The article describes a new approach to teaching critical thinking. The author argues that English promotional materials bring novelty into language classroom and stimulate students to think critically

Деркач, Н. О.

English

Деркач Н. О.

Zhytomyr State University Library

Developing senior students’ critical thinking skills by means of English promotional materials Derkach N. O. Zhytomyr State University  named after Ivan Franko Institute of Foreign Philology Modern Ukrainian school faces the problem of bringing up a new generation of students who are able to think and to have their own point of view on the surrounding reality, the basis of which is developed critical thinking. Ukrainian society needs ambitious young people, who are capable of independent thinking and self-realization. The ability to solve complicated problems, analyze the events critically, compare different approaches to the same problem, and the ability to prove your own position are of key importance for modern senior students. The task of developing critical thinking skills is not an easy one and that’s   why many Ukrainian and foreign scientists dedicated quite a number of works to this problem offering a variety of means to fulfill this task. We think, though, that English promotional materials can become an effective means of forming critical thinking skills taking into consideration that promotional materials have become an integral part of our everyday life. The usage of the English promotional materials in particular is explained by the growing role of English language in international communication and by the fact that it would be harder for Ukrainian students to notice the hidden meaning of advertisement written or spoken in English than in Ukrainian. On the basis of the theoretical investigation we created the structure of critical thinking which comprises: the ability to analyze the information independently; skills to find the mistakes in argumentations and to be ready to change their point of view when it was proved to be wrong, to evaluate the events in social life; demands of reasonable doubt, finding new solutions in particular situations; respect to the thoughts of the other people. Taking into account the fact that critical thinking envelops all spheres of communicative competence (reading, speaking, listening comprehension); it can be successfully implemented into teaching process practically at every lesson. The value of this lies in the fact that it provides internal logical ties between new information and already known one. We think that in the whole cycle of critical thinking includes 4 phases: 1) analysis, 2) understanding, 3) evaluation, 4) criticism.  Having conducted our experiment we have come to the conclusion, that the process of teaching critical thinking is more effective for both a teacher and his pupils when it is done in three main modes: individual mode, pair mode and group mode. All these components and the types of promotional materials singled out by I. Kohtyev and D. Rozental (visual, auditory and visual-auditory promotional materials), which we stick to, constructed the basis of our methodology of teaching critical thinking to senior students by means of promotional materials. Table 1 Stages of teaching critical thinking to senior students by means of promotional materials Мodes   Aim  Types of promotional materials Individual To teach the students  to analyze the advertisements critically  Visual Pair To teach the students  to evaluate promotional materials critically, to think them over, to be able to determine the reliability of the information given   Auditory   Group  To teach  the students to make critical conclusions and prove your own point of view All  types  Here are some sample activities for each of the modes of developing the skills of critical thinking. Individual mode: Think of the reasons young mothers prefer to feed their kids with semi-prepared food and fill in the fishbone:  Watch the commercial and say whether it is persuasive enough. Account for your ideas in the form of monologue-reasoning. Pair mode: Work in twos. Place the sentences from the ad in logical order.  Group mode: Work in groups. Write a five-line poem based on the given advertisements according to the scheme:  1) Topic, 2) two adjectives, 3) three verbs, 4) a sentence, 5) a synonym to the topic  This methodology has been tried out during teaching internship and the results have proved its effectiveness.  The validity is 47%. We can say that the attraction of promotional materials into the process of teaching critical thinking skills to senior students brings novelty and stimulates students to think critically thus contributing to the upbringing of the generation of independent people. Literature used: 1. 1. Розенталь Д.Э., Кохтев Н.Н. Язык рекламных текстов. – Москва: Высшая школа ,1981.-127с. 2. Хілько Н.В. Creative and Critical Thinking in Language Classroom//Англійська мова та література.-2007.-№1.-с. 7-9      3.Л.Ямщикова Критичне мислення як вид розумової діяльності http://spc.ks.ua/file_download/42   Semi-prepared food

Developing senior students’ critical thinking skills by means of English promotional materials

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