

Faculty: School of Foreign Languages

Educational Programme: Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication (Bachelor)

Final Grade: 9

Year of Graduation: 2020

Abstract Much of the literature concerning the development of critical thinking in the English language classrooms has discussed the concept of "critical thinking" from different sides; who is the critical thinker, methods of how to ameliorate it and what lesson plans should look like. This theme considers being essential in modern education, as a lot of universal and federal standards mention the importance of integrating of the development of cognitive abilities into the English lesson, which is critical thinking as well. However, the problems that teachers could face while trying to evolve critical thinking in the lesson plans have not been sufficiently discussed. The main purpose of this research is to identify problems the teachers collide with while integrating critical thinking in the English lessons and to highlight the most frequent ones from them. I conducted a survey in which English teachers are asked what problems they have confronted to. Some of the questions were chosen after the analysis of the previous studies, whereas others were taken from my own experience. According to the results, two of the most common problems in the development of critical thinking in high school students were identified. First, it is the focus on the exam-oriented programs and plans at schools. Second, it is teachers’ gaps in understanding critical thinking, lack of professional competence and insufficient professional training in the development of critical thinking. The findings of the research may contribute to the improvement of the teachers' professional competence in terms of critical thinking development during English lessons. Moreover, they can help to improve the professional competence of teachers in the development of critical thinking in English lessons and restrict the pedagogical model of training with the inclusion of the development of cognitive, emotional, value and behavioral aspects of critical thinking. Key words: cognitive abilities, thinking, critical thinking, problems of critical thinking development, universal learners’ competences.

Full text (added May 9, 2020)

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